First printed project : Garden train Monorail

For my first prints , I made a project of a garden train monorail.
Only the bogies are printed - All modelling done with OpenSCAD







It is going well, however, the finition does not looks very nice and I need to do some sanding and adding paint layers.
This is partly due to the fact I have done many tests during printing and the finition was somewhat bad for miscellaneous reasons. You could have a much better finition, however, it will take more time to print.
Layer of 0.2 gives a much better finition than 0.25
PLA have better finition than PETG, but is not an option for the motor bogie (temperature) and PETG is higly recommended for parts with long gussets.
Also, a better cleaning is required before painting.
I do not know if the acetone smoothing work with PETG but it is quite dangerous and I don't want to do that in my environment.

The photos -see directory 'printed parts' are there (I somewhat reorganised the 3D printing page):
[rouzeau.net]
and if you are interested about the modelling, this is here:
[rouzeau.net]

Regards, Pierre

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2015 08:44PM by PRZ.

Nice!

Regarding smoothing, I don't think Acetone will work on PETG. It does work on ABS, but not on PLA (there are other chemicals for PLA, see [www.google.co.uk] ). I can't find any information on what may work with PETG - it seems like it is specifically designed to be inert! There may be something in the 'chemical recycling' part of this page: [en.wikipedia.org]
PETG hasn't yet taken off as a printing material for 3D printers, it seems. Maybe ask in this thread, which seems to have some good information: [forums.reprap.org]

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

Maybe use a filler resin and then paint?
But if PET is like PLA ... do NOT SAND!!!!

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I've been getting good results using XTC-3D for smoothing. It's a resin that you paint on that drys smoot. Quite frequently I find that 2 coats does really well. It doesn't chemically abrade the underlying material, but adds another layer on top, so you need to be aware when making mechanically making parts.

Bit expensive though when you include postage and what not from the only reseller in the UK.

You mean this: [www.techswap3d.be]

That expensive .... but if i think how much i pay for 1L of formulas resin .... it is still ok and will last a lot (I hope).

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
----- Helping entrepreneurs @ www.fralke.com

Fpex, why not sanding on PLA ?

Whats works well on PETG is cutting with a sharp (new blade) cutter.

Regards, Pierre

Did you try to sand? Once you do, you will understand.
If you ask me, sanding PLA is to be avoided ... but if you really need, prepare yourself for a painful experience even worse than sanding not fully cured resin. Filling resin is easier and works better and in the end, it needs similar attention as sanding for mechanical/fitting parts.

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
----- Helping entrepreneurs @ www.fralke.com

Even with Postage it appears to be cheaper in the uk...

[www.benam.co.uk]

I tried to sand PLA.
It is quite hard so the sanding is not very efficient. For this reason, for the angles I prefer to file or cut.
Angles tend a bit to delaminate in PLA.
My tolerances were too tight for some parts, so I had to cut the materials to improve clearances.

Also, there is something important that I did not initially noticed, the height of the parts are not constant, they depends from the layer parameters. I have parts made with the same file, but with different layer height, which have significant (for assembly) height difference. I understand the cause (that is logical, the total height shall be a multiple of the layer height), but that is not easy to manage. I was thinking that the slicer was somewhat managing reduced height for adjustement, but it seems Slic3R do not. Fine manual tuning of layer height ?
I also have doubts that the brim height may be added to the full height ?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2015 09:06AM by PRZ.

Quote
matt.daubney
Even with Postage it appears to be cheaper in the uk...

[www.benam.co.uk]

Depends on the gbp/eur rate ... Very similar.

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
----- Helping entrepreneurs @ www.fralke.com