can I smooth ABS with cold acetone vapor?

I picked up some acetone, jars, cotton balls, a flat aluminum pan, and tried to use vapors to get a shiny finish on some parts. I failed miserably.

In most of the instructables I've looked at, people are putting the jar on a heated plate and turning it way up. I don't have an easy way to do that outdoors, and honestly I'm afraid of it bursting into flames. So I tried doing it cold and leaving it in longer. I put my parts on the aluminum pan, surrounded them with acetone saturated cotton, covered them with a deep glass baking dish and walked away for 1 hour.

When I returned the cotton balls were still moist, but the parts looked unchanged. Has anyone gotten parts to smooth out without heat? What about using a spray bottle to mist the part? Should I try more cottonballs? Leave it in overnight? Do I need to take off my diaper and drag a hot plate outside?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2014 02:23PM by MoonTimber.

Check those instructions again, should be talking about ABS. Acetone doesn't eat away PLA, in my experience it only effects it when dunked and even then it just bleaches the color and makes it sort of spongey. Not change in shape.

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

I like to use matte clear coat.

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

I must have been half asleep when I posted this. I meant ABS. The parts I printed and put under my glass were ABS. I just edited the topic to reflect my dementia.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2014 02:24PM by MoonTimber.

Yes, it works, but i found it less controlable than hot vapour.

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This is the method I use [www.youtube.com]

And it works perfectly. Also safer than heated method.

That makes sense tmorris9. I guess the cotton balls weren't distributing the acetone as evenly or profusely as wrapping the entire interior with paper towels. My glass container should be fine, but I will have to track down some magnets and try it with paper towel instead of cotton balls. At least now I know it can be done. Thanks!

can use chickenwire or wire mesh to hold up cloth/paper too.

The paper towel methos sounds awesome. I never thought about it like that. Im gonna try this with lemonene and HIPS

I know the acetone vapour method is prefered by most when it comes to ABS prints but I would like to share another and faster method that works great on simple shapes and those that have no real bottom - like sphericons.

I use a 400grid sand paper to smooth the surface of the print - only to remove all the bumps and bits sticking out but not to sand it all flat.
Now the magic...
ABS juice from the same filament is brushed on the part - be quick and don't let the brush run dry here.
Single coat over the entire part.
Let dry for a few minutes, sand down again and repeat.
The part will be very nice and shiny but most importantly you don't risk to soften thin areas and you won't loose fine details.
Overall it is also faster than the vapour method as you don't have to wait for the insides to dry out.
I noticed with slightly cracked parts that the acetone vapour canbe trapped inside the model causing extreme long drying times before the part stopped smelling.

Pic is a bit blurry, sorry!
But you can see it is a nice and smooth surface