You know how to paint your 3D prints? Just spray ‘em! Nope - there’s a much better way we found at Redicubricks.
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Magically Finish Your 3D Prints with the MagicBox
3D printing newbies often complain about the supposedly unsightly layer lines that are often quite visible on coarsely-printed objects. Now there’s a safer way to get rid of them.
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The Brilliance of Post-3D Print Finishing
Most people who own a 3D printer are content when they pull the print out and admire it. But there’s much more that can be done.
Read MoreMakeraser’s Smooth Launch
Finally Makeraser is available for purchase, having launched on Kickstarter this week. It’s not a 3D printer, but everyone who owns a 3D printer should certainly get one.
It’s a multi-use accessory that leverages acetone’s peculiar property of dissolving ABS plastic. In the past we’ve seen various attempts to use acetone to smooth ABS prints, typically by immersing them in a glass chamber filled with highly flammable heated acetone vapor.
The Makeraser is a far safer method of achieving similar results. The designers realized that instead of immersing a print in acetone, you merely needed to touch the surface with a very small amount of acetone, such as you may do with a dainty cotton ball.
Through some experiments, they devised a type of “pen” that delivers acetone through a felt tip. You simply “paint” your object with the Makeraser tip to smooth out the surface. It may take a bit longer than the acetone vapor approach, but we’d prefer to be safe.
But that’s not all. The Makeraser was discovered to have multiple other uses, including:
- Gluing ABS parts together
- Prepping a print bed for guaranteed ABS sticking
- Sealing holes in a print
- Removing small protuberances
You can have one of these useful devices by purchasing from Kickstarter for only USD$99. But wait - you’ll also get a “razor sharp” scraper for removing ABS prints securely fastened to your print bed by the Makeraser.
And there’s even more! They’re also including a bottle of Makelastic, a new liquid treatment that makes PLA prints flexible! Yep, print in solid, rigid PLA, soak it in Makelastic and it become very flexible. No need for purchasing flexible filament!
Definitely a very good deal for some terrific tools.
Via Kickstarter
Cosmo's Patina Kit
During 3D Printshow 2013 we spent some time with Cosmo Wenman, the fellow who has captured 3D scans of numerous famous sculptures over the past year. But it's what he does with the scans afterwards that is so much more interesting.
Wenman 3D prints the sculptures on his aging yet still reliable MakerBot Replicator 1 in PLA plastic. He carefully segments the sculpture into printable sections to avoid overhangs and unsightly join lines. The printed pieces are glued together into truly sculpture-sized items.
Then the magic begins. Wenman has been developing techniques for painting the assembled sculpture to make them appear to be produced in classic bronze and other highly realistic finishes.
Wenman's new company, Alternate Reality Patinas, is still developing these metal infused acrylic paint paints, which can contain considerable amounts of metal. In some tests, the finish includes so much metal that you can actually polish the painted print to a shine.
The most interesting aspect is that no two applications of the finish are quite the same. By altering the application technique, you can achieve very different results as you can see in these images. Wenman says, "they are real patinas."
All of them, however, make dull plastic prints far different than they came out of the 3D printer. They look quite realistic.
Wenman expects his company to offer easy-to-use finishing kits in 2014. We can't wait to try it!
The Makeraser Smooths 3D Prints
A new startup offers something called "The Makeraser". It's a handheld tool that can smooth your unattractive visibly-layered 3D prints into beautiful smooth objects.
Current technology for smoothing ABS 3D prints involves suspiciously dangerous acetone vapor chambers or massively expensive commercial smoothing devices. That, or you spend many hours with sandpaper. The Makeraser hopes to change those options.
The Makeraser includes a small quantity of acetone in a reservoir that is applied through a felt tip, much like a marker pen. As the minute amounts of acetone touch your ABS print's layers, they slightly dissolve and flow into the cracks, leaving a smoother surface. It may be a bit of work to smooth a complex or large object, but it's likely a lot safer than having a jug of flammable acetone vapor being heated in your workshop.
But wait - the Makeraser does more than just smooth prints. It can also glue them together by applying acetone to two surfaces and pressing them together.
It also claims to solve the ABS warping problem. Apparently you can dissolve a small amount of ABS in the acetone reservoir, creating something they call "ABS Juice". This substance is applied to your print bed, where the acetone quickly evaporates, leaving a well-stuck ABS layer on which your print can build. How then, we wondered, do you remove this super-stuck ABS from your print bed? Well, they do include a scraper accessory, but we suspect you could simply use the Makeraser again to dissolve and clean the print bed.
Theoretically you could put other chemicals in the reservoir to perform the same miracles on PLA and other printable materials.
It's not clear how much the Makeraser costs as they have not yet launched their Kickstarter campaign. However, judging by the complexity of the device we cannot expect it to cost very much and therefore it could become an essential accessory for anyone printing ABS.
Via Makeraser
Watch: 3D Print Smoothing with Acetone
Bracken Dawson and James Bruton of So Make It, the Southampton Makerspace, demonstrate the acetone smoothing technique for ABS prints in a recent video. The technique is well-known, but can be tricky and is also potentially dangerous if you're not careful.
Nevertheless, the duo walk you through the acetone process, demonstrating issues such as effect of the variable thickness of the acetone vapor, mounting challenges and more.
In spite of the challenges, the results were very good, as you can see in this image.
One problem encountered by the team was caused by placing the objects on a chunk of wood while in the acetone chamber. The liquifying ABS plastic seeped into the porous wood fiber and basically bonded the object to the wood. Not a good plan. We recommend suspending the objects in the vapor with a coat hanger or wire loop.
While the results can be impressive, there are limitations. Fine details, for example, will be obliterated by acetone smoothing. Also, the process works ONLY on ABS plastic. PLA plastic will surf the corrosive vapors without any trace of change. Finally, we must reiterate the danger of acetone. It's a highly flammable corrosive substance. Any time you place acetone near heat, be exceptionally careful.
Via YouTube
Inexpensive 3D Print Smoothing with the Touch Up
A new product from startup 3D Customization hopes to simplify the difficult process of smoothing ABS 3D prints with a new smoothing device: The Touch Up.
The Touch Up uses the acetone process, which we feel can be dangerous if not done properly. Acetone is a colorless, highly flammable substance. The acetone smoothing process involves heating liquid acetone slightly until it vaporizes, then dipping your rough 3D print into a chamber holding the heavier-than-air hot vapor. The vapor is absorbed by the ABS, which softens and smooths the print.
The problem has been that the flammability of acetone is notorious. It has a very low flash point and even as low as 2.5% mix with air can cause a flash fire. Even worse, acetone vapor can invisibly creep along a floor to reach an ignition source quite distant. For this reason we've been suspicious of using homemade acetone approaches for smoothing.
That changes with the introduction of the Touch Up. It's an integrated glass vapor chamber and heating unit, which contains just the right amount of acetone for smoothing. In fact, if used properly, the Touch Up will have no acetone residue when a smoothing operation is complete. The Touch Up includes heating controls and indicators to indicate activity.
Their Indiegogo launch campaign has started slowly, but we believe this could be one of the most inexpensive ways to vastly improve your personal 3D printing setup. The alternatives? Hugely laborious hand sanding or purchasing a USD$30K smoothing unit from Stratasys. For as little as USD$100, you can have a Touch Up beside your 3D printer.
Via Indiegogo
Hands On With The FinishingTouch Smoothing Station
If you're 3D printing with plastic filament, you'll be familiar with the layered effect, where progressive extrusions accumulate into an object. The object has the correct shape, but has unsightly ridges. What to do?
You can eliminate ridges with the Acetone technique, but it's relatively dangerous, as acetone is flammable and generally not very nice. Another way to smooth your ABS prints is to use Stratasys's FinishingTouch Smoothing Station. We got our hands on one and took a test drive. 
The FinishingTouch uses an approach very similar to using acetone, but it's much more optimized - and safer. The device has two chambers. Your ABS object is first suspended in a refrigeration chamber that chills your object to a cold temperature.
A foot switch then opens up a second chamber, into which you dip the chilled model. This second chamber contains a heavier-than-air vapor from a rather expensive liquid chemical called Vertrel. The hot vapor instantly condenses equally on all nooks and crannies of the chilled model - and then slightly softens the ABS. Chilling is perhaps the longest portion of the process.
A dip of only 30 seconds is necessary to get preliminary results. Repeated chilling and dipping gradually improves the process. Here you can see fantastic results of a scanned figurine printed at 0.25mm resolution. It's very smooth - and even glossy!
A closeup view of the figurine before and after shows the capability. This was obtained with only two dips. We expect prints of 0.1mm would come out almost perfectly smooth and glossy.
There are limits. This figurine was printed at a huge 0.5mm resolution and despite repeated dips into the Vertrel vapor, it just would not smooth out properly. Rule of thumb: 0.25mm or less to get good results. While the FinishingTouch produces amazing results, there is one slight problem. It's expensive. Very expensive. Over USD$30K expensive.
If you happen to have access to one, you're very lucky. If not, you're probably going back to acetone.
Idea: Could the acetone dipping process be improved by pre-chilling the object? We think so.
UMT Develops 3D Printing Metal Smoothing Technology
We had a brief encounter with Alexander Lobovsky, P.E., who is a partner with United Materials Technologies of New Jersey. Lobovsky's company is developing a new method for smoothing 3D metal prints.
The problem with metal 3D prints is the same as plastic: printing by layer causes visible ridges on the object. These can be larger or smaller depending on the technology, but are always present. Metal parts are particularly vulnerable as people are used to seeing (and touching) smoothly casted/forged/cut pieces.
Lobovsky's technology somehow manages to smooth out these ridges successfully, as you can see in the image above.
The most common method of smoothing parts, both plastic and metal, is simply to toss them in a tumbler containing an appropriate abrasive and they'll smooth out. However, this approach doesn't work for all objects. We believe Lobovsky's technology may be able to address many more geometries.
Stratasys's Finishing Secrets
Stratasys has released a video detailing some of their secret (well, maybe not so secret) finishing processes. The video shows various tumbling media machines that operate similar to rock polishing tumblers - an object is tossed around within a bath of rough media. Gradually the objects become smooth after a relatively short period in the tumbler.
What's interesting for home 3D printer operators is the explanation of the different types of tumbling media used at Stratasys. Through extensive experimentation Stratasys has determined the best type of media for different 3D printed plastics.
This approach could easily be replicated by hobbyists using much smaller tumblers, if similar tumbling media could be obtained. We took a quick look and found sources for said media, but the minimum order was 800 pounds. Anyone need any?
Via YouTube
Perfectly Smooth PLA 3D Prints?
We've written previously about a method to create a perfectly smooth (even shiny) surface finish on your ABS plastic 3D prints, but one wonders whether the same can be done on PLA 3D prints.
ABS plastic is dissolved by Acetone, so a typical approach is to (CAREFULLY AND SAFELY) dip your ABS object into an Acetone vapor to soften and smooth its exterior surface. PLA is a biodegradable material that can actually be dissolved in water if you wait long enough - but what happens when you mix it with Acetone?
The folks at Funbie studios decided to give this a shot and performed the experiment. They organized a glass jar containing a healthy amount of Acetone and submerged several printed PLA objects using wire suspension.
The results? Not good. As you can see, several of the objects actually starting losing their color almost instantly.
We're wondering if the test should be repeated using Acetone vapor instead of Acetone submersion? The vapor would deposit far less Acetone at a much slower rate, permitting more control over the affect on the object.
Via Funbie Studios
A 3D Print Refiner
We've seen countless startup 3D printer companies launch crowd funding campaigns in the past year. Now we're seeing a plethora of 3D printing accessory devices sprout from the minds of world's entrepreneurs. Today's 3D print accessory is the 3D Refiner.
3D Prints Express's 3D Refiner attempts to solve one of the banes of early 3D print operators: poor surface finish. The two founders were 3D print enthusiasts, but were puzzled by surface finish. If they 3D printed an object quickly, they had the worst resolution. If they 3D printed at the best resolution, they'd wait for many hours. They tried numerous approaches to quickly obtain a refined surface on prints, but eventually discovered that bathing the object in a solvent while applying continuous solvent flow worked best.
They developed the 3D Refiner around this discovery. It looks like an aquarium filled with solvent and a dipper that holds and rotates the object in front of the solvent flow. Using this technology they claim they can produce objects whose finish is difficult to distinguish from long-running high-resolution 3D prints.
We suspect this approach is quite feasible for certain object geometries as there are some shapes that actually do require highly detailed printing. But other shapes that have merely curves and planes could really benefit from a dip in the 3D Refiner.
If you want to get one of these, there are still a very few available at their Indiegogo campaign at USD$299. However, be warned that they're shipping only within the US at this time.
Via Indiegogo
Dyeing At Shapeways
While on our recent visit to Shapeways in Queen's, NYC, we noticed vats of color dyes. Why color dyes? It's all in the finishing.
Some people expect "finished" objects to emerge from their 3D printer, but in fact they often require "finishing", which might be simply removing excess plastic material created during printing or perhaps sanding.
But Shapeways explains another important finishing process in a recent blog post: dyeing. Prints can be painted, obviously, but dyeing enables more interesting color applications, as you can see in the image above of Shapeway's maker Rachel Goth's work.
Dyeing can be a very inexpensive and effective method for anyone using a monocolor 3D printer. Just make sure you print in white; that will make dyeing a bit easier.
Via Shapeways
Perfectly Smooth Your 3D Prints - But Be Careful!
After the initial thrill of seeing a 3D print emerge from thin air, 3D print newbies often notice the layering effect. This is, of course, caused by the gradual deposition of plastic layers during the build process. Depending on the layer resolution selected for print, these layers could be very visible, or not.
The point is those visible layers make the 3D printed object's visual and tactile feel very different from other plastic objects found at the neighborhood store. 3D printer owners are cursed with this problem.
Or are they?
Two solutions have been attempted in the past: tumbling the finished object with specially shaped ceramic bits to slowly rub down the layering, and secondly dipping your ABS plastic print into a tub of acetone.
The tumbling solution works, but requires a tumbler and the correct tumbling media. We found some at a supply shop, but the minimum order was 800 pounds. Not something anyone would care to do. The acetone solution is better, but if done improperly you can severely damage your print or yourself: acetone is a corrosive and flammable nasty substance. We've used it as a solvent to clean fused ABS off of damaged extruder parts.
Neil Underwood, an experimenter at RepRap, has found another way to apply acetone to the layering problem: vapor treatment. He's devised an incredibly inexpensive process to completely smooth your print in 5-10 minutes.
A glass jar containing 3-4mm of acetone is placed on your heated print bed. It is warmed to around +90C by the print bed, causing some of the acetone to vaporize. Fortunately, the rather dangerous vapor stays in the jar because it's heavier than surrounding air. Your print is safely lowered into the vapor jar and simply sits there, exposed to the acetone vapor for as many minutes as necessary to achieve a smooth, injection-molded-like finish.
We think this is a must for those wanting super-finished ABS parts, as it is easy and inexpensive to do. However: you must have a heated bed, print in ABS and definitely need to have more than adequate ventilation in your work area. We would do this outdoors, if at all possible.
Via RepRap
Poor Man's 3D Printing: Finishing
You've obtained or made a 3D model and printed it on a 3D print service or perhaps your own 3D printer. Now the question is, "how can I finish it at low cost?" While there are several professional commercial finishing services, they're quite expensive and don't fit the theme here. There are only two reasonable options: - Print an object that doesn't require finishing by choosing an appropriate material and color. Select an object type that doesn't require a precision surface to avoid polishing.
- Do It Yourself. That's right, roll up your sleeves and do the finishing by hand. You'll need sandpaper and knives to bring the surface to the desired state. You'll need a selection of appropriate paints to colorize your model. Optional Approach: have an interested child do the painting for you. If they do a good job, they might do it just for the fun.
This article is part of a short series on Poor Man's 3D Printing. You might also want to read The Print and The Design.
Micro-Machining Process
Swiss-based BESTinCLASS, developers of the very cool Micro-Machining Process (MMP), have come to terms with EOS, makers of laser-sintering equipment for exclusive use of MMP in the UK. We're a little puzzled, since we heard earlier that BESTinCLASS had awarded exclusivity to First Surface.
Nevertheless, we believe this finishing process is quite interesting. The process apparently uses a combination of mechanical, physical and chemical techniques against a surface. Key features:
- Surface finishes can be controlled selectively up to a mirror-like polish
- Costs and turnaround times are predictable and controlled
- Finishes can be reproduced to industrial standards for multiple parts
- Treated parts are free from contamination
You can see the results in the image above.
We wonder whether MMP could be used on metal 3D printed objects? Or better yet, included as a feature in 3D printers. That capability would certainly raise the profile of 3D printing outside of the technically-oriented early adopters, because smooth finishes appear more professional to the uninitiated.
And everyone loves shiny objects.
Via EOS
Finish it with Metal
We ran across an interesting service that provides post-print finishing services, specifically in metal. According to their "about":
3DDC is the first European company to set up a metal coating facility specifically for products that have been produced using rapid prototyping (RP) and rapid manufacturing (RM) technologies. The Metalise™ it… process was developed by AT-3D SQUARED and can now, through the experts at 3DDC, provide customers with the highest quality of plated RP parts available on the market today. The company specialises in metal coating parts for one-off projects or small lot production runs.
- High Gloss Copper
- Technical Nickel
- High Gloss Nickel
- Brushed High Gloss Nickel
- Black Technical Nickel
- Black High Gloss Nickel
- Gold
- Chrome
- Art Copper
Via 3DDC (Hat tip to Rachel)
First Surface
An interesting new service popped up this month: First Surface. According to their website:
First Surface delivers innovative precision surface finishing services using a proprietary Micro Machining Process (MMP). Working from its own treatment labs, First Surface is poised to provide manufacturers with custom finishes to meet their specifications.
And
First Surface has an exclusive license in the UK to provide the Swiss company BEST in CLASS's proprietary deburring/polishing method known as the Micro MachiningProcess (MMP). MMP is a physical-catalyst surface treatment applied to items placed inside a treatment tank.
In other words, the 3D Printing process could look like this:
- Obtain design using 3D Modeling Software, 3D Scan or 3D repository
- Print design using 3D printer or 3D print service
- Finish the object yourself … or use a service like First Surface!
We suspect their service is priced out of range for hobbyists (and it's only available from the UK), but the idea is interesting and we wonder whether there could be a market for finishing services? Perhaps a finishing service could pair up with the 3D print services to provide a variety of finishing approaches.
Via First Surface