I’m curious if anyone uses sandblasting for cleaning up their prints. If not, what’s your favorite way to clean them up?
At my work we occasionally use a vibratory tumbler for that
Sanding with loosenmedia :)
I suspect airblasting is going to be too aggressive for plastic (or perhaps more accurately too uneven,). But a vibe tank is usually just right.
Another that can can be made with printed parts and a motor is a rock tumbler. Slower, sure, but it has the advantage of easy printing.
Personally, I usually just sand things with a sponge block or scraps of sand paper.
Have you made a printed rock tumbler? I am somewhat considering making one for my kids, but don’t know how long the container would last.
I’ve… not. I just remember playing with one as a kid. It was literally just a motor with a gear train to make it go slowish and a plastic jar.
Edit: wow. Rock tumblers have gotten expensive…this is now gonna have to be a back-burner project, me thinks.
Have they? I feel like I see more low cost options than years ago.
The ones I’m seeing are like 60-500, no way my parents would have dropped that for a toy. (Specifically one that lasted of 2 weeks,)
Aside from that one tiny cheap toy in the sears catalog backnin the day, my recollection was starting price was around $250 for any tumbler(dad was considering them for years is the only reason I have any recollection). The $52 Harbor freight option is an impressive deal especially considering a few decades of inflation. I’m not say they were ever affordable toys, just that they are more affordable than they used to be. Size is a pretty big limitation on most readily available ones below the $500 mark.
Yeah… it probably was thebsears toy.
That said the only part that would likely wear is the drum, which, if you can print one, you can print more, heh.
Might be worth trying a plastidip or some sort of urethane or rubberized coating on the inside. And the a big rubberband tire on the rollers That would make it last longer and be repairable.
Prints can be scraped using microplane cards (can be made yourself from spring steel with a hammer). I really like this method as it leaves a smooth surface.
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Straight from the printer as often as possible.
I’m not above taking knives, chisels, drills, and saws to prints as necessary, but this is usually reserved for functional/not often seen prints.
If I am looking to improve surface finish there really isn’t a substitute for sanding. I deal with the fuzzies with my hot air solder station. Just wave some hot air over the sanded surface and you’ll get quite a bit of shine back.
Now that I’ve (nearly) finished building a Voron I am somewhat tempted to give vapor smoothing a try.
What do you think of an acetone vapor bath?
I’ve never done it, but I also wasn’t printing with a material that even supported it until I started building my Voron. Now that I’m nearly done I am wrestling some with going back to PETG (somewhat more likely to be recycled if you put it in your recycling), PLA (could maybe be composted if it doesn’t get sorted out/will eventually break down in. A landfill), or ABS/ASA (no hopes or dreams here, but man my Voron does seem to print it well).
I have 6 kg of ASA for some functional prints. I’m sure I’ll vapor smooth some of it. Printing hassles of ABS/ASA aside, vapor smoothing seems like it offers amazing surface finishes. I really don’t know why you don’t see more of it? If you don’t need dimensional accuracy it should be a big time saver.
Hot air station is a great idea damn. Do you ever have to deal with going too far? I’d be scared 😲
I haven’t run into any issues, but I tend to print 3-4 walls so maybe that helps. My hot air station has adjustable temperature control and I keep the temps down - usually around printing temperature. I also don’t stay in any one spot too long. You can see the surface finish change sheen as you move on and off a spot and its temperature changes.
I can’t take credit for the idea. I either read it in a printing community or it was a natural outgrowth of people saying, “use a lighter” and me not owning a lighter.
Practice on a failed print to get the hang of things first!
A torch
Yes, we have a small sandblaster at work for cleaning up SLS Nylon prints.
