While it shouldn’t happen often, sometimes the mirror below the resin tank needs to be cleaned. Dust, water spots, and other debris can get caught on the surface and cause issues with your prints.
Cleaning the mirror is simple but it is an extremely delicate surface. As with any of the delicate parts of MoonRay, always wear gloves while cleaning to avoid contamination and fingerprints.
Clear the Area
To begin, remove the build platform from your MoonRay to ensure that specks of resin don’t fall from the platform onto the exposed mirror. Then remove the resin tank. You will now be able to see the mirror.
Clean the Area
Check the mirror for spots. If you have difficulty seeing spots on the mirror, illuminate the area with a flashlight.
Important: When lit from above in normal lighting, the mirror may look clean -- even if it is not!
To illuminate possible defects, hold a flashlight or other bright light towards the long edge of the mirror and shine it across the surface at a steep angle. Moving the light around can help as well. Do this before and after cleaning to ensure you have a clean mirror.
Use a damp, soft cloth or compressed air to clean the surface of the mirror. If the mirror has any resin on it, use isopropyl alcohol >90% with a soft cloth to break it down.
After cleaning with alcohol, clean and wipe it down with water to be sure any streaks from the alcohol are removed as well. Alcohol streaks may appear red on the mirror, when lit properly, and resin or oils from the ambient air tend to look blue or purple.
Caution:
You can use compressed air to clean off specks, but be very careful. Compressed air contains liquid propellant which can compromise the mirror if it accidentally gets on the surface. Never turn the compressed air upside down or at too-steep of an angle! You can instead bend the straw to help the air go where you want.
Replace first the resin tank, then the build platform. Try your print again!