Visible layers, vertical and horizontal stripes and another faults of a 3D print seem to be frustrating ans shocking for beginners, who decided to use FDM technology. It is kind of brutal realisation – they thought that it looks totally different… And what would your say, if there was a special device to smooth your 3D prints? Yes, I know. You have heard about it. But what if you didn’t need to use ABS and toxic acetone? Actually, it is possible, but there is a little snag in it.
Stripes. Some people don’t like them, some people claim, that the stripes add charm to their 3D prints. And some people just got used to them. It also depends on it, for what do you exactly need your 3D printer? If you bought it because you need it to print for example cases for smartphones, which you would like to sell, it is a problem. When you need it to prepare prototypes, tiny faults of your 3D prints are not so important.
There are a lot of substances and magic devices, which theoretically help to make your 3D prints smoother. Some of them work better, some worse and none negates it. Most of them consist of acetone and work only with ABS filaments. One of the most known Chinese producers of filaments – Polymaker has recently presented its new solution and on Monday (April 25th) it is starting with its campaign on Kickstarter.
Engineers from Poylmaker called it Polysher and similarly to another devices of this type (like for example MagicBox) it bases on “bathing” of 3D prints in vapour, but not in acetone. A substance which makes your models smoother is just alcohol. And now, there is the snag, which I mentioned at the beginning. You can smooth only PolySmooth PVB, a special filament produced by Polymaker.
The essence of this process is the PolySmooth filament. It is perfect for print, it has well-balanced mechanic stamps and above all it reacts in aerosol of popular alcohols, like ethanol or isopropanol.
To produce aerosol you need a special atomiser, consisting of a membrane, which has a lot of tiny holes of a diameter under 10 microns, and a piezoelectric release. Micro drops of sprayed alcohol ale absorbed by a surface of a 3D print, what in result makes it smoother.
A basis of PVB is polyvinyl butyral. If I could compare it to something, I would say, that is similar to standard PLA and that is why it can be used to print in FDM technology. every 3D printer. In the table below it was compared with ABS and PLA. Briefly, it is perfect. This filament is available in 11 colours.
Polysher consists of 40 elements. The process of manufacturing of prototypes of the device, was actively supported with prototypes form 3D printers.
How to make your 3D print smoother:
A concentration of alcohol can’t be lower than 70%, but it is recommended to use at least 90%. Maximal size of your print is 15x15x20 cm.
Will this project be as popular as OLO? We will see in one month. The creator of the project pledged for 100 000 $.
Source: www.kickstarter.com and Polymaker’s leaflets
