[Munty]

Hi folks.

I've just got hold of an SLA printer, the machine fuses liquid resin though some branch of dark magic.

The cleaning process includes a tank of Isopropyl, 99+%, which over time gets saturated with the liquid resin removed from the parts printed.  Well, not saturated, it's stops working well before then.  So after some time I have to throw out 10 litres and replace it.  It's not hugely expensive, but I'm not overly happy pouring this stuff down the drain.

I would love (no idea if it's possible) to be able to drop something in the tank to attract the resin, then take it out and throw that away rather than the entire tank.

Is this at all possible?  Or would I be spending on loads of other chemicals that would then need disposal?

I hope this is in the correct forum section, I'm a bit new here.

Many thanks.

[wildfyr]

You could distill it. 10 liters is a fair bit, and isopropanol is flammable, but it's not too tricky in concept if you are careful.

Pouring resin filled isopropanol. Down the drain is not the most environmentally friendly thing. There are places you can take it to dispose of organic solvent waste.

[Enthalpy]

Dry cleaning of clothes involves (involved) evaporation of the solvent purified by this step, cleaning of the clothes by the vapour, condensation of the solvent that rains down containing the dirt.

That would apply nicely to the cleaning of parts made by SLA printers.

It demands very serious safety precautions if using isopropyl alcohol. A different solvent whose vapour doesn't burn in air would be far better, but unfortunately most candidates are carcinogens and presently forbidden. At least, a solvent that condenses quickly if leaking in the atmosphere would limit the risks, that is, with a flash point well above room temperature, so that the air+vapour volume susceptible to explode is smaller.