What is the process for resin type changes?

Support & Troubleshooting Materials
1

I just picked up a Form 2 printer, and I am wondering what the process is for swapping out materials. Say I want to go from the grey material to clear.

Do I just remove the resin tank with the grey resin and place a clean new tank while also changing the resin cartridge?

Does the the dispensing system not need to be cleaned out somehow, so the grey doesn’t contaminate the new resin (clear in my case)?

Thanks in advance for your help.

2

Hi there, nice choice in printers! See this support document https://support.formlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000016144-Automatic-Resin-Handling-System for some detailed info.

The dispensing system doesn’t need to be cleaned out because the resin falls straight from the cartridge valve into the resin tank.

My abridged version would be:
0. Remove the build platform from the printer if it’s there.

  1. Close the cartridge cap and remove the [grey] cartridge.
  2. Remove the [grey] tank from the printer.
  3. Put the [clear] tank in the printer.
  4. Put the clear cartridge in the printer, and open the cap on top.
  5. Put a clean build platform in the printer.
  6. You’re ready to print again.
3

I would only add a point between 4 and 5 : if an unclean build platform is already mounted, remove this first, as resin can drip down to the printer’s window when non tank is in. It happened to several people on these forums.

For users of our own Form2 I always instruct to remove the build platform before removing the tank, whatever state the BP is in.

4

That’s why my Step 0 above (but poorly formatted) is “0. Remove the build platform from the printer if it’s there.” :slight_smile:

5

Thanks guys,
After watching a few prints go , I now understand the dispensing system.

Thank you for the pointers on order of operation when changing resins.

6

Hi,

I would like to ask if I should change the build platform together when changing resin tank & cartridge. i.e have a set of resin tank and build platform for each resin type.
Or I can just wash the residual resin off with IPA and continue using the same build platform for all resin types.

Thanks in advance.

7

That’s the intended way of doing it. I use some wiping paper to get most of the resin off and then use some more wiping paper with IPA on the build surface and the sides. I have a spare build paltform for when I need quick turnover but that’s it.

When printing very small parts and if the parts have detached cleanly from the platform, I also tend to gently scrape the uncured resin off the platform and into the tank which saves a bit of resin. I only do that when I’m sure I will not be introducing bits of cured resin into the tank.

That being said, you could store the built platform without cleaning the resin off it but it’s would be quite messy.