FUD wax removal.

I've had this issue myself and I've been doing quite a bit of thinking on how to address it.

It seems to me that the method that would likely be used in a full production environment would either be a solvent specifically formulated for the support wax, or a heating proccess at a controlled temperature to melt the wax from the part.

Now without knowing the specific formulation of the support wax our best bet would be to do the baking method. The difficulty comes with the fact that most ovens aren't designed to heat slowly over a long period of time.

And then it hit me one morning, every one of us has a low temperature, slow heating oven. Our car dashboard.

So I tossed my waxy parts onto a shop towel on my dashboard one morning after I got to work. By lunchtime most of the wax had melted into the towel. I shuffled the parts a bit to free some support wax that wasn't draining properly and by the time my workday was over, a good 80-90% of the yellow wax was gone.

The parts were a bit softer while warm, but returned to normal once cool.

Now my parts didn't have a whole lot of nooks and crannies so YMMV, but with proper orientation for wax drainage this method -should- work for most designs.

The main concern would be to keep the parts from getting -too- hot and warping, but just cracking your car window open a bit can help mitigate the higher temperatures.

Well, after a very long time soaking in earwax remover, my 3x3x3 puzzle cube is still not working, all of the wax is soft enough that the parts that aren't fused are free. As you can see from the image below, there's only 2 parts fused, unfortunately they are center pieces and there's no way around the situation apart from making a slightly bigger cube.


Large image here

It seems that there are a variety of methods that work getting the wax out of FUD that are mainly size dependant.

This thread is good resource!

Hey ho, on with the fun FUD

I've yet to try what cleaning method works best (my order is still not in) but from the sound of it I could give my putty oven a try. I made it for curing epoxy putty at a constant temperature (normally between 60-76 centigrade) but it could be turned lower. Though it will still be warmer than the dashboard or router.

I have had reasonable results using isopropanol (IPA) with a brush then using a low pressure compressed air source to blow out any blocked holes.

I am thinking of printing a functioning bolt and nut assembly together(in the tightened position), with perhaps a 0.1-0.2 mm clearance between the threads. After I receive the print, I want to be able to unscrew the bolt for final cleaning, and be able to put it back and tighten it down.

The bolt diameter will be about 6mm, and length about 10mm. Based on the comments in this thread, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get all the wax out from between the threads prior to unscrewing the assembly, but will it be possible to use the wax as a lube to facilitate the removal process?

Sorry if I do not answer your question, but ask a question instead: I am wondering why you want to print the bold already in its tightened position?

In short, customer request...

Actually, I described part of the design incorrectly - it is not meant to be taken out for cleaning or anything, but just tightened down the final little bit.

Make sense?

Just my opinion but personnally, if the bolt has to be removed, I would be printed apart (in the same file, but not in its final position). If it has not to be removed I would fuse it with the rest of the design.
Printing in place a part that can be removed is just adding extra risks to the print...
But if it's a custumer request...

Thanks for your help, Magic.

Has anyone tried removing the wax by sticking the model in a microwave, and give them a good nuking? Or is that likely to end in tears?

What we/Shapeways need is one of these puppies:

http://www.rapid-direction.com/product/3D-PJFIN/InVision-Pro Jet-3D-Finisher.html

I've tried hot water and fairy liquid dunking for several hours, but the model is still decidedly yellow and smelling of the lemony wax material (to my nose). I'm going to try the car/towel/dashboard idea tomorrow, assuming it's sunny

I did have success with the following to remove surface wax residue;

Step 1: scrub nail varnish remover (acetone based) on with a stiff artist's paint brush.
Step 2: put a drop of washing up liquid in a glass with about 100ml water & nuke @ 450w for 1 min.
Step 3: repeat steps 1 & 2
Step 4: rinse really well under clean water.

Gloves and/or tweezers were used so as not to get skin oils on the cleaned model.

The little rubiks cubes never did work out, and I've yet to figure out a way of getting the wax out of enclosed spaces.

The material page already mentions using an oven, plus a freezer (for separating from the base tray?) and two ultrasound baths, oil one for wax removal and water one for cleaning the oil. So... @_@

I've removed the wax completely by dunking the pieces in a commercial degreaser, the sort sold in car shops for cleaning engines. But be warned: the removing the wax will reveal a spongy surface where the plastic and wax were laid down next to each other.

Thanks Bill, Stop4 for the further techniques. Leaving to heat up on the car dashboard worked well yesterday and it's definitely less yellowy now. 28 DegsC on my read out when I got back in the car after work. Grey rainy day in the UK today, so no further heating today.

Thanks for the update Mitchell. I was wondering whether the FUD wax situation would improve at the production end or whether it would be an issue to have fellow enthusiasts buy items with the wax, so this puts our minds at rest. My part came through in "The Rush" period a month or more back, so maybe the heating process wasn't quite in place to get models out of the door quicker (perfectly understandable).

Mitchell,

I received models yesterday that were coated in the yellow wax... Are you sure?

Ana said in tonight's SW live that Baby Shampoo works a treat! (perhaps that's why it smells nicer )

Any specific type of baby shampoo you would recommend, and how to use it?

I received a lot of models that were coated with a crystalline lemon yellow wax. I've tried soaking them in boiling water, and wiping them with a variety of solvents, like acetone. These techniques work okay. The acetone has worked the best, but still doesn't help out when the wax is stuck inside the model. The downside of this is its not perfect, and there's still yellow crud in inside my models, and I've just exposed myself to nasty chemicals that I wanted to avoid in the first place.

Hi,

just did the test with the putty oven and it works like a charm. I've got it at a constant 55 degrees centigrade and the wax melts nicely. Very easy to rub away in a few minutes. Think I found my method for wax removing.

Bye,
Ming-Hua

@Ming-Hua, do you know if your method also gets the wax off the surface ready for painting?

I picked up an ultrasonic cleaner the other day and was testing that out with different detergents (Johnson's Baby Shampoo, JPL Sea Clean & ordinary wahing-up liquid), but the cleaner broke so I'm waiting on the replacement. The cleaner was able to get most of the yellow staining though.