Improve your prints with acetone smoothing

I know somewhere in the comments this had to be mentioned but industrial safety guidelines state that all electrical components in an explosive environment must be hermetically sealed and intrinsically safe. Brushless or not, unless it’s approved for this type of operation it’s really a big deal and could result in a fire or explosion if the vapors are concentrated enough. I investigated a aerosol recycling plant explosion several years ago. They started to evacuate the propellant and after about 20 minutes realized the scrubber fan was off. They turned it on and blew the roof half off killing three inside. Stay safe out there everyone.

The amount of work that went into this video is insane!

So this is kinda like anti-aliasing but for 3d-prints :)

Wow, you guy really took it to the next level!

2:36 Me and the bois at 9 pm 2:40 Me and the bois at 4 am

I appreciate the video, but feel like it's a shame that the hotbed underneath the smoothing station was not mentioned. I built almost an identical box, with a slightly different shaped clear PP container and was so confused when after a couple of hours my prints had not been smooth at all. Turns out, the acetone is actually being heated in this video by the standalone printer bed.

PLA can be vapor smoothed; ive done it numerous times. The thing is you need a plastic/solvent combination that acts quite fast, so you can hit the surface without melting down the interior. And temperature plays a big role in this. It just so happens that acetone-ABS works fine around room temperature. Ethyl-acetate works quite fine for most PLAs, but you need to do it in a box around 50-60c; otherwise the vapor pressure of the stuff is too low, and you will get similar 'rubberization' problems as with plain acetone+PLA. Playing with heat and volatile chemicals may not be everyones cup of tea; but putting a water bath with possibly a thermostat heater in the bottom of your plastic box is quite safe. Just stay under the boiling point of whatever volatile substance you are working with; that goes for acetone as well.

I can see why your channel is so popular. Thank you.

This is a great video. I make lots of huge 3D printable projects and a lot of the stuff covered in this video could make my life a lot easier. Will absolutly try some of this out on some of my future projects. Thanks for sharing, liked and subscribed

Quite well packed video. Before I watched video, I thought that there's nothing to learn from it...but I was wrong..

What about dimensional stability? Can you explore PVB more since it requires just IPA? How does part strength and flexibility compart to PLA, nylon, ASA, PETG, etc?

Making a part stronger would make sense since a smoother surface also means a surface with fewer stress crack initiation sites as increased smoothness reduces stress concentration sites. Although, given that, I'm not sure why the tensile strength would be reduced.

COOL video! I wasn't aware that the fan would help with this process, prior to watching this video. You've earned my subscription!

This is similar to Case Hardening with metals. The tests point to that as well. The outer structure has been optimized while in inside remains relatively the same. Try tumbling them in media or a light shot peening and I’d be they get even marginally better.

pls be advised: it can build up an explosion with air: 2,5 Vol.-% up to 13 Vol.-%

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR

Thank you for such a detailed video man :)

Great video! I bought some FiberSmooth PVB filament and I plan to use this method, except with isopropyl alcohol. PVB is supposed to print like PLA but smooth with isopropyl alcohol.

There’s a seventh layer of hell for people that use unlabeled bar graphs

For about a year I was exposed to Acetone and Toluene vapours at work. Over that year I started to become very irritable and angry. My fume hood wasn't working properly, and so I continued to get major doses of this. Please, be careful with Acetone. It's highly volatile and absorbs quickly. Wear gloves and work in very well ventilated areas. You do not want to experience the personality changes brought about by acetone poisoning.