I'm not sure if this is my imagination or what. I decided to try staining a white detail article with acrylic paint (I bought one of those cheap strips of six tiny tubs they sell for kids). I mixed a little bit of the paint with some water and tried dipping the article in it. It didn't seem to work too well; detail material is too watertight I guess (WSF apparently does this a lot better). But one time when I dunked it it looked like some of the detail was sort of *softening* and getting slightly puckered or pocked. Could there be some kind of reaction between the material and even dilute acrylic paint, or am I losing it?
Others have reported bending issues while using tea to dye detail. Instructions by Objet for cleaning with NaOH say the cleaning should be less than 2 hours to avoid deformation. And moderate heat is also a problem, as declared in the material specifications, so avoid hot dyeing or covering with resins that generate lots of heat while solidifying, for example. Update the formula to "detail = delicate".
this makes me wonder about the archival life of products made on shapeways. obviously metal dice are the most archival. are the other ones slowly going to disintegrate over time as they are gradually exposed to moisture in the air? scary thought. makes me want to do silicone molds of everything i get and cast them in acrylic.....
i thought the detail materials actually are acrylic Themselves. Seems logical that it would try to react to the liquids in the paints that keep the acrylic paint fluid. just a thought