It took us a while to find a right container for ABS acetone smoothing. Blog: http://3dwithus.com/abs-acetone-smoothing-filament-review
I found another way, I went to a craft store & purchased a large Bell Jar with lid. this "bell jar"had a footprint to fit my heated print bed. I use the heated bed to heat the acetone, and put a platform inside the bell jar for my project. when ya heat the acetone it becomes a vapor. and this works wonderfully fast.
@Chris_Bigpaws_Chambe An awesome trick. We always had to wait at least 2 hours. Could you see through the glass? Or was it foggy?
the cloudiness is the actual vapor, so yeah it gets cloudy at the top of the bell jar, but not so much as to occlude or obstruct your view of your project.
@Chris_Bigpaws_Chambe Will it work without a heated bed? We suspect that vapour will stay low.
Sure you could do it in a cold process as well using the same type of container, I like the convenience of the “speed” of vapor treating using heated acetone.
in a nutshell your 2 hour process could be pared down to a quick 15 Min!
@Chris_Bigpaws_Chambe We failed once when we used a normal jar. Vapors stayed low and melted item too much while top wasnot smoothed enaugh.
AH, see heated acetone vapor rises!
@Chris_Bigpaws_Chambe Yes, that’s awesome. What is the recommended bed temperature?
I use a heat bed temp setting of 120~180F. depending on the ambient temp in the room, cooler days use hotter settings.
Mandatory safety note… putting an acetone container on your heatbed is a pretty good way to accidentally melt your printer parts or burn your house down…
@Ryan_Carlyle Good point. Acetone is highly flammable!
@Ryan_Carlyle Excellent point!
I have a decades experience and I sometimes forget to mention proper safety factors. Thank You Ryan.
I agree with the potential dangers of using electric heating for acetone, esp. with devices not designed to avoid ignition sources. I’d suggest using a hot water bath.
A Croc pot (slow cooker) works well for this. Suspend the part over the acetone with a baking rack, lid on, set the temp and done in a short time. Water tight by design!