COLD acetone vapor smoothing of 3D printed ABS objects

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The problem I've had with these types of smoothing methods is they, by design, melt the parts. Too much and the parts don't fit and they lose their "sharpness" and detail. I've had better luck starting with good prints and then using several coats of sand able primer. It's really not much more work then prepping balsa parts. Acetone also doesn't work with PLA which I now prefer because it warps and shrinks less (for me) than ABS.

I'll post some photos of priming and sanding a PLA part if anyone is interested.

Rob
 
Here's a part to the LTV Scout I'm working on. It shows the first three coats of primer with sanding in between. It will probably take one more coat. The finish coats of gloss white will also provide a little filling.

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It's a little more work with the molded in conduits. A normal nose cone is very easy to sand between coats.

Rob
 
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