After using resin, you may be wondering how to clean it off your tools. Not only does reusing supplies help you protect Mother Earth, but it will save you money too.
Here’s how you can clean hard surface resin tools:
Clean your tools while wet. Wear safety gloves and use paper towels to wipe off the excess resin. Then, wipe again with a paper towel soaked in acetone to clean any remaining residue. Do a final wash with detergent and water. Thoroughly dry them before using them for your next resin project.
💡 Pro tip: Don’t use cheap soap. You want good dishwashing detergent for this step.
If your tools are flexible enough, you can let the resin cure. Once hard, flex or bend the cups and utensils to break off resin pieces and skins.
⭐️ BONUS: How to clean resin from mixing cups:
If your resin tools are silicone, let the resin cure, then clean.
Then, you can peel dry resin off the surface. Sometimes it can be hard to get every resin drip off when using this technique. You can use a dry ‘scrub daddy’ sponge and a little dishwashing soap to get these drips off. You can also press the sticky side of packing tape against the cured resin. When you lift the tape away, the resin chips come with it.
What if you have resin to get rid of?
If the resin is liquid, dispose of the resin safely. That means NEVER pouring resin kit liquids down your plumbing. If the resin is cured, you can throw it away with your household trash.
⭐️ BONUS: Here are five things you can do with your resin mistakes instead of throwing them away.
Want more resin beginner advice?
Then get your copy of the ebook, Resin Fundamentals. It’s the PDF book I wrote especially for beginners. In only a couple of hours, you’ll stop making mistakes and instead make something gorgeous.
Unpublished Blog Posts of Resin Obsession, LLC © 2023 Resin Obsession, LLC
Thanks so much! I didn’t know about the acetone.. I’m hoping this applies to uv resin also . I can’t seem to work without drips as have essential tremor in my hands..
Hmm. I don’t know Joyce. I’ve never tried with UV resin.
Put your UV resin tools and cups outside in the sun for a while or use a UV light. Once it’s cured you can clean it just like other resins.
Isopropyl alcohol also works for cleaning up epoxy resin and it wont leave any residue afterwards. And it’s less hazardous to your health.
Agreed Robert. If in Australia, an alternative to isopropyl alcohol is metholated spirits, which I use all the time with UV and standard epoxy resins.
Acetone works and so does Isopropyl alcohol and personally I find this a lot better. You can even use Mentholated spirits. Wear gloves if using Acetone too as it can cause very dry skin with prolonged use.
Are there graduated silicone cups available?
If you are using silicone cups, mat and stir sticks (which is what i use as it is more cost effecient), it works well to use a disposable baby wipe to clean off the mat and the stick prior to using the acetone or dish soap. It also works nicely to use in the silicone cup to wipe out any remaining resin/acetone residue prior to washing.
That’s great Lisa. Thanks for sharing!
Do you use biodegradable wipes? I ask as other wipes do not breakdown quickly and can in fact take many years as they contain plastic.
Thank you Lisa, I have been using a biodegradable alcohol wipe myself but on looking at these (and being able to get them in the UK too) I may put these on my list for next time I need something 🙂
You bet! Glad to be of some help!!
I love to peel the dried resin off my flexible tools and especially out of plastic mixing cups. I find it is much easier for me to ensure I have removed all the remaining Resin if I add color to the remains before they harden. ( a drop of ink or paint). Perhaps it is due to old eyes but if I leave my Resin clear I miss spots.
It is oddly satisfying, isn’t it?
Can you put epoxy on a tumbler while it is raining outside. I have a room in my house that is heated and cooled, that I do my epoxy in.
Hi Sheila, it sounds like you are working in a climate-controlled room, so I would expect everything to cure just fine.
Shelia you will need a tumbler ( rotating device) to slowly rotate your cup or tumbler till it cures. Otherwise you wont get an even coating on them. It will cure the same as if it’s flat and your design will stay as you put it on. Gravity is your enemy otherwise.
For small cups I go to the pharmacy and ask at the medication counter for a dozen 1 oz syrup measuring cups. Often they give them to me for free and other places may charge you $1 max for the lot. :0
I working with wood craft and I put some resin. It won’t dry. Can I use acetone to clean it.
Yes, but wear gloves when you do it.
what is uv resin?
UV resin is resin that cures with the use of Ultra Violet light, either from a lamp (such as one used to cure nail varnishes and cures in minutes) or by the sun (the sun can take a good while though)
UV = Ultraviolet (for some reason I decided to put a gap in there lol)
I have two round Resin cake tier and the but make big bubble ( like a bubble) but I can’t stop making making them look I a plate. I wanted them to looke like a falt plate. What am I doing wrote. I don’t like the bumps in it.
Hi Nanna, it sounds like you are trapping bubbles in the resin. This article explains how to get bubbles out of resin: https://www.resinobsession.com/resin-frequently-asked-questions/resin-bubbles/
Let me let you all in on a little secret. White vinegar!!!! It does wonder’s on cleaning epoxy resin off of silicone molds. Hands down this is the best trick I have learned. Take a vinegar soaked paper towel & done! I let the resin dry first. Then wash or rinse as usual. Thank me later😉
Hi
I cannot order the book in The Netherlands how com?
Regards,
Carmen
Hi Carmen, I’m not sure what’s going on. Please send us a message through our contact page and we’ll get this going for you.
I have been in the hospital 4 times in almost a year. This last time I was in I was like why didn’t I think of this sooner. I save the little medicine cups that they give your medicine in to do my resin in if I just need small amounts. This last time I was in the nurse went and got me a half pkg of them after I told her why I was saving them. She was a very nice nurse. We talked quite a bit.