Cold vapor treatment ABS/ PLA /CPE

[Pendali 1]

Cold Acetone vapor treatment on ABS or mixed plastic PLA, works quite nice since it smooths over several hours instead of seconds. (you get much more control compared to other methods) Also it doesn't leave that white layer that you get when just dipping the thing in acetone. On the Ultimaker website they recommend using chloroform for PLA, but what should I use on CPE filament? Anyone know? :-)

[titanoid 4]

Well I just chloroform-vaped my last prints and can't believe how well it workzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Serious folks, whatever you do, be freaking careful!

For CPE, as it's meant to be very resistant to chemicals, I think it will get even more dangerous from here on...

[Pendali 1]

Well I just chloroform-vaped my last prints and can't believe how well it workzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Serious folks, whatever you do, be freaking careful!

For CPE, as it's meant to be very resistant to chemicals, I think it will get even more dangerous from here on...

 

Safety is important.

(Another good reason to use the cold vapor method instead of warm)

Have good ventilation, proper gear and all that jazz.

^^,  Apparently, customer support was willing to find out what the best Vapor treating method is for CPE plastic.

I will post a summary of the response here, when I get the results from their experiment's.

:-)

Edited November 9, 2015 by Guest

[Pendali 1]

Well I just chloroform-vaped my last prints and can't believe how well it workzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Serious folks, whatever you do, be freaking careful!

For CPE, as it's meant to be very resistant to chemicals, I think it will get even more dangerous from here on...

 

Update:

So for the conclusion, it turns out that CPE does respond to Chloroform.

Hereby the link of the Vapor treading method, https://ultimaker.com/en/support/view/17897-vapor-treating.

I would recommend using cold vapor instead of warm vapor tho, since it should be much safer and give more control.

Cheer's!

[Tomhe 21]

For CPE, as it's meant to be very resistant to chemicals, I think it will get even more dangerous from here on...

The polymer linked to by you is chlorinated polyethylene. This is (fortunately) not what CPE stands for, it stands for CoPolyEster. Most copolyesters are pretty solvent resistant though, especially if they are PET based.

It would be nice if Chloroform works, and I would like to see an example. Unfortunately Chloroform is something you really don't want to inhale. It is toxic in both short (headache) and long term (liver damage, possible carcinogen).

[titanoid 4]

I'm sorry, that was just a 2min google search...

I am as excited as everyone regarding new exotic filaments and post processing tricks.

Just getting goosebumps if some people experiment with serious chemicals without proper care and protection.

Being a goldsmith and craftsman for about 20 years, I was playing with a lot of different materials and chemicals, so there's not much that can scare me.

BUT, you have to know exactly what you're dealing with, and how careful and focused you have to be.

Remind the happy-go-lucky handling of asbestos over decades, and today they come wearing those biohazard space suits to refurbish old buildings.

What I learned is better being too careful.

But never stop tinkering, of course!

[Pendali 1]

Here is a nice example of how it could be done (modified) without to much hazzle:

 

Btw. temperature is not that much of an issue, I tested acetone and put it outside in our garage. The temperature was around 1 to 0 degrees outside (freezing point of water), but the passive cold vapor still worked quite nicely on the ABS plastic.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Guest