Filtering 'wash' liquid

[denders]

I was wondering how folks filter the 'used' wash liquid? Alcohol in this case. Then scraping the remainder into a disposable container to let it harden and then dispose of the container.

 

This has been sitting on the back porch for several days to get the resin to drop out of solution.

 

I'm actually wondering at this point if I now have a hardened 1/2" layer on the bottom of my wash tank. I was planning on pouring it through a paint filter in hopes of catching any large bits. Then scraping the remainder into a disposable container to let it harden and then dispose of the container.

 

 

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[LSP_Kevin]

The layer at the bottom won't be hardened, but rather, an obnoxious slurry that is a real PITA to deal with! This is by far the worst aspect of resin 3D printing, and I wish I had a decent solution myself. Since I don't do a whole lot of 3D printing, I tend to leave the dirty alcohol container out for weeks, rather than days - sometimes forgetting about it completely! But once the resin slurry has settled sufficiently, I use a cheap, battery-powered stick pump to siphon off the clean liquid at the top into an empty container, ready to use again. At this point you can tip the remains onto a pan or similar, let the alcohol evaporate, and then the rest should harden, ready for disposal.

 

Kev

[BiggTim]

I would pretty much echo what Kevin said as one good option. The only thing I would clarify is NOT to do that in the wash container!! Do it in something else you don't care about. I have also simply left it in another sealed container in the garage, i.e. NOT outside in the sun, and let the resin settle to the bottom without curing into the "obnoxious slurry" (good description!). Then pour or siphon off the cleaner stuff from the top, then let the dregs evaporate and cure outside just as Kevin said. If you can't get the cured resin out of the other container, you can just chuck it. 

 

Tim

[Out2gtcha]

Same as Kev and Tim have said, I have the same wash-N-cure station and have yet to find a good solution to reusing the washing liquid. Generally I have just not put a ton of high content alcohol in the wash station at any one time, but when I do Im like Kev and seem to leave it for weeks at a time. I also only tend to put in enough to cover the work I need to clean, and I don't do a lot of "tall" or vertical prints, so I can usually keep the level fairly low, changing it when needed. 

 

If I had a lot of the cleaning liquid in the cure contain, I would definitely recommend what Tim said not do it in the cure station container itself, and let it settle in a different expendable container you didn't care about. 

[BiggTim]

I actually filled my wash reservoir to the top line for a while to cover some really tall prints. With that much in there, it took a long time to get super dirty, but it was a pain to swap out once it did. Now it's about half full, and every so often I take out about 1/2 of the used alcohol to settle out and add clean in it's place. If you do that pretty regularly, it never gets dirty enough to require a full change, and you can use a smaller container to settle out the dirty stuff. Just my experience so far. 

 

BTW, if you're in the US, this is the best price I've found on 99% isopropyl - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J62C1K5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. The small bottles are nice, because you can fill an empty one with dirty alcohol to settle out, and dump a clean one in, repeat periodically. 

[denders]

Thanks, guys, for the suggestions. I need to look into some sort of container to put the wash solution in for this, instead of the wash container. When I bought everything, I has purchased an additional wash container, but with the idea of having it to test out the water wash resin types. And thanks Kev for the pump suggestion, I was debating how I was going to pour the alcohol from the wash container into another container, with a filter in a funnel and not spill it all over. Now to go in search of another container because it's obviously rather full and I don't have a suitable container yet.

[denders]

Thanks, Tim, that is a good price.

[BiggTim]

6 hours ago, denders said:

Thanks, guys, for the suggestions. I need to look into some sort of container to put the wash solution in for this, instead of the wash container. When I bought everything, I has purchased an additional wash container, but with the idea of having it to test out the water wash resin types. And thanks Kev for the pump suggestion, I was debating how I was going to pour the alcohol from the wash container into another container, with a filter in a funnel and not spill it all over. Now to go in search of another container because it's obviously rather full and I don't have a suitable container yet.

I use one gallon ice cream tubs (my 19 year old son eats a lot of ice cream) They are usually translucent, and the lids seal. Plus, they have go handles!!

[patricksparks]

15 hours ago, BiggTim said:

I actually filled my wash reservoir to the top line for a while to cover some really tall prints. With that much in there, it took a long time to get super dirty, but it was a pain to swap out once it did. Now it's about half full, and every so often I take out about 1/2 of the used alcohol to settle out and add clean in it's place. If you do that pretty regularly, it never gets dirty enough to require a full change, and you can use a smaller container to settle out the dirty stuff. Just my experience so far. 

 

BTW, if you're in the US, this is the best price I've found on 99% isopropyl - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J62C1K5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. The small bottles are nice, because you can fill an empty one with dirty alcohol to settle out, and dump a clean one in, repeat periodically. 

I have been buying "KLEAN STRIP" FUEL, Denatured Alcohol, works great, good price and it can be bought at hardware and paint stores.

Pat

 

[Ebf2K]

I agree with and follow the resin cleanup process as mentioned above but with one additional step.  When the alcohol in the wash & cure machine gets a bit dirty, I dump it into a plastic pickle container that I use as a pre-wash station.   I don't put parts directly from the build plate into the wash & cure but put them into the pickle strainer bucket and dunk & swish them around in the alcohol in the pickle container first.  This gives me 2 benefits: I get a little more use from the dirty alcohol, and the alcohol in the wash & cure stays usable much longer before it gets dirty.   When the alcohol in the pickle container gets really nasty, I dump into into a 3rd container and put that out in the sun for the resin to cure & settle like the others do.

[Gene K]

On 2/7/2024 at 9:11 AM, Ebf2K said:

 When the alcohol in the wash & cure machine gets a bit dirty, I dump it into a plastic pickle container that I use as a pre-wash station.   

I do it the same way. For disposable containers, I use empty transparent drink bottles as those from Gatoraid. Let full bottles sit in the sun for a couple of days, drain off alcohol through a filter, recap, and dispose the cured resin.

 

Gene K

 

[STM]

I understand that resins are available that only require water for removing excess resin in the wash. Maybe that would be worthwhile looking into, that would save a lot of $$ on 91% isopropanol.