Here is my acetone vapor bath setup and results <$20 build Vapor Treating ABS 3D - setup and timelapse   second

3D Printing
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Here is my acetone vapor bath setup and results <$20 build https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dU6sSNpDqI

second half of video is a timelapse you can see what happens to thin wall opens if left in to long… they collapse

before and after photo https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-yStXFkjYqaA/UUsu7AkhMNI/AAAAAAAAWv0/uqyJVHQri1Q/s667/D8CF2808-427B-4545-B107-13B56C26DDEC.JPG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dU6sSNpDqI

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It’s stuff like this that makes us jealous of not having a ABS printer but well, two thumbs up for the share on this one! =D

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What was the first model?

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Has anyone tried this with PLA?

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Yup, we tried that and acetone doesn’t play nice with PLA (http://funbiestudios.com/2013/01/acetone-test-finish-for-pla-3d-prints/)… A different solvent is needed and we’re testing something else right now :wink:

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@Brandon_Boulden , do we have a large glass jar anywhere to try this with?

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The trick to smoothing out thin walled objects with the ABS vapor bath, is to only leave it in there for short periods of time, and then let the ABS that’s been deposited on the part evaporate and re-deposit the material so that it hardens up again. It’s a longer process, but it works.

If you took one of those Z axis-only setups for the DLP printers, made the platform out of metal/nylon, you could control the acetone vapor bath and submerge the part, time it, and then pull it back out, fan it, etc.

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@Ed_Lewis first model is http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:33804 one of my favorites!

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@ThantiK thanks for the tip. I’ll give short bath, dry, re-bath a try and post the results.