Surface treatment

[wallan 0]

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.

 

[valcrow 144]

Looks great! saw this in the other thread. How do you find it in regards to covering detail?

This sounds like a really good alternative to acetone smoothing. Since I usually print in PLA and acetone isn't gonna work.

 

[printedsolid 3]

That looks great! I've used Ethyl Acetate as a substitute for acetone to vapor polish PLA, but your process is giving a much better result.

 

[LePaul 321]

I've had some really nice prints that need clean up to help remove those fine lines (0.1 prints). The Smooth On product looks interesting.

I've also seen a lot of various talk about using rock tumblers with a variety of materials inside. Most of those discussions were based on prints using the Bronzefill to bring out the shine.

But on regular PLA prints, I am really curious what people have used successfully for everyday prints, such as these...

 

[techbuilder 0]

I've had some really nice prints that need clean up to help remove those fine lines (0.1 prints). The Smooth On product looks interesting.

I've also seen a lot of various talk about using rock tumblers with a variety of materials inside. Most of those discussions were based on prints using the Bronzefill to bring out the shine.

But on regular PLA prints, I am really curious what people have used successfully for everyday prints, such as these...

 

It works ok for a vibratory tumbler I own one but a rotary tumbler with higher grit such as 240 to 400 would work better.

 

[DidierKlein 729]

I just came accross the same product (XTC-3D) it looks good from what is shown in the pictures...

Here's a link to the technical doc:

http://www.smooth-on.com/tb/files/XTC3D_TB.pdf

They say it works on PLA (among others), really wonder if it's good (and safe) to use

 

[dinykb 0]

Hi, did anyone already buy this XTC-3D in Europe ? I am trying via a reseller of smooth-on in Amsterdam but until now they don't have it ?

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Nope it seems that this product is only available for the US at the moment :( if i understood well it's hazardous to transport. If someone finds anything similar in Europe i would be glad to test this

 

[Nicolinux 288]

Doh! I bought it but still not tested it...

Will update this post asap.

 

[tsagos 8]

There is one in france also.

http://www.imprimante3dfrance.com/en/imprimante-3d-boutique/post-processing/xtc-3d-640g-detail.html

I dont think its a good product. I'll have to test it to be sure though...

It looks like it just fills the horizontal lines with a clear resin... nothing more.

Right?

 

[tinydancer 0]

I just got some XTC-3D in the mail yesterday and will hopefully test it this weekend if I get time. I'll post some pics for sure.

 

[cloakfiend 995]

Id love to see some pics of this on some highly detailed models. Im attempting one now, but my extruder is grinding the hell out of my filament and have none spare.

[tinydancer 0]

Id love to see some pics of this on some highly detailed models. Im attempting one now, but my extruder is grinding the hell out of my filament and have none spare.

 

Link the model and depending on how long it takes I could give it a try as well. I'm currently printing the body of the Oblivion Defender Drone to have a side by side comparison.

 

[dominique 0]

There is little product finishing and XTC-3D appears to be an effective resin. I just read an article on this test (source) and the results are convincing. Someone you tested it on wood filaments as Woodfill or Bambofill?

[cloakfiend 995]

Has anyone got any xtc-3D models they've painted with high levels of detail in them? Just to see how they compare next to acetoned ones?

Can someone who own any do a split model, i.e. paint half the model with the 3d coating and half not so you can compare the detail on the exact same print like i did on the model below.(which is acetone on PLA BTW)

Edited May 13, 2015 by Guest