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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → XYZ Printing DaVinci → Actetone Vapor (part finishing)
Bought a $25 steamer from Walmart, and a can of acetone. Even leaving them in for just 2-3 minutes does wonders. I'm not going to label which is before and which is after, because it's pretty obvious. Total cost with acetone is under $40.
I've been doing the same with an old rice cooker I repurposed. I've been pretty happy with the results too, but I've only had to keep the objects in for a few seconds.
Nice!
All the vapor smoothed parts look great there! I already have the acetone, but don't have anything to heat it with yet, so need some opinions.
Never having owned a steamer or a rice cooker, what are the major advantages over a crockpot / slow cooker type appliance?
My other question is this... Since acetone will mix in any concentration with water, wouldn't it be easier to just dilute and dip? I understand it would be a lot slower, but from my viewpoint that wouldn't be a downside.
I bought the steamer because it was only $25, came with the basket, and had adjustable temperature. I turn it down to the lowest setting (WARM) and everything works great.
I don't know about your 2nd question, but I do know that the ones I did took only a few seconds to see any effect.
you should just try out the dilute and dip method and see how it goes and let us all know here for too. My guess would be that you might not get a very even application because the solution would end up flowing down to the bottom of the object and that would get much more exposure time to acetone than the top. This is somewhat an issue with the vapor bath too, but I'd guess that it's far more pronounced with exposure to liquid rather than vapor.
I am using repetier firmware. I got a nice sized glass jar from Walmart. All I do is pour the acetone in the jar and put my piece on glass plate inside the jar. I set the bed temp to around 115 and leave it in with the lid slightly on. To get a nice even coverage , I blow some air into the jar every few mins ( you can see the vapor condensate on the walls much higher when you blow in it ). After about 20 mins, I take it off the heat, take it outside and take the lid off to let the vapor leave the jar. I have had no issues with this method, and my pieces come out great.
For the dunking technique, I would dunk it in pure acetone for 2 or 3 seconds, and use a blow dryer or heat gun to evenly evaporate and liquid that could drip down and cause unevenness. Make sure you do not touch the piece until it has been dried completely and is no longer tacky to the touch. Good luck
the acetone vapor also helps greatly with layer bonding and general part durability. And of course makes them look pretty. 
I've been thinking of trying acetone finish. I have a question...how do you guys dispose of the vapor after?
Acetone evaporates very rapidly. Even at room temperature. Leave it outside in the container you are using. It should clear out quickly on a nice day like this
heidkampn1: cool thanks!
OK, so I finally tried some vapor smoothing. I went with a very large aluminum pot with a glass lid and then fabricated a rack type thing for the bottom and a basket like lowering platform.
The process worked a lot better than I expected, but I have a question. One of the parts I decided to smooth I had already "painted" with acetone slurry (yes with a brush, looked just like painting it) due to the amount of stress cracks I had on it and I still wanted to salvage the print. Needless to say, I printed it in Black XYZ ABS and the slurry turned it from black to a streaky gray mess. Since it saved a very large print, I was still thrilled that I would only have to paint it to be able to use it as part of the project I'm working on.
Just to smooth the interior surfaces and attempt to strengthen the part a bit, I decided to hit it with the vapor as well. That is when the unexpected happened... not only did it smooth it, but the gray streaky mess appears to have returned to a solid shiny black as well. Is this normal or will it return to its previous gray in a few days?
Never have done the slurry method I do not have any experience in your exact question, but I never get any grey streaks in my vapor bathed prints, they are always a dark glossy black, and they stay that way. So if its not grey and streaking once it drys, I wouldnt expect it to return.
It will remain smooth looking. I've done that a couple of times. Acetone vapor can sometimes widen gaps in prints (if there are any that you don't want). So I have on occasion used a slurry to fill in the gap and then used the vapor bath to smooth out the whole piece. The vapor post slurry will coat the entire piece in an even layer of acetone vapor which will dissipate fairly evenly. The slurry can leave the streaks because of the contrast in the acetone treated parts and the non-acetone treated parts. Acetone can sometimes leave a white residue, which is why you see the streaks in the ABS slurry which isn't getting as even a coat or as quick a dry from the acetone as the vapor bath provides.
For the dunking technique, I would dunk it in pure acetone for 2 or 3 seconds, and use a blow dryer or heat gun to evenly evaporate and liquid that could drip down and cause unevenness. Make sure you do not touch the piece until it has been dried completely and is no longer tacky to the touch. Good luck
Don't use a hair dryer!
I tried that with horrific results. The acetone absorbed by the plastic bubbles out in a decidedly unattractive fashion when heated.
I bought a $20 electric frying pan with a glass lid, since I'm mostly working with models under 3" tall. It seems to be working okay. I've also used dunking in pure acetone, with mixed results. With white ABS, a 30 second dip produces excellent results. With black ABS, dunking causes discoloration that I don't get with using the vapor method. I'm also finding that using the vapor method, it makes quite a bit of difference in how much acetone you use. I haven't gotten my method entirely worked out, but as near as I can tell at this stage of experimenting, the best results come from using just enough acetone to boil off quickly, without producing condensation on the lid. I'm also finding that different colors react quite differently. For example, I've been using a silver filament, which I suspect is made with aluminum powder for the silver color, which comes out terrible with the vapor method, but comes out okay with dunking.
As near as I can tell, there's no one size fits all method that works on all materials the same way all of the time. About the best I can suggest is to print out a lot of small, throw away parts, test them, and keep notes on what works best for the particular filament and color you're working with.
I really like results of this method (vapor not liquid) but it looks like it requires lots of trial and error plus safety precautions to perfect it with consistent success. I plan to find a way to do it using glass jar and good ventilation out doors with no source of ignition of fumes (and no containers that fall victim to the effects like Aluminum will). that way I can calculate a standard service fee for my 3D hub also. I know what applications Acetone is used for and MSDS info. its not something to play with.
Mitch
http://solidoodletips.wordpress.com/201 … g-station/
I set up a large stock pot in a tub of hot water. Acetone boils at something like 135F, so water from a hot water dispenser is hot enough if you have one and don't want to take time to heat it on the stove. I also used a copper coil filled with ice water to contain the vapor, which is a little overcomplicated if you are doing it outside. It creates a zone of cool air at the top which is enough to condense the vapor before it can escape. I could put my face right over the pot and not smell anything.
Now I just use the presto cooker. I can get it out, set it up, smooth a print and put it away in 3 minutes. It takes maybe a tablespoon of acetone, the quantities of acetone and vapor needed are very small.
the presto fryer... is it the teflon coated 3 in one cooker? if so does the acetone remove the coating? cause I have used it b4 to remove 50 year old enamel from boiler steel for repainting it turned the paint into soft crinkle stuff in under an hour to scrape off like silicone
I haven't noticed any effects, but as I said it's a tiny amount that spends less than a minute in the pot at a time. I don't plan on cooking with it anyway so I wouldn't mind if it hurt the coating. Also I doubt that teflon coating has much in common with paint.
cool, sounds like what I need to find at a yard sale etc.
Hot vapor seems unnecessary to me. Given that my printer can spend 4 or 5 hours churning out a part, I'm a reluctant to watch all that effort go to waste in a couple of minutes because of the aggressive nature of the heated acetone vapor.
I've been using cold vapor, and although it takes longer, it gets the job done, and because it takes longer, it gives me greater control over the finished product.
If you're interested in trying out cold vapor (although I guess you could always stick a coffee mug warmer under it to speed things up), I'd recommend the 2 gallon Anchor Hocking "Heritage Hill Glass Jar". I picked mine up at target for $14.00
This jar is 9" x 9" x 13.5" so you can place the biggest object that your DaVinci can print and still have room to spare. (Just don't forget that you'll need a platform to raise your piece above the bottom of the jar or you could end up with a gooey mess stuck to your jar.
I just pour a couple of tablespoons of acetone into the bottom, put on the lid, let it sit for about 1/2 hour to let the vapor set up. (acetone vapor is heavier than air). Then pop off the top, and lower my part into the jar and put the lid back on.
Because its glass, you can see what's happening all along the way.
Another refinement I've found really helpful is doing the finishing in stages... 3 or 4 sessions of a half hour each with enough time in between for the part to fully dry out, and you get great results without much distortion. The reason for this I suspect is because in each session I'm only giving the acetone enough time to seep into the outer layer of the ABS... but as its only the surface I want smoothed that's fine. Each time I pop it back in, its only addressing surface imperfections without turning the whole piece to a goo block.
I've included a picture of my fabulous vapor jar!
vapor isnt hot, light heat just to vaporize about half as much as your using so not waiting so long. either way needs done outside/well vented not in home for safety. one member here uses the glass jar on heated print bed or in hot water then vents fumes.
SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → XYZ Printing DaVinci → Actetone Vapor (part finishing)
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