So I had purchased some parts and they came in great and I need to give them a vapor bath and have them come out like all the videos on YouTube however in having an issue.
I ordered enough parts to play around with and allow myself to mess-ups a few times but I need to get to the bottom of this. The parts are very simple and have no unique bits to them so I have gone thru and sanded all the boogers and such with 60, 120, and 320 sandpaper which creates a smooth yet gritty feel so I then washed the part in water and allowed it to dry.
I am using the cold bath method with paper towels and a 1 gallon paint can. On the first part I let it sit and checked it every 10 minutes. After about 30 minutes the papers were dry so I added more acetone and let sit. After another hour and a half the part still didn’t have the look I am after.
On the second part I moved the part down closer to the lid of the can and added more acetone. After an hour I opened it up to find acetone on the top of the lid and barley touching the part so I tried to soak up what I could and re-covered the part.
After another 1-1.5 hours I opened the can and the part still doesn’t look glossy and a little of the bottom has been melted.
Am I sanding them to smooth? Am I not letting them sit long enough? I am having issues getting things right.
I now have the first part back into the can and after an hour it looks like still nothing is really happening.
The person who printed the parts did great and even vapor bathed a piece that felled the print and it looks exactly as I am wanting and they used a similar method please any advice would be great. I only have 4 parts left and I need two to come out as intended.
leksus
July 22, 2016, 8:26am
2
If your thing don’t have little parts, just try immerse it into the acetone for 30-60 seconds. With 90 micron I usually immersing 40 seconds, it’s enough.
Eddi
July 22, 2016, 8:40am
3
I am not sure if I am understanding your technique correctly but I slightly ‘cook’ the pot (or in your case a can) with some acetone just until it boils and you see the acetone vapor rises (as it’s heavier than air). The printed piece is inside the can full of vapor. I usually have a glas lid so i can close it and see how much the print has ‘melted’.
Hi,
1: Make sure there is a lid on the can.
2: Make sure there is plenty of acetone within.
3: When the bottom gets glossy/melted and the rest doesnt, its because the vapors doesnt reach up far enough.
This is usually ensured by keeping a small fan within the enclosure.
4: Put the can on a medium-hot radiator while its smoothing, Acetone has a boilingpoint of 56 degrees celsius, closing in on that temperature-point will really help speed up the process and get a more even result.
If you dont want to add a fan inside, raise the temperature to at least 50 degrees, and keep the lid loosely in place (so preasure can escape) - and make sure to add plenty of acetone as it will vaporize rather quickly.
Or simply just submerge the entire part in an acetone bath for maybe 10-20 seconds, then let it dry for a while.
Good luck.
I use the rice cooker method (carefully) to have a warm vapour bath. I have not found the cold method to work well enough. Maybe the ambient temperature is too low in the UK, even in Summer!
Thanks for the replies. Ill try submersion but i think it may be because the part is fairly thin at 1.5mm.
I have one more part i can test and if submersion doesn’t work then ill just buy some XDC-3D
XDC-3D is okay - I’ve got some of that too. Nowhere near as good as an acetone vapour bath though.
Have you ever experienced white spots after dipping parts into the acetone?
I have had white spots appear after acetoning a sanded part. Its seems to be little air bubbles traded under the surface. Unsure of what causes it but i noticed it mostly happens on parts i have sanded. i suspect it has something to do with the acetone melting the surface layer and then as the air inside the models infill heats up and expands it causes the bubbles.
to get rid of them, sand the bubbles back and then very very briefly hit the model with some acetone vapour again.
