Acetone Vapor Treatment for ABS Printed Parts

[John Nicol]

Found this excellent blog article on how to treat ABS printed parts to give them a smooth finish. (Doesn't work with PLA) http://blog.reprap.org/2013/02/vapor-tr ... parts.html

It basically melts the outer layer and fills in the grooves between printed layers providing a finish that looks like it was injection molded.



This would be a great way to finish our MakerPlane parts, including the flight grip that Ted is working on. I also wonder if it might be a way to build small molds for parts? One test I was thinking of is to build a mold out of two or three printed parts, glue them together and use this method to see if it can create a smooth one-piece mold? I will try that out once I get my printer for sure. I have always been a bit negative with the finish of additive printing with plastic, but I am thinking I am changing my mind seeing the potential finish available using this method.

[jeff54il]

..... is to build a mold out of two or three printed parts, glue them together and use this method to see if it can create a smooth one-piece mold?

John, now you're talking my language - great technology and a great idea - I'm glad I thought of it

[John Nicol]

Jeffrey,

You are always amazing me with your ideas, even the ones you come up with yourself!

John

[Ted]

That's very cool. I have made a few casts at work from printed molds, but I used putty for filling the grooves between printed layers. This process looks much better.

-Ted

[John Nicol]

Just put up a blog post with pix on my experiments using this acetone vapour bath method here:

http://makerplane.org/?p=1627