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The Form1 and other commercial-grade SLA/SLS printers have a parts cleaning station to clean off the resin/residue from the part.

Let's make one for the DropLit.

Pictures of other cleaning solutions that exist:

Form Finish Kit
*Includes: Rinse Tubs, Rinse Basket, Flush Cutters, Microfiber Cloth, Tweezers, Squeeze Bottle, Scraper
[img]http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/d_f/form1-11.jpg[/img]
[img]http://formlabs.com/media/upload/_thumb ... x0_q85.png[/img]

3D Systems ProClean
Brochure: http://www.3dsystems.com/products/dataf ... _0804a.pdf
Patent: https://www.google.com/patents/US5143663

Ideas I have for this:

Quick&Dirty
Desc: Small tupperware container half-filled with Isopropyl alcohol. Part gets submerged.
Pros: Helps clean the part, formlabs uses a similar method, works properly
Cons: Takes a long time

Ultrasonic
Desc: Uses ultrasonic transducers to clean parts using frequencies.
[img]http://www.ctgclean.com/blog/wp-content ... -fig17.gif[/img]
[img]http://i00.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/722/002/ ... 03.jpg[img]

This community has worked together in the past to build some great things, let's work on this.

You can buy cheap ultrasonic tanks for ~$30 the only real restriction the cheap ones have is limited runtime (usually less than 10 minutes per cycle) and overall size.
A curing station using one of the available nail ovens modified to deal with larger items wouldn't be a bad addition.

So, a can of brake cleaner isn't going to work.

Mac The Knife wrote:So, a can of brake cleaner isn't going to work.

Oh it'll work alright! Too Good prob.!



Polygonhell, yes, sgraber was talking about a nail drying lamp from wally world for a post process curing box today. Good ideas

I'm going to build a 100(ish) watt ultrasonic cleaner soon. My intended use was for motorcycle carbs, but I'll definitely make an instructable or something to share the project with everybody.

Please do share.

I am also interested in ultrasonics for making biodiesel. Also you can add water to your fuel and mix it with ultrasound.


What motorbike?

Std halogens emit quite a bit of UV. For etching pcbs I remember that an uc ligt was not necessary if you had a high wattage halogen lamp.

teoman wrote:What motorbike?

I've got some old Yamaha's. An XS400RJ Seca and an XZ550R Vision. Also got an '08 Buell 1125r.

I've been using my wife's jewelry cleaner in the garage quite a bit. I had to secretly replace it once when I melted the plastic lid shut cleaning parts with acetone

Had an XS1100. Living in Louisiana at the time, I was able to enjoy it year round.

I have a BMW R1200GS. Living in Istanbul it can get fairly exciting at times.

Anyhow, enough of my hijack and back to the thread.

Not sure if it is related to the light based technologies but I am looking at sandblasting. There is a youtube video or a thread that I read recently that I cannot find right now. The parts did look surprisingly nice.

A dentist friend has a 2k usd micro sandblaster. He uses it with baking soda and a form of aluminum oxide.

I will get the chance to fondle it next week and I will report back. He also says that there are 100 usd versions around.

You could look at soda blasting too. It's less destructive than sandblasting because it's not abrasive in the same way.

It wouldn't be that difficult to rebuild a cheap Chinese UV EEPROM eraser into a UV curing box for these parts.
Something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1PCS-NEW-UV-ULT ... 53f6ae6c79

Just rob the guts out of it and put in your own enclosure. It even has a little timer. The bulb is a UV flourescent.

g.

or, buy something like this http://www.walmart.com/ip/SensatioNail- ... p/27830742 and it HAS a timer... and wouldnt need to mod anything, toss part in, and cure..

Guanu

That's pretty neat. I'll have to get one. I'll need to paint it black and put some Hackaday stickers on it though. *laughs*

g.

^^^^

WIN

That could be your hackaday prize entry?

In general, I would not recommend sonication cleaning as it can degrade and/or break your parts. General cleaning in 70%-100% isopropyl alcohol (swishing around for a while) is the recommended procedure.

guanu wrote:or, buy something like this http://www.walmart.com/ip/SensatioNail- ... p/27830742 and it HAS a timer... and wouldnt need to mod anything, toss part in, and cure..

Guanu

I am NOT AN EXPERT AT ALL, but I had read that a nail curing station uses "near UV" LED, which have a wave length with too much Yellow-ish components (am I right?). In any case, that curing at that wave length will make your transparent resin look yellowish, just like if you put it in the sun rays. If you want to use LEDs, and avoid the yellowish finish, then you have to use short wave lengths, within the UV range (not "near UV"). Those are expensive!

Better use a regular and cheaper UV bulb instead of LED.

I made my curing station with an UV bulb, the cardboard box were it was shipped (yes, I am cheap!), plus aluminum foil and a thick book at the top ... boom!

Of course, if you are using colored resin, or you are going to pain your transparent one, it just doesn't mater.

Cheers!

Soda blasting had a very very minimal effect. It would take you rens of hours to do an average print. He did not want to use the aluminum oxide stuff as it damaged his equipment once.