Prepare and Install the Resin Tray

Resin Tray Guidelines

The membrane contained within each resin tray is the most fragile component of the Figure 4 Standalone Printer. It must be handled with care. Follow all resin-tray guidelines and procedures to avoid membrane damage and failure.

HARMFUL IRRITANT WARNING: Wear protective clothing, disposable nitrile gloves, and goggles while handling the resin tray.

CAUTION: If a leak/spill occurs, do not run the machine. UV curing will harden the resin on unwanted surfaces and will make the resin very hard to remove. A nonabrasive cloth and IPA will help clean up any spilled uncured resin.

CAUTION: Failure to clean the resin tray of partially cured resin will lead to membrane failure and failed prints.

Expected lifetime of the resin tray is around 900 builds.
Do not apply pressure to the membrane. Deformations form easily and permanently, and may lead to membrane failure and degradation of print quality. Never touch the membrane with sharp objects.
Do not touch the membrane with bare skin. Skin oils may cause print-quality degradation.
Always verify that all printed parts and supports have been accounted for after a build. Be sure to inspect the resin tray for partially cured material. Cured material (also called green material) that is clear, or tiny bits of cured material may not be visible to the naked eye. If you suspect that partially cured material might be present in the tray, you must clean the tray before building again.
Always ensure there is enough print material in the resin tray to complete a build before starting the print job. Adding additional material during a print job is not recommended, as it would require opening the printer lid during printing.
With thorough cleaning of the resin tray in between builds, it is possible to use different resins in the same resin tray (not at the same time). Please see the section Resin Tray Resin Cross-Usage for information on which resins may share a single resin tray. Do not mix two or more types of resin in the resin tray. Doing so will cause both materials to become ineffective.
Avoid transporting a resin tray that is filled with resin so as to avoid spills. Always carry resin tray with both hands to help ensure that it does not drop on the floor. Any damage to the resin tray would mean that the resin tray needs to be replaced.
Do not move the printer while there is a resin tray inside that is filled with resin. Even moving the printer a few inches with resin inside can cause a resin spill.
Uncovered resin trays should not be left outside the Figure 4 Standalone Printer when containing any amount of print material. Material will cure when exposed to ambient light. Cured material is extremely difficult to remove from the resin-tray membrane without causing damage. If you store a resin tray containing material outside the printer, use the resin-tray garage and store the tray in a cool, dark place.
Resin overflow from the resin tray will be channeled into the catch tray. Discard the resin in the catch tray according to all government regulations.
When pouring print material back into its bottle, be sure to use a filter, as seen in the section Clean Resin Tray.
Always ensure the resin tray is clean of uncured liquid resin and partially cured bits before each print.
Always ensure that the resin tray is not damaged in any way, particularly on the membrane. Resin-tray damage could cause build failure and/or resin leakage. Resin-tray damage can be: membrane puncture, dent, scratch or discoloration.

Install Resin Tray

NOTE: A print platform should not be installed during this procedure.

CAUTION: If tension system is damaged in some way, do not attempt to force any components to engage/disengage. Doing so could further damage the tension system, as well as other parts of the printer. Contact 3D Systems Service immediately.

Wear 100% nitrile gloves whenever reaching inside the print chamber.

Open the front door of the printer.

Push in the tension-arm release lever on the front of the tension arm and lift up the tension arm. The arm will stay in place in the up position.

Carefully lower the resin tray into place, concave side up, as seen at the right. It should fit snugly in the holder on the chassis.

Apply tension to the membrane by flipping down the manual tension arm until the release lever locks it in place.

CAUTION: Major build defects and/or membrane failure will result if a print is attempted on an untensioned membrane.

Add/Change Material and Scan Bottle

Once a material type has been loaded, this is the material that the printer is expecting for the next print job. But you may wish to change the type of resin you are using. Most of the time, you will be changing the material as part of the printing process. However, you can also tap the Change Material button at the bottom of the Material tab home screen to change the material type to be used on your next print. You can also use this screen to add print material for the first time. If you have not yet activated your printer, you must do so in order to get through the following steps. Please see the section Printer Activation for more information.

NOTE: The screens in this section will be slightly different depending on whether you are changing the material type or adding material for the first time.

On the Material tab, tap the Change Material button.

The scanner below the touch screen will be activated and you will see a screen like the one at the right. Hold your material bottle's QR code in the path of the scanner such that the center dot is in the middle of the QR code (see image below).

CAUTION: The printer keeps track of how much resin is used from your bottle. Ensure you are pouring from the same bottle you scanned. Using one bottle to scan and another to pour from will result in the printer thinking your bottle is empty after a certain amount of pours.

If the scan is successful, you will see the Bottle Found screen, like the one at the right. If the scan is not successful, this could be for a number of reasons, which are outlined in the section Printer Error Messages.

Remove the print platform and resin tray, cleaning them both, as per the sections Clean Print Platform and Clean Resin Tray.

After removing the resin tray, label it on the outside with an identifying number, letter, or word(s) to let you know which material was in it before.

If the catch-tray glass has a large amount of spilled resin on it, you must dispose of it according to all government regulations and replace it with a new catch tray. If it has no resin, or just a few resin spots on it, clean the glass with >90% alcohol solvent on a nonabrasive cloth, according to the section Clean/Replace the Catch Tray.

Reinstall the print platform.

Install a new resin tray or reinstall the cleaned old one, as per the section Install Resin Tray.
If this is a new resin tray, label this tray with the same naming convention used in Step 5.

On the Material tab, your new material will be loaded. Fill the tray with the new material and check the boxes on the screen. Tap Confirm.

You are now ready to perform the print process with a new material.

Resin Tray Material Cross-Usage

You may clean the resin tray with >90% alcohol solvent between builds, enabling you to use different resins in the same resin tray (not at the same time). However, if a clear resin is poured into a tray that previously had a pigmented resin, it could result in undesirable coloring of the printed part. Because of this, if you intend to use the whole family of Figure 4 print materials, you will need a minimum of two resin trays for your Figure 4 Standalone Printer. The chart below shows which resins can share the same resin tray (provided that you have cleaned them with >90% alcohol solvent in between uses), with the minimum two trays indicated as trays 1 and 2. You may desire to use more than two trays for your purposes. Mark your resin trays with letters or numbers to help you remember which tray is which.

Tray 1

Figure 4 TOUGH GRY 10

Figure 4 TOUGH GRY 15

Figure 4 JCAST-GRN 10

Figure 4 ELAST-BLK 10

Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 10

Figure 4 TOUGH-BLK 20

Figure 4 PRO-BLK 10

Figure 4 HI TEMP 300-AMB

Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 20

Figure 4 EGGSHELL-AMB 10

Figure 4 JewelMaster-GRY

Tray 2

Figure 4 MED-AMB 10

Figure 4 MED-WHT 10

Tray 3

Figure 4 RUBBER-BLK 10

Mixing, Stirring, and Curing Chart

Before pouring any Figure 4 resin in the resin tray, you must mix the resin bottle according to the chart below. Before printing again with those resins, you must stir the resin in the resin tray using the Resin Mixer. Stirring the material in the resin tray serves two purposes: 1. Ensuring a good resin mixture; and, 2. Ensuring there is not debris in the resin tray, such as partially cured particulates.

Material Stirring and Curing Chart

CAUTION: Failure to sufficiently mix resins according to this chart may result in color deviation and/or print failure.

The chart below serves as a quick reference for resin-bottle mixing time on the NextDent LC-3DMixer, resin stirring time when resin is in the resin tray, and part-curing time in the LC-3DPrint Box.

For part-washing times, please see the section Cleaning Chart.

For part-drying times, please see the section Dry the Build Parts.

NOTE: If your print-material bottle has been sitting unused for more than one month, treat it like a new bottle and mix it according to the "brand new bottle" column below.

Name	Bottle Shaking Time Before Mixer Use (1, see note below)	Bottle Mixing Time Required (LC-3DMixer)		Stirring Time Required (in resin tray)		Curing Time in LC-3DPrint Box
		Brand new bottle	After first use (2, see note below)	In tray less than 3 hrs	In tray more than 3 hrs
General Purpose
Figure 4 PRO-BLK 10 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	90 min.
Figure 4 TOUGH GRY 10 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	60 min.
Figure 4 TOUGH GRY 15 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	90 min.
Figure 4 TOUGH-BLK 20 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	90 min.
Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 10 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	60 min.
Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 20 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	90 min.
High Temperature
Figure 4 HI TEMP 300-AMB	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	90 min.
High Temperature and Medical
Figure 4 MED-AMB 10	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	60 min.
Figure 4 MED-WHT 10	5 min. before each use, whether "brand new" or "after first use"	2.5 hrs.	1 hr.	30 secs.	60 secs.	60 min.
Elastomer
Figure 4 ELAST-BLK 10 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	45 min.
Figure 4 RUBBER-BLK 10 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	90 min.
Figure 4 RUBBER-65A BLK (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	90 min.
Casting
Figure 4 JCAST-GRN 10 (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	30 min.
Figure 4 EGGSHELL-AMB 10	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	90 min.
Figure 4 JEWEL MASTER GRY (3, see note below)	n/a	1 hr.	10 min.	30 secs.	30 secs.	60 min.

NOTE: Ensure that you place the build in your UV curing oven in the same orientation it was printed in, as if the bottom of the oven is the print platform.

1. Pre-shaking by hand

For best printing results, some MED print materials require that you pre-shake the bottle by hand before placing it on the LC-3DMixer for the specified time. This is to ensure that sediment thoroughly mixes with the rest of the material.

2. Considerations for resin that has been sitting, unused, for over 1 month

If you have a resin bottle like this, simply treat it like a new bottle and mix it for the time specified in the "Brand-new bottle" column in the above chart.

3. For these materials only, instead of using the bottle mixer:

You may opt to mix the material bottle exclusively by hand, shaking it vigorously in an up-and-down motion. Shake it for five minutes for a new material or for one you are treating as new (see above note). Shake the bottle for two minutes for a recently used bottle.

Fill Resin Tray With Material

HARMFUL IRRITANT WARNING: Always handle the resin tray with care, even if you believe there is no material in it. wearing contact lenses when handing a resin tray filled with material is not recommended. Wear 100% nitrile gloves when handling the resin tray, even if you believe there is no material in it. Be careful not to pour material outside the resin tray, or to allow material to splash outside the resin tray. Liquid material has the potential to damage electrical equipment, particularly in the lower part of the printer.

TIP: You may choose to hold the material bottle with two hands, just in case it slips out of one hand, so that you do not drop the material bottle.

Fill the Resin Tray

Before filling the resin tray, you should have completed the steps in the section Add/Change Material and Scan Bottle. If you have not done so, do so now.

CAUTION: Failure to properly switch materials will result in reduced reactivity of the new material, even when only very small amounts of different material(s) are mixed in. This will result in build failure and wasted material.

Before pouring the material into the resin tray, be sure you do the following:
1. Mix the material on the LC-3DMixer (1) for the time specified for your material in the Material Stirring and Curing Chart or shake the bottle vigorously in an up-and-down motion (2).
  
  CAUTION: Failure to sufficiently mix materials before each build may result in color deviation and/or print failure.
2. If you are using the same material bottle as in your previous build, be sure that the print platform and resin tray are completely clean of debris (such as dust), and/or partially cured material residue.
  
  CAUTION: Failure to clean the resin tray and print platform of debris may affect the material's reactivity and the printed part's ability to adhere to the print platform.
3. If you are using a new bottle of the same material, but it has a different batch number than your last bottle, you must either empty the resin tray of the previous material or use a different resin tray for the new bottle. Please see the section above about mixing old and new material.

Before filling the resin tray with material, take note of the markings printed on the front and back.
1. The MIN mark indicates that the 5mm (0.2 in) pool in the bottom of the tray is full. Do not print if the resin level is below this line.
2. Each numbered mark indicates 100mL (3.4 fl. oz.) more of resin on top of the 5mm pool, on up to 400mL (13.5 fl. oz.).
3. The MAX mark indicates a resin level of 430mL (14.5 fl. oz.). See caution statement below.

CAUTION: Do not fill the resin tray beyond 430 mL (14.5 fl. oz.). Doing so risks spilling material and/or getting material on elevator arms during printing.

Slowly pour material until desired height is reached. Hold the bottle low over the tray while pouring to avoid splashing.

Close printer lid as soon as possible after pouring, so as to avoid any unnecessary exposure of the material to ambient UV light.

Mixing Material in the Resin Tray

Resin that is left in the resin tray between builds needs to be stirred periodically. In this case, you would use the Resin Mixer to stir the resin, as seen below. Refer to the Material Stirring and Curing Chart for information on stirring materials.

CAUTION: Failure to sufficiently mix resins before each build may result in color deviation and/or print failure.

CAUTION: Ensure that the comb is clean before each use. To clean the comb, wipe it with a nonabrasive cloth and the recommended solvent.

Run the comb through the resin, with the sharp end (A) facing down. Grip the comb on the indented gripper (B). Please see the images below for the proper stirring technique.

CAUTION: Do not scrape the comb's blade from side to side like a knife. Rather, move it back and forth like an ice scraper.

Holding the comb slanted, run it back and forth through the resin, careful not to put too much pressure on the resin-tray film. Do this for the time prescribed in the Material Stirring and Curing Chart, or until all resin that has stuck on the resin-tray film has been scraped off. You are looking for stuck-on resin spots like that which is circled below:

After stirring, allow the resin mixer to drip resin back into the resin tray and then wipe excess resin off the comb with a nonabrasive cloth.

CAUTION: Putting too much pressure on the resin-tray film can dent or puncture the film, rendering the tray unusable. The film cannot be replaced by itself; if the film is damaged, the whole resin tray must be replaced.

CAUTION: Puncturing the resin tray will force a full tray's worth of print material into the catch tray. Use extra caution when handling a full catch tray.

CAUTION: If the resin tray gets punctured, discard it in the same way you would other materials that have been in contact with liquid resin.

CAUTION: Take care not to slosh resin out of the resin tray while stirring. If this happens, you will have to clean the parts of the printer that the resin got on.

Repeat the stirring process as indicated by the Material Stirring and Curing Chart.

CAUTION: Be sure to clean the comb with IPA between uses. Failure to do so risks mixing unstirred resin or different resin in with material currently in the resin tray.