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How long resins can stay in the vat or tray of a 3D printer is a common question on the minds of those new to 3D printing. Even those who have been doing 3D printing for some time get confused sometimes. In this post, we want to clarify this matter for you once and for all. Keep reading to learn about how long you can leave resin in the printer.
How long can I leave resin in the printer? Uncured resin can remain intact in the tank or vat of your 3D printer for many weeks if you keep it away from UV light exposure. The ideal condition for storing uncured resin is a cool, dark place. If the environment is not ideal, the UV resin may last for as short as a few hours or 1-2 days. In the end, the lifespan of your 3D resin depends on the conditions of the environment.
The leftover resin in your printer is not useless. You can still use it later if you know how to keep it in good condition. As you read on, we will show you how long you can keep resins in your printer and what you can do with it afterwards.
How Long Will Resin Last In My Printer?
The lifespan of extra resins remaining in your printer’s tray will be between a few days to two months. If your printer is in a place where ambient UV light will reach the resin, it may not last longer than 1-2 days. If you can cover the resin to prevent UV light exposure, the lifespan will increase a bit more. But if the printer is indoors, in a cool, dark room where UV light will not reach the resin, it can last up to two months.
From our findings, people who use their resin 3D printer in the basement where UV light can hardly reach it say that resin sometimes lasts for as long as 2 months in their printers. They are still able to print flawless 3D parts with the printer after the resin has stayed for 2 months. But then, other people who use their printer in a complex or mall can’t keep unused resins in their printers for longer than 2 days, even though they covers it with a standard orange cover.
Can I Remove The Printer Tank From My Printer To Store Resin?
If there’s excess resin in your printer tray after printing, you can remove the tank from the printer to a safe place. You should cover the tray with its lid in place and store it in a cool, dry place. This will protect the resin from ambient UV light.
Outside of your printer, resin stored in a well-covered tank can last for 1-2 months. You can still reuse the stored resin later. The important thing is not whether the printer it’s in your printer’s tank or not, or whether the tank is inside the printer or not. The sole factor responsible for how long the resin will last is how well you protect it from UV exposure.
How Can I Make Resin Last Long In My Printer?
The basic trick to extending the lifespan of UV resin is to protect it from light. A simple way to do this is to cover the tray with cardboard paper to block off stray light as you open and close the door. Using cardboard is better. You can also use a standard orange cover to block off reactive UV wavelengths.
There are a few other tips for extending the lifespan of UV resin in the printer. Keep the windows of the room shut, and place heavy blinds on it. But make sure there is still adequate ventilation. This means that if you use your resin printer in an open environment, you should not keep resin in it.
If you can, it is best to remove the remaining resin from your printer’s vat. The best place to store your remaining resin is a sealed container in a storage compartment. While resin will last only a few days or weeks in your printer’s vat, it can last for much longer in a storage compartment.
What Can I Do With Leftover Resins?
You can leave the leftover resin inside your printer’s tank for later use or dispose of it if you won’t use it again. If you want to preserve it for later use, make sure you protect it properly from UV exposure. It’s better to use the leftover resins in less than a week if you are keeping them in your 3D printer.
Uncured printing resins can stay for two months in the tray given the appropriate conditions. But if your next printing job will be that long, you should filter the leftover uncured resins back into the bottle.
✅ Video – How to Clean Your Resin 3D Printing Vat and Avoid Clouding!
This video contains an easy and quick guide for cleaning 3D printer vats (or trays). If you are done printing and you have removed the leftover resin, you must clean the printer’s vat properly. This will prevent resin from curing in its inner surface and edges and cloud the vat.
You should filter the leftover resin before pouring it back into its bottle because it would have some semi-cured fragments. Remove these fragments and cure them with UV before you dispose of them. It is not safe to dispose of uncured resins. Not to worry, curing these fragments will take less than 10-15 minutes.
It is even better to take the leftover semi-cured resin to a recycling plant in your locality after curing it. When you do this, you will not be contributing to hazardous waste.
What If I Want to Print With My Leftover Resin?
If you want to print with the leftover resin on your printer tray, stir it gently before you start printing. This will restore the optimum fluid consistency of the resin for a more efficient printing experience .
What’s The Shelf-Life of Resin?
According to Elegoo, ArtResin and Anycubic brands of resin, the shelf-life of resin is usually about 1 year. But for optimum life span and efficiency, store your UV resin in a cool, dark place. While you can still use resin after the shelf-life expiry, it might not be as efficient. What’s more, the resin will not stay for its shelf-life if you leave it in your printer vat.
3D printing resin is made to be stored on a shelf rather than in the printer’s tray. So once you open the resin’s container and expose it, its lifespan reduces drastically depending on the storage conditions. Resins left in a container on a cabinet inside a cool, dark room will last much longer than exposed resin left on your window.
So after you open up your resin container, you should still store it in the bottle. But make sure you close up the bottle with its cap on. If you do this, it can still last for several months. If you don’t have the original bottle that the resin came with, don’t use just any type of bottle. Use one that blocks UV light. But then, what if the resin is in your printer tray, what can you do?
Related Questions
Can I Leave Resin In Printer?
Yes, you can safely leave resin in your printer tray if you cover it properly. But if you experience a tray crack and resin leaks into your printer, you should turn off the printer and try getting expert service immediately.
You can let uncured resin stay in the printer tray between prints if your next 3D resin printing job will be less than a week. So long as you cover the tray and protect it from UV exposure, things should be fine.
Is Resin Printing Dangerous?
Resin printing can be dangerous if you don’t know how to take safety precautions with resin. Resin can cause skin irritations and it gives off fumes that can be dangerous to the eyes and lungs. So you should keep resin away from direct skin contact and use it in a ventilated area.
Resin should never be ingested. Even after printing and curing a resin print, you should not eat from the resin printed material except it is marked non-toxic or biocompatible.
Do You Have To Cure Resin Prints?
You have to cure resin prints to get the best model quality. However, there are different curing methods. The fastest and most common method is UV curing. UV light can help cure your resin print, thus making it more stable and solid. Other methods of curing include using a solvent or hardener, as well as applying heat.
Resin comes in a liquid or semi-solid state. And after you print with it, the state of the model remains semi-solid. The model cannot achieve a solid state except you cure it. The usual way to do this is to expose the resin to a high UV wavelength with heat. After some minutes, the model would become harder and more stable.
The ideal wavelength for UV curing is 405nm UV light. You can also use sunlight, but the wavelength often depends on changing weather conditions. But for more effective curing, you can use a commercial UV station. You can also build a curing chamber from scratch to cut costs.
Conclusion
So far, we have talked in detail about the lifespan of resin left in the printer tray. Hope you find the answers you see and the information is helpful for your 3D printing. The bottom line is that you can leave uncured resin in your printer’s tray for some time. And you can still use the leftover resin later for your next printing.
