Results 1 to 10 of 13
Thread: PETG solvents
Threaded View
-
04-13-2015, 05:01 PM #1
- Join Date
- Feb 2015
- Posts
- 17
PETG solvents
Got a roll of PETG filament. Prints look nice and somewhat semi-transparent, but the surface is not perfectly smooth (especially on top and bottom surfaces, you can see lines formed by each pass of the extruder.) I want to create a glossy finish (like here http://airwolf3d.com/2013/11/26/7-st...parts-acetone/ http://blog.reprap.org/2013/02/vapor...-rp-parts.html) and for that I need something that will dissolve PETG.
The problem is that PETG is apparently immune to acetone and most other commonly used solvents. Googling turned up a number of possible candidates, which were, for the most part, highly toxic, unavailable online (or available at some absurd prices like $20/gram), or both. Melted phenol would supposedly work, but I can't find any suppliers who'd sell it cheaper than $100/kg. (Which is also absurd, it's a cheap basic chemical that probably does not cost more than $5/kg in bulk.) One source said that dichloromethane and toluene "achieved partial dissolution" (so, may or may not work.) I can get 1 quart of dichloromethane on ebay for $34+tax, but it's going to take at least a week to get it delivered and I'd like to be more confident that it will work. For some bizarre reason, toluene is completely banned in California (I might still manage to order some from out of state, but it's a misdemeanor simply to possess any quantity of it.)
Has anyone ever tried this before, and are there any solvents I've overlooked that would do the job and would be more easily available?
Ender 3v2 poor printing quality
10-28-2024, 09:08 AM in Tips, Tricks and Tech Help