Sometimes the best ideas are simple and seem obvious after you’ve heard them. [Danny] showed us a great idea that fits that description. He uses a peristaltic pump to move resin in and out of his print bed. (Video, embedded below.) Normally, you remove the tank and pour the resin out into a container. With the pump, you can leave the tank where it is and simply pull the resin through a tube. The process is slower than pouring, but not as messy and doesn’t risk damage to your FEP film.

You can also use the pump like a vacuum to clean up resin. According to [Danny], the biggest value is when working with very large printers. He shows a Peopoly Phenom which has a huge tank compared to the other printers he shows in the video.

The cost for the pump is less than $40, although you can get faster pumps for a higher cost. [Danny] didn’t think it was worth the extra cost. Depending on the size, the less expensive pump will empty a tank out in 5 to 10 minutes. He also had a few tips about how to get the best flow and make the least amount of mess.

Once done, he pumps alcohol through the pump and caps off the tubing using a bolt. Overall, it looks like a great trick. You can, of course, make your own. We see them bartending quite a bit.

Or you go with much less sophisticated tools that are much easier to clean – a spout and spatula that is precisely shaped for the resin tank profile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK9suvwUhDs

Which is great for a small tank like this, but much more trouble for the really large bed printers shown in the video.

Pump up the Resin, pump up the resin, pump up the resin, Stuck. Stuck.

This would be a lot better if it was embedded in the machine so that the process was automated.

The problem is with cleaning the tube of the peristaltic pump; you usually don’t want to mix the resins (e.g., printing white after black).

Pump IPA in, let it sit. Pump dirty IPA out, pump fresh IPA in, pump mildly dirty IPA out. Then pump fresh resin in.

Find a way to automate this process because for god’s sake it’d probably be easier to just clean it yourself.

Just pump some IPA in closed loop fo a while. Both end of the tube in the same container with IPA and you are good to go.

Vacuum based system might be easier for this, but would require two containers of IPA to pump the liquid back and forth between then. With vacuum you can have all valves on the clean side and only dealing with air. The resin and IPA goes just through simple hoses and opening ambient / vacuum valves on each container can select what to pump where.

Pumping the resin back to the print bed might be a challenge, as it’s not a closed container you could pull a vacuum into.

kureig coffee makers have a similar problem to solve

The inability to clean the innards without disassembly is precisely why I don’t do Keurig coffee.

I just got myself an car oil pump to pump out oil. I’ll let you know of the damage.

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