Failed Print Checklist for Resin Printers

If you are reading this, you most likely have recently gotten a resin 3D printer and had a print fail. This is a common occurrence when printing miniatures or other items. It really isn’t what to do if you have a failed print, but rather what to do when you have a failed print.

Here are the steps that I take every time I have a failed print. This is the order that I do things in, some people do things in different orders with good results as well, I will make as many notes of these types of changes as I can.

Drain the resin vat
Clean the resin vat and check for cured resin stuck to the FEP
Remove any cured resin that is stuck to the FEP
Check for damage to the FEP
Clean the build plate
Level the build plate
Look for anything else that might cause another failure

Safety first: Make sure to use appropriate protective gear such as gloves and glasses while cleaning your vat. Also, you should do this in a well ventilated area.

Drain the Resin Vat

When prints fail, there are almost always small bits of cured resin floating around in the resin in your vat. If you run another print without getting rid of these, they can get pressed into your FEP and damage it or even punch holes in it, or they might get stuck into the next print causing a weird surface depending on the size of the floating bit.

Some people will check for uncured resin on the bottom of the vat first by gently feeling the FEP with the plastic scraper that came with their printer. I will cover this method and how to remove stuck on resin before draining it in the next section about checking for cured resin below.

Regardless of the order you chose to do things in, you will need to drain the resin using a funnel with a fine filter in it. I used to use a paint filter, but now I use this funnel from Amazon. It is small but it has a good mesh filter on it and is easy to clean up after each use.

I always pour the resin back into the bottle while it is sitting on the slap mat that I keep in from of my printer. It is a cheap silicone mat that catches any spills and makes it easy to clean up my messes.

You can see that there were a lot of small bits left in the resin that were filtered out. If these had been poured back into the resin bottle they would have been possible problems in the future. Even these tiny bits can get pushed into the FEP and damage it.

After you have filtered out the resin, use some isopropyl alcohol to clean out the funnel and put it away.

Clean the Resin Vat and Check for Cured Resin Stuck to the FEP

This is the method that I use for draining and then cleaning my resin vat

Cleaning the resin vat is a pretty straightforward process. After I have drained it, I like to place a clean microfiber cloth on top of my slap mat and then put the vat on top of that to protect the FEP from getting scratched or damaged by the accumulated resin spills that I have on it.

First, I pour a little bit of isopropyl alcohol into the vat and swish it back and forth by tilting the vat. Then I pour that out into my waste bottle. I use an empty drink bottle that is clear, this allows me to set the bottle outside and the resin cures inside of the bottle and makes disposal simpler.

Second, I put a little bit more isopropyl alcohol into the vat and use the plastic scraper to gently push the liquid around while applying very light pressure to feel for anything that is stuck to the vat. Make a note of where you feel any resistance and then drain the isopropyl alcohol into your waste container.

Last, I use a clean microfiber cloth to gently clean up any leftover alcohol and resin from the vat. Repeat step two if necessary. The important thing to remember is to be gentle and patient while doing this. Getting in too much of a hurry can get you to put too much pressure and possibly damage your FEP.

Remove any cured resin that is stuck to the FEP

If you found cured resin that is stuck to FEP, you will need to remove it or it will cause you major issues. Your FEP is pretty delicate so you need to be gentle while removing the resin. Luckily your FEP is flexible while the cured resin is not. Put a little bit of isopropyl alcohol on and around the resin to act as a lubricant.

Since you have set your vat on top of a microfiber cloth as I recommended in the section above, you will be able to press down on the FEP using the flat of your plastic scraper and it will flex a little bit, the resin that you are removing will not flex. Gently work back and forth at the edge of the resin. Be patient and the resin will pop off after a little while. Repeat this for any other bits of resin.

Once the cured resin has been removed, rinse the vat with a little bit of fresh isopropyl alcohol to make sure that all of the bits have come clear of the vat and you won’t have any surprises.

This is the method that some other people use to remove stuck-on resin first and then drain and clean the vat

Some people swear by removing stuck on resin before draining your vat. This might sound counterintuitive, but it really is a simple procedure and many people prefer to do it this way.

You should keep some supports from prior prints on hand to help you with this process. Place a group of supports in each of the corners of your vat so that the flat part that was against your build plate is resting on your FEP. use the screen test feature of your printer to test the full screen. Leave the screen on for 15 – 20 seconds, or however long you generally do your burn in layers for your prints.

The screen test that you just did should have cured resin across the entire FEP it will have bonded to any that was already cured and on the FEP, meaning that when you pull off the layer of cured resin you will pull off any that was cured and stuck previously.

After you have turned off your screen test, gently lift the support in the corner that is most convenient for you. You should feel it start to lift away, as it does it will bring all of the cured resin that is connected to it. Hopefully, you can get it all in one pull. but if you don’t, that is why I had you place more than one set of supports. If you didn’t get it all in one pull, make sure to put the pieces together on your slap mat to see if you are missing any pieces. If you didn’t get to all then you will have to go with the method that I outlined above.

Check for damage to the FEP

Now that you have the vat all cleaned up, take some time to inspect your FEP sheet and decide if it needs to be replaced or not. For my most recent print failure, it was very obvious that I had a hole in my FEP because there was cured resin on my printer’s LCD screen underneath my FEP. There is only one way that resin gets there and that’s through a hole in the FEP. If you have gotten resin on your LCD screen I have a guide to getting cured resin off of your LCD screen that you can read here.

Often the damage won’t be this obvious and inspecting your FEP visually is the best way to find flaws. I like to shine a bright light on the surface of the FEP and see how it reflects. You can also do this in front of a window on a bright day.

If you look at the reflection of my window in the FEP you can see several spots where the reflection is different. These dark spots are where there are holes in the FEP. indentations that don’t go all the way through the FEP will also show up like this, those dents in the FEP can cause issues as well. Anywhere that the light wiggles or is distorted on the reflection is where the surface isn’t perfectly smooth like FEPs should be. You can get away with some surface irregularities, but too many can start causing more failures, worn out FEPs should be replaced.

Clean your build plate

In general, we prefer when resin attaches to the build plate as it cures rather than your FEP. When a print fails it is possible for cured resin to be stuck to your build plate but not attached to the rest of your print. a quick cleaning goes a long way in preventing possible issues. Any cured resin that you find on your build plate should be cleaned off to prevent it from causing issues.

Level Your Build Plate Again

Many print failures are caused by build plates that have come out of level. Taking a few minutes to level your build plate again might save you hours of wasted print time.

Look for anything else that might cause another failure

Check your printer for loose parts, loose parts can cause printer malfunctions and print failures
Check that your printer is on a level surface that doesn’t shift during printing

These are my recommendations of things that I use all the time when painting miniatures

My 3D Printer

My Paintbrush Set

My Vortex Mixer

My Ultrasonic Cleaner

The Starter Paint Set That I Recommend for small budgets

The Starter Paint Set That I Recommend for large budgets

My Wet Pallete

My favorite Airbrush

My Desk Mat

I like to listen to books on Audible while I paint