Acetone Finishing on PLA

[cloakfiend 995]

thanks for the suggestion sander, but i have so much so get on with at the moment i wouldn't contribute much. my life has drastically changed and i need to make a lot of decisions so don't have as much time as before to argue with people on the forum, lol

here are my last two prints from work I picked up today, they were still on the glass a week after I left, lol.

and the arty one in red colorfabb with infill.

Ill aceone them soon........

[KevinMakes 22]

Lol, I know how you feel!

What are you doing now?

[cloakfiend 995]

learning how to galvanize, lol

the ultimaker robot was printed with um silver, the gnome colorfabb red. the gnome was acetoned before galvanization, the robot was not. what a difference. mind you the coating is only as good as the model.... they're my first two tests..they have a few issues lol.

No sanding or polishing after galvanizing them. this is how they came out.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Guest

[ultiarjan 1,223]

learning how to galvanize, lol

Cool! how did you do it? what equipment did you use?

[cloakfiend 995]

i used that copperface thing. not sure what im doing to be sure and have some issues but my main one is size. its more aimed at rings and small evenly shaped thing. the coolest thing is the magnetic stirrer and graphite and silver spray. very unusual coatings. looks slick. the chemicals are real nasty though and thats saying something coming from me. the sprays are so toxic i almost suffocated myself, and used barely any!

if im honest its all a bit cheap and tacky looking. the weight of plastic with that level of shine tells your brain its tacky and cheap. as a result i will distress EVERYTHING i plate.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Guest

[neotko 1,417]

The price of the copperface was pointed at 400-500€, how much costs? (the web now don't shows the price unless you contact them). Looks quite good, too bad the quemicals.

[cloakfiend 995]

plating non mettalic stuff is not easy with the graphite spray. quite frankly it doesnt work. you basically need to use the silver spray. i need to find a distributor of that if im going to continue using it. tiny expensive cans. this is what will costs money plating. everything else looks like it will last a while.

[cloakfiend 995]

graphite could be good if i understood why it doesnt work, but three times in a row with faliure compared to working almost everytime with silver says it all.

some faliure pics, yay!

and a bit distressd

Edited December 9, 2015 by Guest

[cloakfiend 995]

the crusty effect reminds me of barnacles at sea, its that kind of weird build up. thats when your current is too high. i still dont really have a clue about what im doing really with this, and see myself giving up,on it real soon. the only advantage is that you keep all the detail that y started with as the graphite ans silver sprays are so fine you literally are spraying nano levels amount of particles. its hard to control, and easy to overspray. very odd sprays. if you were to hold down the spray, you would probably empty the cans in ten seconds. they are that sensitive, and probably expensive. the graphite does look slick though, even if i does not do as advertised to a novice.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Guest

[cloakfiend 995]

this is graphite on acetoned pla.

this is copperplated silver on acetoned pla.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Guest

[cloakfiend 995]

This was a curious thing from the copperface, never seen one of these before lol.

[neotko 1,417]

Quite expensive the silver spray. How long you think it should last? Now that I have the price list I see what you mean by 'better with graphite' 1/5 price

If anyone interested they sent me the links for the price list:

http://www.robotfactory.it/Depliant/CopperFace_EN.zip

http://www.robotfactory.it/Listini/Listini_Ottobre2015_CopperFace.zip

[cloakfiend 995]

Yep the can is 1/5 of the size too! :/

[cloakfiend 995]

The graphite is useless to plate with, just looks good sprayed on.

[cloakfiend 995]

heres a pic of the cans....

Edited December 9, 2015 by Guest

[fergazz 60]

this is graphite on acetoned pla.

this is copperplated silver on acetoned pla.

 

looks beautifull, congrats!!

[fergazz 60]

Quite expensive the silver spray. How long you think it should last? Now that I have the price list I see what you mean by 'better with graphite' :D1/5 price

If anyone interested they sent me the links for the price list:

http://www.robotfactory.it/Depliant/CopperFace_EN.zip

http://www.robotfactory.it/Listini/Listini_Ottobre2015_CopperFace.zip

 

awesome machine!!! It`s now in my wishlist...

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Looks to me building something from loose components can save a lot of money.

[cloakfiend 995]

Definitely, i've seen many methods, but i just dont have the time. Im going to have to improvise to get different shapes as it is because the jar is just too small for me. The magnetic stirrer is a nice touch that prevents burning of the plating, but unless you acetone your prints like me or sand them, forget about plating. It will just emphasis the lines, and in chrome they look awful.

Its a gimmick for me and i dont agree with the instructions some points dont make sense to me. I gave up on them and just do it my way regardless.

The hardest part is keeping them underwater lol, as they are plastic and want to float!

[cloakfiend 995]

@fergazz its not really a machine but more of a process. All you really need is an adjustable current and copper and copper suplhate. They just give you all the components to get started.

Unless i can figure out how to do larger stuff, I have a feeling it will be like the gym, ill use it loads at the start then have no real use for it. Art will have to be the reason to use it.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Guest

[neotko 1,417]

The hardest part is keeping them underwater lol, as they are plastic and want to float!

 

You could make an inner ball area for the print, pause, insert, keep printing. That could make the print heavier (to have a better weight felling) and it won't float

[cloakfiend 995]

ill figure something out here is a face i had. not a good print, i tried to do 0.04 but overhangs were poorer and even at shallower angles unless im doing something wrong. that weird patterning on it again, i really need to try figure how to get rid....the line is when i tried going below 172 to 170 but i had to turn it back up to 172.

[fergazz 60]

@fergazz its not really a machine but more of a process. All you really need is an adjustable current and copper and copper suplhate. They just give you all the components to get started.

Unless i can figure out how to do larger stuff, I have a feeling it will be like the gym, ill use it loads at the start then have no real use for it. Art will have to be the reason to use it.

 

Definitely galvanize is a process, the pdf file above shows that this brand sell all the necessary machinery and titled as: Copperface small galvanic machine. But I think I understand what you mean, can you save by purchasing separately. I suppose use this process to create decorative objects but I need to study about... by now I farm out of galvanizing services because I have not enough demand.

[cloakfiend 995]

i still dont really know what im doing, i tried to plate a large printout, but it kind of failed. it didnt create a shiny copper coat, but a weird light pink metallic coat instead. very girly, so it suited the model, but i was hoping for the all singing shiny plate. i have a few models lying around so im still experimenting, but i gave up looking up galvanic values for surface area and went on previous results from the tests i made figuring out the amps that suits the model most without burning it.

its not a sure thing as a beginner, and with the silver spray so expensive, its not such a cheap hobby at the beginning due to the testing, getting the solution at the right temperature, waste, failed attempts etc..., but i imagine once you know what you are doing it will save you money in the long run.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

but i imagine once you know what you are doing it will save you money in the long run.

 

sounds like you can make some people really happy by sharing your test data .....