Acetone Finishing on PLA

[cloakfiend 995]

lol, here a photo, clean polished plate, semi clean polished plate distressed, and clean matte plate (with polished spots).

when i say polished i mean came out polished from the galvanization process.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Guest

[cloakfiend 995]

its definitely is not doing what i want but from an art point of view, im having fun!

another matte partial coat, even after 4 hours. something is not right, lol.

[cloakfiend 995]

tried again with a smaller print and it was much more shiny. ill distress it now.

[cloakfiend 995]

few more pics. i ran out of silver spray, and it doesnt seem to be available anywhere else lol.

need to get like 50 cans!

[cloakfiend 995]

and distressed...

[cloakfiend 995]

just squeezed the ends of the tiny little silver can and JUST managed to coat enough of another of my acetoned models i had lying about from work, just printed the top it was missing, glued it and off to coat. im starting to get the hang of this, you need to understand the connection of size and amps and cathode positioning.

some pics for the curious....another oversize plate attempt not recommended by the manufacturer, even bigger than the buddah head...

but again if acetone frightens you, then just forget about plating, as all the spraying and chems made me feel unwell lately, as i tend to breath in a lot of chemicals due to inhalation while closely inspecting the processes. im not even sure how bad the acid plating solution is, i put my hands in it quite a lot as i keep forgetting to use gloves which it comes with a box of 100, lol.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Guest

[cloakfiend 995]

and the results before i distress it....this one didnt work, due to the size (and me not really bothering to calculate surface area and amps, lol) but looks ok-ish after some additional treatments.

[cloakfiend 995]

And distressed...

just a quick note, but dont plate flexible stuff, the plate will just peel right off if your not careful. its happened to me quite a lot. its fragile, but maybe because i'm not doing it right. Also dont pick at the plate either as you will peel it off where it is weak, or was bent, or was dirty when you started to plate it.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Guest

[SandervG 1,521]

And distressed...

just a quick note, but dont plate flexible stuff, the plate will just peel right off if your not careful. its happened to me quite a lot. its fragile, but maybe because i'm not doing it right. Also dont pick at the plate either as you will peel it off where it is weak, or was bent, or was dirty when you started to plate it.

 

It feels like she is looking right into my soul!

[cloakfiend 995]

heres my latest paintjob.

[cloakfiend 995]

and my latest, just ordered like 80euros worth of random specialist spray paints to experiment with, as i need to find an alternative to silver for electroplating as its just to darn expensive. this is just paint and not plated.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Guest

[MarcusWolschon 7]

I used acetone on some Colorfabb PLA+PHA part and there was no smoothing at all.

The layers just started to warp and come apart until the entire bottom layer had wrinkled and detach from the object.

The infill had largely dissolved into a bucket of tiny strands.

=> Acetone smoothed nothing and destroyed the object.

[MarcusWolschon 7]

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

 

Looks like a swiss power plug.

[cloakfiend 995]

what colour did you have?

As even with the skankiest acetone on the planet it still works for me whatever the colour. i don't even bother sanding any more, i have learnt to accept the faint lines that remain. if i want it perfect then it simply means i need to put in a bit of effort.

this is how my current acetone looks like and it still works just fine....

i know this thread is a bit long, but if you are treating flat objects, then you need to be way more careful due to warping. the brush on method is your only option, soaking will warp and destroy.

ive even acetoned stuff ive glued together and its still fine.

...and if the infill dissolved, then its working...

Edited December 18, 2015 by Guest

[MarcusWolschon 7]

what colour did you have?

 

Black.

http://colorfabb.com/standard-black

I had raised it in a huge glass container for about a day, checking regularly

with the bottom being just about covered in Acetone.

The air was not to be disturbed.

I could feel the thick, heavier then air vapour when slowly sliding the lid apart and slowly reaching into the container.

With the Olsson Block and a new front door for the UM2extended, I'll try ABS and technical wax next.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Guest

[cloakfiend 995]

....however i did already mention that you cannot let the acetone get into the infill or bad things will happen as the acetone cant escape and just continues to work until it has evaporated or been absorbed completely. basically the death of your object. if your getting under extrusion dont waste youre time either as the acetone will get in. also dont print very thin walls due to warping, 1.2 is my standard wall thickness as i have mentioned before.

i assume this is the kind of stuff you are talking about??

but the top was ok

[cloakfiend 995]

You left it in acetone for A DAY!!!!

Damn, you clearly haven't read this thread or watched my videos. watch the one with the red face. 45 seconds mate! ......a day, lol.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Guest

[MarcusWolschon 7]

Yes, pretty much.

I'll try again with thicker, water tights walls and brush-on.

Thanks for the hint.

There was no visible effect on the outside after 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours and more.

It was very little acetone compared to the size of the container and it was at room temperature (maybe even a bit cold). So I figured it would take a lot longer then usual.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Guest

[cloakfiend 995]

all my big faces were brushed on, not dipped due to the large size. i cant deal with 5litres of acetone in a room anymore, lol. and black colorfabb is one of my favourites next to traffic red, but they all work, leaf green is also very good, as is warm red.

this is the top of the face just to show no warping on a flat surface...

[cloakfiend 995]

....and remember 0.06 layer height or less. 0.1 just doesn't cut it. do it like in the video i posted, i have developed a few other ways of doing it, maybe ill share them later, i dont have the time to be making videos at the moment, im busy doing my showreel. just playing with paints at the moment.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Guest

[MarcusWolschon 7]

....and remember 0.06 layer height or less. 0.1 just doesn't cut it.

 

For detailed parts I usually use 0.015-0.02 mm. The limit of what my U2 can do.

[cloakfiend 995]

0.015, damn you must wait a while for your prints! 0.04 on a .4mm nozzle is my limit, the overhangs are pure evil though. im going to try install the OB soon over christmas and see what difference it makes, but considering i need quite thick walls i doubt i will change from using the .4mm nozzle.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Guest

[MarcusWolschon 7]

I come back when it's done. Non-technical models usually have no large overhangs and no need for any retraction at all. It doesn't matter that the printer is busy when I'm not there. As long as it's finished when I'm back.

[cloakfiend 995]

these are all 0.04mm i dont see any reason going higher res at the moment....

[MarcusWolschon 7]

When Acetone smoothing works for me, I'll probably have no need for these layer heights anymore. With sanding, coating, sanding and polishing it was less work as the layer lines where already smaller.