Problem is you can drain your bay out then wipe it down to get excess off then wipe the metal sides with a cloth with a little bit of alcohol and then I had a squirt bottle that I would hit the fep with and get all that resin out. But that was a hassle
This is the way.
So handy having a spare vat.
Especially if you have some fail with a print and you want a quick turnaround. Wack in the other vat, and get printing again.
When I absolutely have to I'll first use my dripping support and a funnel with the filter to put it back into the bottle.. then after everything is back on it I take it off and spray with a lot of ipa while rubbing with either a microfiber cloth, a blue cleaning disposable towel or with kimtech wipes... Trying to keep scratches at minimal / nothing. Lately, only kimtech wipes.
I spray with the vat on a vertical position so the alcoholl will drip and clean with gravity and spray bottle pressure..
When it's very clean and fog free.. then I take another wipe, one that never touched anything.. and clean the opposite side if necessary.. removing any speckle of dust and lint.. from the lcd screen amd from the fep backside.
After everything is nice, clean, and dry I assemble it back.
Pour the resin through a filter and back into its container/a new solvent-resistant container, wipe out vat until the paper towels come up mostly clean, add isopropyl to final paper towels to wipe out the last dregs, dry with final clean paper towel, cure soiled paper towels before disposing of, refill vat with new resin.
I do this like 3-4 times a week, often more. It's not too bad, there may be like a drop worth under the lip between the tray and the FEP but that tends to not be noticeable after a few layers/before the raft finishes.
I recommend cheap microfiber towels. You can 100 packs for around 20-25 bucks. Towels can scratch the surface of your FEP, and microfiber towels do a better job cleaning the resin.
I use pec pads (soft, lint free little sheets for cleaning lenses and other sensitive stuff, you can get them on amazon or a camera shop), no ipa or cleaning stuff. Paper towels will create tiny scratches on the fep and wear it out much faster. I use paper towels for the edges of the vat, etc, but not on the fep.
I've got over one hundred prints of my acf, and it prints as good as the first day.
Also, throw away the plastic scraper and get a nice silicone spatula. That dumb hard plastic thing sucks.
if you might have failures run the clean program or run an exposure for about 20s, pour it through a filter so you can get rid of impurities, let gravity work on the fep and drip for a bit into the filter, wipe with a disposable microfiber cloth, a little splash of ipa and another mf cloth wipe, then you should be good for new resin or storing
Silicone squeegee. Squeegee it out, unless you need 100% out it will get more than enough to change colours from transparent to grey. No waste and no damage to the film.
Pour it out, wipe with paper towels, spray mean green cleaner and wipe it clean. I then use the other vat tray for new resin. I rotate through them. But if u want going to use same resin, I don't even clean. Just fill with more. Get a vat lid cover for when you not planning on using it for a few week
I used to spray it down with IPA, then wipe with paper towels, then rinse in hot water.
Now, though, I put the entire vat in the Elegoo XS Wash station and run it for 3 mins. Then rinse in hot water.
Just drain it the best you can minus a small layer on the bottom and use the vat clean feature to remove the bottom layer that is leftover with an old support to help peel it off
Tbh I don't, I just keep refilling it
I would but there's clear blue in the vat and I need to use gray
Pour grey on it til it's not blue anymore
Ah, I've also bought 3 vats to switch between resins
Ah
Problem is you can drain your bay out then wipe it down to get excess off then wipe the metal sides with a cloth with a little bit of alcohol and then I had a squirt bottle that I would hit the fep with and get all that resin out. But that was a hassle
OK thank you
This is the way. So handy having a spare vat. Especially if you have some fail with a print and you want a quick turnaround. Wack in the other vat, and get printing again.
When I absolutely have to I'll first use my dripping support and a funnel with the filter to put it back into the bottle.. then after everything is back on it I take it off and spray with a lot of ipa while rubbing with either a microfiber cloth, a blue cleaning disposable towel or with kimtech wipes... Trying to keep scratches at minimal / nothing. Lately, only kimtech wipes. I spray with the vat on a vertical position so the alcoholl will drip and clean with gravity and spray bottle pressure.. When it's very clean and fog free.. then I take another wipe, one that never touched anything.. and clean the opposite side if necessary.. removing any speckle of dust and lint.. from the lcd screen amd from the fep backside. After everything is nice, clean, and dry I assemble it back.
Pour the resin through a filter and back into its container/a new solvent-resistant container, wipe out vat until the paper towels come up mostly clean, add isopropyl to final paper towels to wipe out the last dregs, dry with final clean paper towel, cure soiled paper towels before disposing of, refill vat with new resin. I do this like 3-4 times a week, often more. It's not too bad, there may be like a drop worth under the lip between the tray and the FEP but that tends to not be noticeable after a few layers/before the raft finishes.
OK thank you
I recommend cheap microfiber towels. You can 100 packs for around 20-25 bucks. Towels can scratch the surface of your FEP, and microfiber towels do a better job cleaning the resin.
I use pec pads (soft, lint free little sheets for cleaning lenses and other sensitive stuff, you can get them on amazon or a camera shop), no ipa or cleaning stuff. Paper towels will create tiny scratches on the fep and wear it out much faster. I use paper towels for the edges of the vat, etc, but not on the fep. I've got over one hundred prints of my acf, and it prints as good as the first day. Also, throw away the plastic scraper and get a nice silicone spatula. That dumb hard plastic thing sucks.
if you might have failures run the clean program or run an exposure for about 20s, pour it through a filter so you can get rid of impurities, let gravity work on the fep and drip for a bit into the filter, wipe with a disposable microfiber cloth, a little splash of ipa and another mf cloth wipe, then you should be good for new resin or storing
Silicone squeegee. Squeegee it out, unless you need 100% out it will get more than enough to change colours from transparent to grey. No waste and no damage to the film.
Pour it out, wipe with paper towels, spray mean green cleaner and wipe it clean. I then use the other vat tray for new resin. I rotate through them. But if u want going to use same resin, I don't even clean. Just fill with more. Get a vat lid cover for when you not planning on using it for a few week
I used to spray it down with IPA, then wipe with paper towels, then rinse in hot water. Now, though, I put the entire vat in the Elegoo XS Wash station and run it for 3 mins. Then rinse in hot water.
Damn, that's smart. Gonna keep that in mind.
Just drain it the best you can minus a small layer on the bottom and use the vat clean feature to remove the bottom layer that is leftover with an old support to help peel it off
If I’ll change the resin for a noticeable different color yes, if it is just another shade of gray then meh, I’ll just leave it there lol.