Polish Your 3D Prints With This $50 Rock Tumbler

[Brian_Krassenstein]

German maker Joerg Torhoff, who has been experimenting with 3D printing for several years now, wanted to come up with a way to polish objects created using metallic filaments from ColorFabb. With manual methods too burdensome, and off-the-shelf rock tumblers costing close to $300, Torhoff decided to create his own tumbler to polish his prints, and was able to do so with a cost of just around $45. Using PVC pipe, a motor, some hardware, and several 3D printed components, Torhoff's design works like a charm--and he's made the design available on Instructables for other makers who'd like to bring some polish to their prints. Check out what he had to say about it in the full story: http://3dprint.com/83917/diy-rock-tu...polish-prints/

Below is a photo of some of Torhoff's polished 3D prints:

[curious aardvark]

or simply buy metallic filament from reprapper tech and don't bother with all the sanding and polishing :-)

Wonder what size screws he uses.
I do have an old rock tumbler, and a roll of bronzefill I'm reluctant to print anything with simply because of the pita post processing.

I might have to try this :-)

[Marm]

I guess this kicks back to the sand blasting thread we had a while back. I wonder if blasting grit would work for this.

And as I don't do metal filament, I wonder how tumbling ABS prints would work. It would do something, but as to the practicality of it....

[joop1987]

You can get a dual drum tumbler from Harbor Freight for the around same price. http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-dr...ler-67632.html