acetone vapor smoothing (again)

Post your advice, tips, suggestions, etc...
Post Reply
jsc
Posts: 1864
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 4:00 am

acetone vapor smoothing (again)

Post by jsc » Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:50 pm

I played around with this some months ago (https://groups.google.com/d/msg/makerge ... rlfqyhsPIJ), and decided to give it another go. Once again, a disclaimer: acetone vapor is highly flammable. You should not attempt this without some good ventilation.

This time I printed a platform in PLA with some top surface grooves to prevent puddling. The standoffs have slots for pennies, to try to isolate them a little bit from the bed heat. I tied thread around the legs and knotted them off at an equal distance above the platform, letting me lower and raise it level into and out of the container.
owls-2.JPG
owls-2.JPG (101.78 KiB) Viewed 6292 times
I put the jar on the bed (with lid on) and heated it to 100C. After waiting for the vapor line to rise above the height of the object, I lowered in the platform and let it sit until it was smooth, a few minutes.
owls-1.JPG
owls-1.JPG (125.25 KiB) Viewed 6292 times
Removed from heat, recondensed and recovered the acetone. The top of the print is marred because the low infill left some holes in the surface.
owls-3.JPG
owls-3.JPG (101.97 KiB) Viewed 6292 times
owls-4.JPG
owls-4.JPG (83.21 KiB) Viewed 6292 times
Interestingly, the vapor treatment seems to have warped the platform, and made it flexible.

HadMatter
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed May 07, 2014 9:29 pm

Re: acetone vapor smoothing (again)

Post by HadMatter » Wed Nov 05, 2014 10:12 pm

brilliant!

simwolfe
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:27 am

Re: acetone vapor smoothing (again)

Post by simwolfe » Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:10 am

Nice to look the finished product. Very glossy just like porcelain.
Love to read the nunchaku history.

Post Reply