After Having experimented in Making Perfectly Smooth Surfaces for about a Year now within the Print Process itself, Its time I Capitulate and start putting in some more Work and Sand it all smooth!
Just a bit of an Issue… Whenever I sand Coloured PETG, it looses its Colour and turns into that Broken Plastic White.
As someone who hasn’t had to Fix something like that before, I’m not sure where to even start Fixing this? Can it be Avoided in the Sanding Process, or can the Colour be Regained afterwards?
I have heard of People Treating it with Heat and Vasaline to get the Colour Back, what kind of Methods do you all use and how reliable are they?
a MEK vapor bath would likely give you a smooth finish. But, Uhm, personally the raw print is probably preferable as MEK is some nasty shit. (not so nasty you can’t buy it at your local big box hardware store, but it’s not something you can just pour into a kitchen pot and be safe around.)
it would work similar to an acetone vapor bath for ABS.
Soooo I did actually try Vapor Smoothing with MEK Before! Infact I still got a Litre of that Stuff Around now, but even after leaving the print in there for Days at 50°C the Results where… honestly no big Changes at all…
I do suspect there is an Error in my Methodology… but turns out there isnt a lot of Info out there on Vapor Smoothing with MEK… Have you used MEK for Vapor Smoothing before?
I’ve not used MEK personally, all of my petg parts are structural. What I’m seeing online says 60-80c.
What I’d do is kick it up by 5c at a time.
swap in failed test prints and see how that changes things. Keep in mind if you stay in the cold range and give it more time, it might create a better finish.
Too hot and it’ll start melting.
Maybe also “priming” the chamber with a heat gun so the air is also warm. (Do this before placing the MEK!)
Also, a small hole someplace that’ll get covered and a toothpick to lift the part will help retain its shape.
I habe never used mek, but acetone on abs. Works like a charm.