1 Topic by rickmellor

  • rickmellor
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Topic: Acetone Smoothing Issues

Hello.  I just got my Da Vinci 1.0 yesterday and I managed to get the demo part to print, and after some tuning I got a decent 100 micron layer print out (vase in the pic).  I wanted to try some acetone smoothing so I poured some acetone in a crock pot, cranked up the heat and placed my objects in there raised above the liquid level on some aluminum blocks. 

What happened was really strange... I saw next to no smoothing at all on these parts.  I cooked almost half a quart of acetone and left them in there for nearly an hour and still nothing.  The parts should have been nothing but a puddle of white goo, but they were almost entirely intact.  The only real issue was when I tried to remove them and the bottom of the vase had stuck to the aluminum block and came off the rest of the print.  The surface was tacky, but not overly so.  This stuff was acting like it was partly PLA or something... really strange.

You can see in the pic that I put in another part made of dark ABS plastic from a Stratasys machine.  This part was in the crock pot only 4 minutes and it was starting to dissolve quite heavily.  Clearly the acetone vapors were strong as this thing got attacked really well.

Have any of you seen this?  These parts were with the sample white filament that came with the printer.  They claim it's ABS, but it sure doesn't act like it.

See the attached image for the aftermath.

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2 Reply by n2ri (edited by n2ri 2014-08-24 03:06:37)

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Re: Acetone Smoothing Issues

yeah PLA, ABS not that bright of white. if making drink cup need PLA of other FDA safe material and need to search how to smooth those

ABS only needs a table spoon to make less than 20mins vapor then if you touch the print for like an hour its goo coated. need something like a rack with handle to lower and lift print out

Solidoodle 2 with Deluxe kit cover & glass bed with heater. and 2nd board SD2 used not 3rd and alum platform not installed yet still wood. also need cooling fan installed to board. use Repetier Host couple vers. Slic3r also have all free ware STL programs

3 Reply by AZERATE

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Re: Acetone Smoothing Issues

I agree with n2ri on the materials. PLA is good, but T-Glase is prime and prints like PLA.

Where I slightly disagree is the finishing aspect. You don;t always need to "finish". Most smoothing can be accomplished by properly calibrating your printer. I do not own a Da Vinci, so I am also unfamiliar with software firmware settings....but I can tell you I think you are in need of calibrating your bed/X axis and calibrate your extruder.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Printit Mason and Printit Horizon printers
Multiple SD2s- Bulldog XL, E3D v5/v6/Lite6, Volcano, Hobb Goblin, Titan, .9 motor, Lawsy carriages, direct Y drive, fishing line...the list goes on
Filawinder and Filastruder #1870.....worth every penny!

4 Reply by Weekend Avenger

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Re: Acetone Smoothing Issues

The "ABS" that comes from XYZ is at least mostly standard abs if the sample and one replacement cartridge of the stuff that I got from them is what they are still shipping (both white).

My XYZ filament melted easily in a acetone and vapor smoothing worked as expected. I have some other filament around that is also supposedly "ABS" that is almost immune to acetone, but it came from a different source than XYZ.

5 Reply by rickmellor

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Re: Acetone Smoothing Issues

After looking at it more closely I'm convinced that the printer came with white PLA.  It is more brittle than ABS and like n2ri said, the purity of white is well beyond the other white ABS I have.  I'm redoing the print tonight with the ABS cartridge I ordered and will try the smoothing again tomorrow.

AZERATE, I understand that I don't _have_ to do it... I just wanted to give it a shot.  I was confused why it didn't work because I assumed that the printer had come with ABS since I don't see where XYZPrinting sells PLA.

6 Reply by skywiselh (edited by skywiselh 2014-08-24 08:11:11)

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Re: Acetone Smoothing Issues

rickmellor wrote:

After looking at it more closely I'm convinced that the printer came with white PLA.  It is more brittle than ABS and like n2ri said, the purity of white is well beyond the other white ABS I have.  I'm redoing the print tonight with the ABS cartridge I ordered and will try the smoothing again tomorrow.

AZERATE, I understand that I don't _have_ to do it... I just wanted to give it a shot.  I was confused why it didn't work because I assumed that the printer had come with ABS since I don't see where XYZPrinting sells PLA.

Light the end of the filament and smell it. ABS smells like burning plastic. PLA doesn't.

What is possible is that you have an early spool of the PLA that gonna be available for the Da Vinci - I assume they are going to use high temp PLA, as regular PLA will not feed unless you apply external cooling to the print head.

7 Reply by n2ri

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Re: Acetone Smoothing Issues

yes PLA smells like maple syrup

Solidoodle 2 with Deluxe kit cover & glass bed with heater. and 2nd board SD2 used not 3rd and alum platform not installed yet still wood. also need cooling fan installed to board. use Repetier Host couple vers. Slic3r also have all free ware STL programs

8 Reply by AZERATE

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Re: Acetone Smoothing Issues

Here's a thread on smoothing PLA. LdyMox had some good results.

Printit Mason and Printit Horizon printers
Multiple SD2s- Bulldog XL, E3D v5/v6/Lite6, Volcano, Hobb Goblin, Titan, .9 motor, Lawsy carriages, direct Y drive, fishing line...the list goes on
Filawinder and Filastruder #1870.....worth every penny!