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Hi Formers :slight_smile:

I recently had a rather new tank go cloudy after a failed print and wondered if I could repair it by putting a new silicone layer.

So I pulled out the silicon coating from the tank. It’s about 2.8mm thick and I would guess it’s Shore hardness to be around 40 Shore.

Is there anybody here in possession of a damaged form-1 tank AND a shore hardness meter? If so, could you please measure the shore hardness of the silicone layer for me?

I have access to optical clear silicone and all the machinery needed to work with it (vacuum pump, vacuum bell etc) and would really like to fix cloudy tanks instead of buying expensive new ones - the amount of silicone needed to restore one tank would only cost around 5$ - naturally, I would share my findings with the community.

Thanks

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Hi Tobias…

read this: Loading...

It will def solve your prob;)

Best

Luke

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Yes, there is a product available (its a 2 part mixture) and directions on how to replace the PDMS layer in the FormLabs Forum.

Search-> Sylgard and/or PDMS.

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Yes it’s in the document I just sent… sylgard 184 it’s called

Just a bit expensive if you live in Europe!

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You can manage to make about 4 or 5 trays with the amount I bought on ebay…I think it was about 450grams

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Ah thanks guys!

I remember reading about this Sylgard about a year ago, but I was under the impression it’s something to “remove” the clouding without replacing the whole layer.

From the pdf for that Sylgard I read that it’s Shore A hardness is 43, so my initial guess of 40ShA was pretty good :slight_smile:

The stuff I can get is pretty much the same refractive index, but sadly, I can only get it at 40ShA. “Sadly” because it would be about a factor 3 cheaper than Sylgard 184.

I might try both and compare them to the original layer - afaik Formlabs never stated they actually use Sylgard 184 for making new tanks, right?

Thanks again!

PS: Does anybody else get the impression that the new orange tanks layer cloud more easily? I still got the original clear tank that came with my Form-1, it had about 3 litres of prints and ALOT of failed prints (Laser failure) with blobs on the tank I had to scrape off - it’s still spotless, like the other two clear tanks I own. On the other hand, the first failed print I had with an orange tank immediatly killed it. Coincidence or Correlation?

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88 ml of Sylgard 184 - Silicone PDMS layer - possible to replace PDMS without replacing whole resin tray? - #25 by Cesar_Rullier - Form 1/1+ - Formlabs Community Forum

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Hey guys,

I guessing that sylgard 184 is the best way to go for this make sure u vacuum the hell out of the silicone before you poor it because of the bubbles, and weighing the slab of silicone that came out of the tank this will give you an almost to accurate volume of silicone that you have to put back in to it!

good luck

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I posted this on the Formlabs forum. I think its what you are looking for… How to refurbish your resin tank for about $10 - #10 by Aaron_Silidker - General Discussion - Formlabs Community Forum

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note that the older Form1 trays use more PDMS than the new ones. I think I listed the numbers in my post. The new orange trays use 65 grams which is very close to 65 ml. Just use a gram scale vs. measuring volume and you should be fine.

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Thank you guys, you been very helpful - I will get the Sylgard. I see people tested other products, but Sylgard seems to last the longest.

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Oh yes, these pesky bubbles! They will be subjected to the severe justice of a 98% vacuum for 10 minutes!

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Hi Tobias, we also offer the replacing of the silicone layer of your old resin tank through our reliable and quick service TANKRepair. You can find us here: http://www.druckwege.com/english-1/services/tankrepair/ Best regards, Florian (DruckWege)

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Hey Guys,

we had since then a lot of trouble with our tanks and “perfected” the method described here. We thought, you could also be interested in our predosed _convienent_ solution, see here: