DIY Smoothing Station

Ian,

Glad to see you liked my suggestion for inverting the inner cup to capture the vapors.

With that in mind, I wouldn't go hog wild on heating up the acetone.  Keep it well under the actual boiling point, say 115... you want to warm it up to increase the vapor content, but getting it to the boiling stage will unduly waste your acetone (and create a larger fire hazard).  This will also reduce your cooling requirements.

For cooling, I'd go for a more passive approach... a freezer cold pack or two laying on top of the pot is likely more than adequate, especially if you reduce the heating temp.  That will cut down on the need for pumps, ice cubes, water, etc.

Ian- you've just given me an awesome idea for chilling wort (for homebrewing) without running water into the drain! Have to clean off the acetone, though!

Ian, can you follow up on your experiences with your smoothing station?  I am going to order parts to make mine tomorrow and am curious how yours has been. I am planning on a few design changes, but I am curious how yours has gone.

I am planning on using a hot dog bun steam pot with a digital hot plate. This would eliminate the need for the hot water reservoir and allow all of the condensed acetone to sink back into the pot instead of piling up in the model pot. Additionally, I am planning on using something close to air conditioner coils with a compressor and throttle so I don't need to worry about ice cubes or the like.  Finally, I was thinking about making a second phase for evenly encouraging the evaporation of the remaining condensed acetone on the model. To do this I would like to use a motorized lazy Susan with a fan. Let me know what you think and I will be happy to share my plans and progress.

My setup is outside, and since I am using only hot water, there are no ignition sources of any kind.  Also I wear a respirator when using the smoothing station since the fumes are more concentrated.

For things I can set down, I'm going to start using a folding steamer basket.  I've also used a wire to dangle a model in the pot.  I had one thing that was too tall, so I just used the water bath without the coils, and that was fine.  I figure it loses a little more solvent, however.

To find out more about how these are done professionally, look up vapor degreaser.  They use this of process clean components by condensing solvent vapor on to them.

I was considering setting up a dryer by mounting a couple of 120mm computer fans on either side of a tub.  If they could be mounted at an angle, they might set up a bit of a swirl.  That would be simpler that putting a motor on a lazy susan.

Someone on youtube had the great idea of filling a bucket with corncob or walnut media, putting in the metal to be polished, and putting it in the dryer packed with pillows and set to no heat.  There is plenty of room for a 5 gallon bucket, which would be hundreds of dollars if you bought tumbler that size.  Corncob is apparently the media of choice for cleaning brass casing, but I don't know what would be the most effective for ABS or PLA.