SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — Painting ABS Plastic

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2016-02-20T17:00:51Z

Some plastics, like nylon, can be dyed with clothes dye for polyester. It works well on SLS nylon parts and easy to do. Not sure about ABS, but for $4 you can find out. If it doesn't work you can still paint it.

If you paint it, you need to consider what environment and handling the part will experience. Underwater, for example, UV, heat, lot of handling or knocking around.

I've had good luck with the Fusion paint and Testors model paint. Anything designed for plastic should work. When you finish, I suggest you put the part in the sun and wind for a day or two to let it cure thoroughly before using it.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2016-02-20T00:39:05Z

I made this in purple ABS and painted it for my daughters Halloween costume.
Just use Krylon fusion primer and let it dry.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2016-02-15T08:28:09Z

If you primer it then you can use a lot of different paints. The two main brands in my area that I use is either duplicolor paints from the auto supply store and rustoleum paints from home depot. I tend to stay away from any paint that lists acetone as an ingredient, but I have not actually tried them to find out if they will eat the plastic or not.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-10-06T06:15:57Z

Or if you want real metal painting/plating go for something like this ---> http://www.riogrande.com/Product/MIDAS- … 070?Pos=22 then electroplate over it with gold, silver, whatever you want ---> http://www.riogrande.com/Product/MIDAS- … 5136?Pos=9 these systems can be home made for a few bucks if you don't want to spend the bucks Riogrande charges.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-10-06T03:29:59Z

Do you imagine it would work to spray Krylon Fusion Plastic paint into a jar and use it as a brush paint?

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-10-06T00:26:01Z

There are metallic paint pens for kit model painting. I remember buying one a while back for one of my Robotech model to paint the metallic pieces silver.

Check these out:

http://www.amazon.com/Sharpie-Water-Bas … B005DEW3DA

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-10-05T23:49:51Z

I'd like to paint in gold, silver, red, blue, and other more exotic colors.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-10-05T23:40:23Z

For small areas, you can use a sharpie. The black covers very well and is cheap. As a cautionary tale, if your layers seem loose (like the adhesion is not good and there's some gapping), there may be some bleed into other areas, but it works well for the purpose.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-10-05T23:33:38Z

Any other suggestions for paint? I would like to use a paint I can paint brush on versus a Krylon spray paint. I haven't found acrylic paint stays on very well or covers very evenly.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-03-11T17:31:49Z

Nice

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-03-10T15:39:23Z

charles.elliott wrote:

I just tried painting a piece to see how it would turn out and I am very impressed with the results. I painted it using BASICS acrylic color paint. I did absolutely no sanding and printed at .3 mm height. I only used one coat and the overall look is great. Towards the top of the print the plastic is so thin that it is a little bit translucent so it looks like the top isn't quite finished but that would be easily corrected with another coat of paint.

Acrylics tend to work very well.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-03-04T23:07:11Z

I just tried painting a piece to see how it would turn out and I am very impressed with the results. I painted it using BASICS acrylic color paint. I did absolutely no sanding and printed at .3 mm height. I only used one coat and the overall look is great. Towards the top of the print the plastic is so thin that it is a little bit translucent so it looks like the top isn't quite finished but that would be easily corrected with another coat of paint.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-03-02T08:14:39Z

vince7c95 wrote:

lotw_1 wrote:
Shouldn't any model paint work?
I imagine it would be fine. I haven't tried using model paints though as the price for the paints and paint-guns are a bit too high for me at the moment. Can spray paints tend to have just the right amount of a paint I need for most projects anyway. When in doubt just paint some scrap piece you have laying around to see how it reacts to the plastic. I do this also when trying to figure out how the texture of the paint will form depending on how I spray it on, or to see if the ambient temp is too low for painting, (I do most of my model work during the late nights).
nickythegreek, thanks for the tip. I have acrylic paint already on hand. Never thought to try using that as I always used it for painting metal. Gonna try that distressed finish sometime. May come in handy to know how to do sometime in the future.

Well when my printer actually shows I will be doing some finishing tests, then purchasing an airbrush system and give it a try.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-03-02T03:40:10Z

For parts I sell I sand, then acetone, then sand again, paint with filler primer and then top coat them. I use duplicolor paint you would find at the auto parts store.

Re: Painting ABS Plastic

2013-03-02T01:49:54Z

Schieggster wrote:

ronsii wrote:
I usually just sand it some with 180-220 grit then hit it with the fusion paint from home depot, haven't done too many things but I think it looks ok.
Pictures?
A Friend and I have been wondering about what paint will look like on printed objects.

I'll try to remember to take pics net time we have an order going out.