wallan

I have been using the slurry method for a while now and it works fine for me. I'm not afraid of the Acetone. As with most chemicals it's all about exposure time. I only print ABS now an then. On an average I might apply a slurry wash once or twice per week. With a usage like that i would not worry at all. On the other hand if I had a print farm and spend most of the day applying acetone slurry and I expect to do that for years to come. Then I would with no doubt build some kind of ventilation around the printers, use a mask or use another method to get the print to stick. I also print with fans off, an acrylic glass lid that kept in place with magnets and a plastic garbage bag on top as a lid. I brush on new slurry on every print but if there is lots of old slurry buildup i brush with acetone only, just evening out what is already there. A question to those of you that use hairspray. Dont the inside of the printer get messy with all that spraying or do you remove the glass every time you spray? Totally of topic but the reason for using ABS on my part is to be able to smooth the print using Acetone. So far I applied acetone using a brush. First by going over, dissolve and possibly add slurry in bad printed places to first fix them up. Then going over the full model once again in order to get a mirror like surface on all of the print. Has worked quite well but one has to spend some time in the smell. So yesterday I decided to try Acetone vapor to smooth instead. Not interested of the Acetone boiling method (mainly because risk of explosions) I decided to go for the method that not use boiling but just longer exposure to the vapor. Reused a transparent storage box and added some clamps on all walls where i put some paper tissues. Also add a sealing to the lid so vapors should stay inside the box. I had made model of Daenerys Targaryen and decided to try on that one. Soaked the tissues, put the model inside and closed the lid. Was a bit afraid that i not put enough acetone on as the tissues looked very dried up once i got the lid on. After an hour I took a look at it and could see no effect at all. And now the tissues looked absolutely dry. So i decided that it was a failure and that most Acetone must had evaporated before I got the lid on. So I decided to give it a new try the morning after and went to bed and left the model inside the box in hope that maybe I at least would be able to see some effect the day after. And so I did. Daenerys Targaryen was now recycled to ABS slurry Lesson Learned. Don't leave it over night and dont think there is no vapor in box just because tissues looks dry.

I have some pictures of WIPs posted in some thread I think. Don't really have much on the web as so far I have mostly been experimenting. Fixed a picture of a Vampirella (in front of her cave of birth ) WIP for you. Base, cloth (the little there is), hair are sculpted on top of printed body. As I have to sculpt much anyway I have also made some experiments where I only print a shrinked version of the body as more of a skeleton on witch I put 1-2mm of sculpting clay. As I have to work on the surface finish and add details manually anyway this way of working don't take more time and it's nice with a model with some more weight. It also make print quality less important as any defects are covered. On the other hand, it's not much of a 3D print any more.

25-30 cm figurines / action figures sort of things. Nude figures is less work but say clothes with folds, buttons etc and hair is hard to fix without losing details. So as it is I more or less only print nude figures and then sculpt cloth and hair in traditional ways on top of it. Would be nice to be able to print cloth with folds and all but it means lots of undercuts and supports witch makes a mess of the surface. So it's booth a matter of surface finish in large (no visible lines after spray painting) and how the surface looks after cutting away any support.

Was a while ago but in case someone finds the thread looking for a solution to same problem. Suggested solution worked fine.

Form 2 is on it's way I have been thinking about maybe getting one. It cost almost twice as much as a Ultimaker 2, material cost is probably at least 3 times higher and handling it is more messy. As I see it the only reason for getting one is if it prints with such surface quality that I don't have to fill and sand for a perfect surface. If I look at my Ultimaker2 prints (25cm figurines), I probably have to put some 20-30 hours into fixing the suface. If I think like, how much would I be prepared to pay someone to do it for me (it's boring as well) I would happily pay $100-$150 for someone to do it for me. So, based on that I could say that if I buy a printer models that dont need that surface treatment then It would pay for itself. At least the cost of one in the Form2 price range would. But can I really expect to get that finish from the Form1 or Form2 and does the Form printers work and print well. I have seen complaints of only one print in 10 making it out of the printer without problems. So, anyone with experience of the Form printers, what do you think?

Ok, I undestand. What if I disable fan in Cura. Would I then be able to take full controll by using TweakAtZ. As far as I can see from the gcode no M106 commands except the one from TweakAtZ exists.

Ok. I googled that that M106 is fanspeed and the S value after the speed in percent. But I rather guess that the value on S is 0-255 as that's what it seems like from the gcode. If I look at the gcode it goes something like this. Layer 1 S5 Layer 2 S10 Layer 3 S15 Layer 3 S0 TweekAtZ (0 with the option to keep the value for rest of print selected) Layer 4 S20 Layer 5 S25 .... Layer 20 S107 Layer 20 S0 TweekAtZ (0 with the option to keep the value for rest of print selected) Layer 21 S112 ...... Layer 47 S255 (this is the last Fan change, probably because it has reached max speed) Seems to me as the Tweak has no effect at all. Fan value rises with about 5 per layer.

Losend the pulley on the rod and thightend it back again and noize is gone.

I haven't changed anything in code. I used the Tweak At Z plugin. I think this is the place where the tweek is suppose to happen. But I dont expect any problem with that really. It's more like there is some code somewhere that turns the fan on later in the print. What is the code for setting fan speed, can take a look myself i I know what to look for. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .701 G1 F1800 X118.955 Y114.147 E913.69491 G0 F9000 X119.500 Y114.126 G1 F1800 X137.726 Y132.352 E914.72593 G0 F9000 X137.942 Y132.002 G1 F1800 X120.044 Y114.105 E915.73836 G0 F9000 X120.635 Y114.130 G1 F1800 X138.150 Y131.645 E916.72916 G0 F9000 X138.320 Y131.249 G1 F1800 X121.245 Y114.174 E917.69507 G0 F9000 X121.842 Y114.206 G1 F1800 X138.491 Y130.854 E918.63685 G0 F9000 X138.661 Y130.459 G1 F1800 X122.459 Y114.257 E919.55337 G0 F9000 X123.052 Y114.284 G1 F1800 X138.789 Y130.021 E920.44359 G0 F9000 X138.908 Y129.574 G1 F1800 X123.600 Y114.266 E921.30954 G0 F9000 X124.144 Y114.245 G1 F1800 X139.027 Y129.127 E922.15143 G0 F9000 X139.105 Y128.640 G1 F1800 X124.666 Y114.201 E922.96822 G0 F9000 X125.187 Y114.156 G1 F1800 X139.160 Y128.129 E923.75865 G0 F9000 X139.215 Y127.618 G1 F1800 X125.709 Y114.112 E924.52267 G0 F9000 X126.230 Y114.068 G1 F1800 X139.215 Y127.052 E925.25718 G0 F9000 X139.186 Y126.458 G1 F1800 X126.788 Y114.060 E925.95852 G0 F9000 X127.332 Y114.038 G1 F1800 X139.149 Y125.855 E926.62699 G0 F9000 X139.000 Y125.140 G1 F1800 X127.947 Y114.088 E927.25221 G0 F9000 X128.560 Y114.135 G1 F1800 X138.851 Y124.426 E927.83436 G0 F9000 X138.585 Y123.595 G1 F1800 X129.268 Y114.277 E928.36144 G0 F9000 X130.046 Y114.490 G1 F1800 X138.296 Y122.740 E928.82813 G0 F9000 X137.858 Y121.736 G1 F1800 X130.903 Y114.781 E929.22156 G0 F9000 X131.968 Y115.281 G1 F1800 X137.271 Y120.583 E929.52151 G10 G0 F9000 X136.149 Y118.896 G11 G1 F1800 X133.593 Y116.340 E929.66610 ;LAYER:3 M106 S15 G0 F9000 X133.910 Y116.390 Z0.600 M605 S0;stores parameters before tweaking ;TweakAtZ V4.0.2: executed at Layer 3 M117 Printing... tw@L 3 M106 S0 M140 S0.000000 M104 S240.000000 T0 ;TYPE:WALL-INNER G1 F2100 X134.684 Y117.017 E929.70595 G1 X135.850 Y118.225 E929.77310 G1 X136.783 Y119.450 E929.83470 G1 X136.892 Y119.588 E929.84173 G1 X137.526 Y120.681 E929.89228 G1 X137.750 Y121.063 E929.90999 G1 X138.160 Y121.986 E929.95039 G1 X138.444 Y122.636 E929.97876 G1 X138.764 Y123.593 E930.01912 G1 X138.992 Y124.261 E930.04736 G1 X139.116 Y124.854 E930.07159 G1 X139.328 Y125.881 E930.11354 G1 X139.373 Y126.793 E930.15006 G1 X139.405 Y127.450 E930.17637 G1 X139.241 Y128.989 E930.23828 G1 X138.852 Y130.448 E930.29868 G1 X138.273 Y131.794 E930.35729 G1 X137.550 Y132.963 E930.41227 G1 X136.715 Y133.979 E930.46487 G1 X136.212 Y134.463 E930.49280 G1 X135.822 Y134.839 E930.51447 G1 X134.928 Y135.548 E930.56011 G1 X134.121 Y136.118 E930.59963 G1 X133.370 Y136.611 E930.63556 G1 X132.720 Y137.041 E930.66673 G1 X132.125 Y137.457 E930.69577 G1 X131.545 Y137.897 E930.72490 G1 X130.921 Y138.374 E930.75631 G1 X130.366 Y138.785 E930.78394 G1 X129.426 Y139.491 E930.83096 G1 X128.863 Y139.874 E930.85820 G1 X128.119 Y140.360 E930.89374 G1 X127.412 Y140.817 E930.92742 G1 X126.965 Y141.099 E930.94856 G1 X126.489 Y141.402 E930.97113 G1 X125.870 Y141.776 E931.00006 G1 X125.406 Y142.065 E931.02192 G1 X124.686 Y142.513 E931.05584 G1 X123.970 Y142.968 E931.08978 G1 X123.252 Y143.413 E931.12357 G1 X122.530 Y143.848 E931.15728 G1 X121.782 Y144.294 E931.19212 G1 X121.307 Y144.586 E9

I have placed a tweek at layer 3 that turns of the fan. But it did start anyway. Also tried a second tweek at layer 20 but still I found it spinning later on. Is there any perticular layer I must reach before i can turn of fan for rest of print?

If the source is what you think it might be then what is the solution. Could I just put some oil on the belt to reduce friction against the sides?

Printer has started to sound bad for some 20 hours print time ago. The it was just a sound now and then now it's there almost all the time. I have tried to put a finger on the different axis as well as the print head and the box, close to ant ball bearings but the ticking sound does not seem to make enough vibrations for me to feel where it comes from. Nothing is visible in the print though. Any Ideas? Link to video

I have experimented a little with different ways of getting a nice surface. So far I have worked mostly with filling, sanding and painting. Made some experiments on products I had at home last week and had great success with painting an a layer of Urethane casting resin as well as with an Epoxy Resin / Baby powder mix. Booth products had a very self leveling and glossy result and booth where easy to sand. I did however prefer the Urethane that was a bit softer to sand an leveled out a bit better and cured faster. After that I got some tip for some another products. A Urethane Clear coat for cars: Dupont Croma Clear Actually one maker of casting products has a special product for 3D prints: http://www.smooth-on.com/index.php?cPath=1429 Here is a picture of how nice and smooth the surface gets with a coat of Urethane Mouldkraft SG2000 Fastcast resin, think it's 3min work time and 30 minutes to fully cured or someting like that. Can be found on ebay.co.uk and bought in small bottles and a little goes a long way if someone want to try it. Just note that it's not transparent.

Sorry about the bad picture. Done with the finish of the figure. Now it's on to sculpting hair and base on top of the 3D printed base.

Just want to add that the epoxy baby powder mix worked just as fine. The urethane creted a little smoother surface by itself, was a little more easy to sand. Probably just to put some more baby powder in the epoxy to get the same result with that. I think main differences are that you get more work time with the epoxy but that also mean longer cure time and maybe a little larger risk of runs. The urethane can be hold and rotated to minimize risk of running the short time it takes before it gets hard. I also think the urethane layer was a bit thinner as it was more fluid. will try the methods more on next sculpture. Now i gonna concentrate on getting the current finished so it don't end up as just another unfinished piece

Ahh, so it's that time of the year again... Really cool idea. I think it's the first time I see someone use it that way. If you'r interested in crazy pumpkin carvings then you should check this guy out. It's insane what he can do with a pumpkin. http://villafanestudios.com/

Just brushed it on with a brush. Both the Urethane and the Epoxy behaved the same with a little plus for the Urethane. At first brushstrokes where visible in both of them but then it flowed and even out itself.

The urethane did set fast so I gave it a go with the sanding pad. Incredible... So easy and nice to sand and so smooth result. I wish i had something larger to make a test on than this arm. Regret that I put epoxy on the larger body part (but hopfully it works just as nice). The Urethane I used was Mouldcraft SGS 2000 but I suppose other works just as well. Actually I was surprised that it did not run more as I think the 2000 is a really easy flow kind of Urethane. I think the urethane gets sticky and slow flowing in quite short time so if one rotates the part a little until the urethane sets a little I don't think there has to be much runs or any drips.

Started on a couple of test in order to find a god material for filling out the SMALL surface problems that appears on a filament printer print. What I want is something that has auto leveling surface properties. Tried parquete polish. To thin so it does not even out the surface. At least not in one go. So what else makes up a smooth surface, is nice to sand and about the same hardness as plastic. Epoxy glue / resin with some filler (used baby powder for this test). After applying it seems to do just what i want. The surface is smooth, layer thickness is nice, wont remove to much details but seems to swallow all small imperfections. When looking for the epoxie I also stumbled on something else... A couple of bottles of Urethane casting resin. Could it possibly work? I know it gets a super smooth surface and it does dry a lot faster, around 10 minutes (3minutes when casting) I guess when painted on as a thin layer. And a first impressions is, wow!!! I will give you some more info on this tomorrow, when I have tried to sand the surface. The epoxy i used wont be hardened until then (if i did mix it correctly, had to wing it because I did not understand my own notes on how to mix it :oops: ). Concerns for the epoxy: Will it be nice to sand with the 50% baby powder mix or should I have used more. Concerns for the Urethane: I know urethane usually is nice to sand but will it stick to the surface as god as the epoxy. Story will continue tomorrow.

I have started to work on the print and in filling and sanding. But I just had to put it all together just to get a hint of what it's gonna look like. Sorry for the crappy images. It was hard to get the pieces to stay together and in balance long enough for a picture so I had to rush it... Anyway here they are..

Started a new sculpture in about 1/5 scale. Will post some WIP pictures here to put some pressure on myself to get it finished. The inspiration is a drawing by Frazetta. A first image that I posted on the theClubhouse to get some first impressions on the pose. Then a more refined version, ready for print. Hair and ground will be printed a little smaller in size as I will add a layer of 2 component sculpting clay for the detailing. Finally, all the printed parts. Work now continues with filling, sanding and sculpting.

Did a quick paint of last print. No post work at all, just painted it the way it came out of the printer. Painted with brush and waterbased oils in one take from top to bottom. Strange way to pint but as it takes so long to dry, painting one color at the time was no option if it was to actually be quick Some partial nudity so don't click on the images unlike you can handle it.

Anything that grinds down the surface will heat the plastic. Teoretically you would want something that cuts rather then grind. So, some kind of rotating file, as sharp as possible and as large diameter as possible is my suggestion.

Hehe Maybe a small picture and less than maximal focus makes things look smoother that it is. I tried to create the model in a way that should print well without a lot of extra support and as a single piece. And most of the model is quite smooth, printed with 0.1mm layer at 30mm/sec. But there are some areas that print with less quality(right hand and backside of left upper arm being the weakest points).

Made a little Cartoon Pinup that I plan to share if there is any interest.