A recent plain steel model arrived with a finish unlike any other steel model I've printed. My first guess was that it had not been finished at all. However, the steel material page does note that under certain conditions models will be 'bead blasted' rather than undergo the 'usual' finish process. The attached pic shows the new model on the left and a model with what I consider the 'usual' finish on the right. Can anyone visually confirm that this is indeed a result of bead blasting? And, anyone with experience with this finish, does it hold up well? Any recommendations on additional finishing techniques? TIA, -Xerc
FWIW, a bit more information.... I sent this pic to service with two explicit questions: 1) Is the finish on this product an example of "bead blasting"? 2) And, is there a way to request this as a finish? I received the following reply, which doesn't answer question 1 and predictably gives a 'no' to question 2.
Was the right hand item mounted on a sprue like the left hand item? If not, that's the reason for the difference - the sprued item would not have gone through the normal finishing process as it looks rather fragile.
No, the right hand (single) item was not sprued when it was printed. The left hand item is the first that I have tried with an interconnect. I concur that sprue-ing them together is the cause of the finish difference. Was really just looking to have some confirmation on the process. Given the lack of feedback in this thread, and the lack of a yes or no answer to my direct question to service about the finishing process - I will presume that it is 'bead blasted' and not just a 'raw' model.
Have a bit of a google for ProMetal (An ExOne company)... they're the provider for SW steel, and might have more info about finishing processes.
I am familiar with exone. They have brochures on their materials: http://www.exone.com/en/resources/brochures The 316/SS data sheet has pictures of raw, bead blasted and barrel finishes. From the pics, I can't distinguish much difference between raw and bead blasted. I know that SW uses the 420/SS, but that datasheet doesn't have pictures of all the finishes.