I purchased a gallon of the Yellow Magic 7 and I’m wondering about a few things.
The info sheets that come with the YM7 make it sound rather dangerous as far as disposal goes. How do you dispose of it when it at the end of a batch life?
The label says use it full strength but on previous posts I read it was a concentrate. So the question is, what ratio of water to YM7 do you use?
Label also says the YM7 is for food equipment use so I’m assuming (dangerous) that it’s fairly safe to handle but do you use gloves with it?
I think that’s all my questions. I’d like to switch to it for the first bath but feel I need these questions answered before attempting any use of the stuff. I realize it’s probably totally safe but the Manufacture’s sheet does leave a lot of questions.
I have the same questions! But regarding your first one, I was hoping to be able to bring it to Hazardous Waste. Out where I live, you can schedule an appointment with the county for dropoff. That’s where I bring broken CFL tubes, paint, and solvents. I’d be surprised if they couldn’t accept the used YM7 and 91% IPA.
Don’t put Yellow Magic 7 in your eyes.
Where gloves, your skin my become very dried out.
I found that submerging parts and brushing them and then leaving the parts in a clear tank and letting them cure in the sunlight works very well.
by clear tank, do you mean a water filled clear tank or just open air? Do you get the tacky/sticky finish with yellow magic? I don’t think I can take much more of the alcohol smell. I seem to be really sensitive to it and if this is a less vaporous option that works, I will purchase right away.
You’ll have to take my comments with a grain of salt since I’m not an expert, but I had to clean a very large print last night and didn’t have enough IPA, so I went with a 1:1 mixture of YM7 and water and put the part into it. I put the finishing tank on my investment vibrator and shook it for about 5 minutes. I pulled out the part and rinsed it off and let it dry. Afterward it was very tacky. I then put the part into the other tank with clean IPA and swooshed and flipped it there for a couple of minutes. Then I let it air dry. After the IPA rinse, it was not tacky anymore.
I think for now, I’m going to stick with YM7 for the pre-rinse, and the IPA for final rinse. It’ll still save $ on IPA and will be one less rinse with IPA fumes.
Be it YM7 or IPA I always put my parts through two tanks. After which I wash them in warm water and the cut off the supports. These parts are then put into a tank of clean water and hardened in the sun or put in UV cabinet for hardening.
Walter is using same method I use and so far it has worked out the best.
I noticed my parts are much stronger without any contact to IPA. If you don’t have any uv cure box you can use a 404nm laser points and doodle over the surface while the part is in water. I do that because it is pretty quick on small parts.
When we first starting printing with our Form 2, we were trying to only use YM7, but our parts were always still tacky. After experimenting, we ended up using YM7 as the first rinse (shaking for a minute then letting set for another 15 minutes), then using IPA as the second/final rinse. Our parts have been turning out great since that change. We’re a little disappointed in the YM7, but it is still helping to minimize the amount of IPA we end up using.
YM7 seems to work as long as you touch the model/rub it a bit. If I have a spot where I can tell there is just too much resin clinging to the model I put a bit of IPA on a paper towel and wipe it off.
I’ve been using YM7 1:1 and it’s definitely tacky for me afterward, but it’s better than using all of that IPA. My prints have been tacky even after the 2nd IPA rinse and post-cure. This is with clear and tough resins. Terry, which resin are you using?
You do need to post cure the part after cleaning. Keeping the part away from oxygen ie: submersed in water and putting it in the sun, uv cabinet or like i do, use a 405nm laser pointer and go over the surface. You can tell if the part is cured while it is submersed. It should not feel gummy. If you don’t have an Ultrasonic Cleaner you can use an inexpensive natural hair chip brush and lightly scrub up the surface in YM. An Ultrasonic Cleaner will make the job just easier and does a good job on tiny areas.
Chopping off the supports will help make the cleaning job easier.
You will find that avoiding IPA the parts will not warp or become as brittle over time.
Ken have you found YM7 to clean parts without touching them? I’ve got to brush/wipe the whole thing down. Its still better than having two vats of IPA though.
I have on bit parts that had little detail but tossed it through twice in the USC. Most of my parts are small with lot’s of tiny details and crevices so I like to be sure they are all clean. I use silly putty to check details especially on parts made with clear resin.
I don’t recommend curing the parts in the same tank that you initially clean in like the USC and found it better to use just plain water in a separate tank. Using the initial tank your part may feel gritty like sandpaper from the residual floating resin.
I really like the durability of the parts I get now. I have 2 prototypes in the field being used daily and so far no issues. One even broke a Zamak ball joint so I had to cast the metal part in aluminum.
The parts have the support structures removed.
A tooth brush is used to clean/scrape/remove the uncured resin in the same food container.
Let the parts sit in the food container in the sun or a UV cure chamber/cabinet.
Leave the container in the sun with YM7 in it to cure random bits of resin, filter out those bits with appropriate paint filter as needed.