ABS prints with Acetone coating to smooth the print.

[GrantB]

ABS prints with Acetone coating to smooth the print.

Any one had experience or success of this ?

I gently brushed Acetone on the ABS, but it tended to go milky coloured & ruin the print finished colour...

[Odys]

Hi, best way is to vapor smooth with acetone in a bucket .In ytube there many videos for that. If the print is colored i think is more difficult and bleeding is difficult to avoid your best option is a coating

[GrantB]

Pictures attached.


I came up with this set up yesterday - as per images.
5v 40mm CPU Fan from Ebay for £2:50, 4 x AA battery holder from Maplin £1:99, Lunch Box (Sealed type - polypropylene), some wire & a mini Marmalade/jam pot from a hotel... and some spare PLA to print the parts.

The jam pot is part filled with Acetone, a wick of kitchen towel (not too much) is stuffed in the pot, the fan is positioned to partly/50% blow across the kitchen towl, and the parts are placed on a PLA plinth with some drawing pins atop, located with Blue-Tac.
Place the lid on the lunch box & leave the whole thing alone a while - 2+ hrs usually does the trick.
Do NOT put near heat, do the treatment at room temps only - as the ABS reacts too fast & can go soggy & ruin the print totally.
use a small torch to peep thru the box, but resist opening until the print lines have vanished & the surface appears "wetted-out" like fresh varnish.

The majority of the print lines will vanish & the parts look like they have been heavily lacquered... see pics.

Note that the printed material walls/surfaces are best done 3 layers thick, as the part may collapse otherwise if too much acetone is used.
Note, that the acetone will evaporate & be absorbed into the ABS, so... if you have large parts or a lot of surface area you may need to top up the pot a couple of times.

Don't try to rush the process, as an over treated part will be ruined & go saggy.

When the appearance is to your liking & a glass finish obtained, take the support plinth out of the box & blow air "gently" over the treated part with a desk fan to evaporate the acetone from the part & harden it off - this can take another hour typically &then ideally be left overnight to fully de-fume the part (without the fan).

Hope this helps our Bretherin here to create even more beautiful stuff.

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*****WARNING - Acetone is EXTREMELY FLAMABLE*****

Evaporated Acetone gas/vapour is extremely EXPLOSIVE....

Do NOT smoke, use light switches or ANYTHING that makes sparks or flames.
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[Odys]

Yeap also you can put some kitchen papers that are on the walls of the container and touch the bottom so the acetone will evaporate faster and more homogenic as the paper gets soaked you have bigger spread surface