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I have seen that you can clean used IPA from resin by putting it in the sun a while, making the resin dissolved in the IPA cure. Could I do the same thing just using the cure-mode in with the Elegoo Mercury wash-and-cure-station?

Ulf
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    Which wash and cure station? There are a bunch on the market. Technically you could replace sunlight with a UV LED – Trish Nov 21 '20 at 15:00

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Based on the frequencies of most UV cure resins, your suggestion has merit. Other factors come into consideration, however.

These illumination devices have a limited life span. Running the UV diodes for the purpose of curing out the resin from the IPA will "use up" the portion of time otherwise useful for curing models.

Additionally, the UV light which would otherwise be "applied" to the surface of a printed model now has to pass through the IPA. While the IPA is perfectly transparent to the 405 nm used to cure resins, there could be attenuation and refraction by impurities in the liquid.

Sunlight is mostly free, broad-spectrum, and (on a sunny day) far more powerful than most affordable UV illumination systems.

In a pinch, sure, use the curing feature, but the sun is your cheap friend.

Trish
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fred_dot_u
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  • Thanks for good comments! I will try to find a better solution than using the curing station. I can try the sun, but I live in sweden. It's autumn/ winter here. i haven't seen the actual sun in a week. The few hours it's up it's mostly cloudy :-P – Ulf Nov 21 '20 at 16:41
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    There are a number of "ordinary" UV lamps that will not be as expensive and will accomplish the desired result. Some of them could be considered nail salon curing devices. One other option is to look for a simple UV tube and build a mount for it, with your skin and eye safety in mind. – fred_dot_u Nov 21 '20 at 20:06
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    @Ulf a UVA light bulb for curing fingernails also hits the 400 nm band that we need for our resins. UV LED sources can be acquired for decent prizes too. **Use those in a chamber only**, as harsh UV will burn eyes and skin! – Trish Nov 22 '20 at 22:12
  • @Ulf, while the sun is at a lower angle in your northern latitude, it's just as easy to get a sunburn on a cloudy day as it is on a cloudless day. Usually easier because people don't think about it, so they don't apply sunscreen. All that to say that even on a cloudy day, there's probably more than enough UV reaching Earth to cure the resin in your IPA. – FreeMan Feb 24 '22 at 18:30