Forget Acetone - Sandblast your 3D prints

[Yancy]

I hear people talking about using Acetone vapor baths all the time, in order to make FDM printed items look more appealing. Afterall, we all hate those lines in prints. However, there is this one guy who has been sandblasting his 3D printers as an alternative to Acetone. Sure it will give the prints a different texture (not that shiney texture from acetone). They look really great though.





This method also provides noise reduction (if needed).

More details on this at: http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-P...oved-Surface-/

I just think they look really great!

[Luv2Fight]

This is very nice looking. Are there cheap/affordable ways to sandblast though? I always thought the equipment is quite pricey.

[cnc dick]

What I do with ABS just a little bit of scraping Sanding about 5 to 10 minutes just that there is any high spots. And then about eight coats high solvent lacquer the solvent melts the surface a little bit this is a picture of a dragon I done that way

[jimc]

yancy, what media are you using in your blaster and what psi are your running? i have crushed glass in my cabinet which might be a little too aggressive for plastic. not sure

[red]

Looks cool, but isn't acetone few dollars and sand blasting tools over 1000?

[Marm]

You can get sandblasting enclosures for relatively cheap. http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...lt?q=sandblast Of course, that is harborfreight, so quality is so-so, but since we're 3d printers, making appropriate modifications is easy. You could get away with a small setup for < $500 (I'd highly recommend a cabinet, or else you'll have to make your blast area look like a Dexter kill room every time you wanted to blast). Since I have access to industrial grade blasters (one of our 'cabinets' is big enough to get entire car into), I don't plan on getting a home setup soon. But these low grade home setups are excellent for our needs, low pressure and the media is relatively cheap. I go through 4-8 bags of media a day at work, but at home I can't see using much beyond a bag or so a year. Personally, I'd be interested in seeing how the walnut shells work on plastic, but I do know that 54 grit aluminum oxide at low (20ish psi) pressures does well on plastic for paint adhesion, but a higher grit would probably do even better.

[jimc]

assuming you have a compressor which can provide an adequate air supply then the cheapest route you can go is just get a bag of media for $20 and you can pick up a cheap gun/hose/pickup tube for 10 bucks. stick it in the bag and your off and running. its certainly nothing i would use professionally but for a home user to just blast some prints it would do fine.

[richardphat]

How long do you have to run it in the sandblast? Been interested into those stuff but totally turn off when guides explain how compressor vendor just try to sell crap out of it. Do typical consumer compressor work well on the long run, or do you have to buy those expansive 2 stage compressor? What about the flow rate and pressure input?

[jimc]

the cfm needed from a compressor to sandblast is determined by the nozzle size of the blaster. smaller nozzle = less air required. i have blasted with as little as 9-10cfm elec shop size compressor and as much as 185cfm which is a big diesel powered unit. if your looking for a compressor you dont need a big 2 stage unit but you should buy one that atleast has a cast iron pump. dont buy one of these oilless ones you see around. those wont last a month with continuous duty.

[richardphat]

I don't mind dirty works, and I always believed that maintenance have to done eventually to make sure everything runs nice.