DIY 3D Printing

[pdx1955]

Soak in Bestine, an artist's solvent (may not be available at the moment) or Goo Gone. Goo Gone will probably need light scrubbing. The issue with painting is the support wax residue. Once that is removed they take all hobby paints very well.

Scrubbing is not necessary with Goo-Gone. I found that the parts come out of the bath still clear but will dry opaque. The parts do absorb the Goo-gone odor though and take on a slight tinge, but that may have been because I let them soak a few days.

[Chris333]

OK then how do you remove the Goo Gone?

[pdx1955]

I just gave everything a good rinse with water...doesn't seem to have any ill effects so far.

[BCR751]

I'm going to go ahead and re-order the RDC-3 from Shapeways.  I'm also going to try to get them to orient it as per my request.  From the discussions here, I believe it should be printed with it standing on end.  Is this correct?  If not, please advise.  I know it's a long shot to get them to do it this way but I think it's worth a try.  If this one doesn't turn out, I'm going to keep asking for re-prints until they get it right. 

Doug

[narrowminded]

I think the old Goo-Gone is basically mineral spirits with some citrus for flavor.

[Chris333]

Every time I use Goo Gone I get that oily orange smell all over mu hand and it doesn't really wash off. It must have some sort of oil in it.

[peteski]

Every time I use Goo Gone I get that oily orange smell all over mu hand and it doesn't really wash off. It must have some sort of oil in it.

You can look up the ingredients listed in https://googone.com/uploads/msds/goo-gone-original.pdf

It doesn't list solubility in water.

I agree that is is very pungent and oily - not something I would want to rinse with water and paint over the residue.  But that's just me. 

[Lemosteam]

Add the fact that FUD and FXD are extremely porous.  For me I need something that dissolves the wax and then evaporates completely with no residue.  I think that is the only way that painting will not have issues.

[vicsmodels]

I have found a product here in Australia which comes from the US called Un Du,  which is for removing sticky adhesive labels and wax film .I have purchased a couple of dozen items in FUD from Shapeways and it removes the waxy film without a problem. I leave them in for a couple of days without any problem but the do turn white. After removing them from the un du i wash them in mild soapy water and leave to dry for a day ready for painting. It does have a sort of odour but when dried and washed it goes away.

[craigolio1]

Are there any other companies out there who do 3D model RR printing to the quality we expect?  I've only ever seen Shapeways mentioned.

Doug

@Scottl mentioned a Canadian place on page 1. Scott perhaps you can share who it is that's doing your printing?

Craig

[lashedup]

Someone showed me a 3D printed O scale window frame and tankcar dome with no banding and it was a slightly flexible material. Almost like nylon. All I heard was he got $1000 off for buying a used machine with little run time.

It used liquid resin that hardened with a laser. A liter of resin was $110.

Sounds like a FormLabs Form 2 printer which is currently the most well regarded SLA consumer printer on the market. It is still a $3500 initial investment and you still need to pay for fairly expensive resin and new vats from time to time.  This machine can print down to 25 microns and would give you the ability to control orientation (within the confines of the build plate) on your own. You would need a lot of disposable income to justify it unless you can get away with charging a lot of money for prints (like they can in the jewelry world).  What worries me is that the number of times I'd have to print something to ensure that it turns out nearly perfect would burn through my ability to try and break even.

That said, the machine prices continue to drop and material/resin prices continue to drop. Technology is improving and things are headed in a positive direction.  There are a couple new machines on the horizon that may open the possibilities up.  Meanwhile I'm still trying to find someone with a Perfactory unit that would be willing to just print stuff for me. I've been following this stuff very closely for a while now. I'm not sure how much longer I'll wait before trying something out.  I just hate to spend the money on something that will be obsolete in two years without recouping a little something on it. 

- Jamie

[BCR751]

I just received the reprint of the N-Scale Budd RDC from Shapeways.  Although it's better than the one I posted here a week or so ago, it still has a lot of 'fuzz' in the fluted sides and there are still ridge lines on all of the places on the sides where it's supposed to be smooth.  And, one end is really bad.  I don't know how it was oriented during printing, they wouldn't tell me.  I can likely get rid of most of it with some fastidious sanding but it still won't look as good as it should.  I doubt Shapeways will agree to reprint it again and I don't want to spend any more money on getting another one done.  So, I'll get out the sandpaper and various tools and see if I can rid of most of the flaws.

Doug