FUD wax removal.

3rd pic

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As has been explained many many times before on this forum, the frosting happens where the support wax is laid down alongside the plastic material. If the piece is cleaned too aggressively, with solvents or detergents then the surface between the wax and plastic becomes etched in the way these photos show. More than that, if the piece is left in a solvent for too long, the whole surface will become etched.
So what is the answer?
I don't know. There have been various solutions posted here, but none seem the total answer, and, of course, what action is taken will depend on the sort of finish that is needed. In general I would do the minimum possible. If the wax seems thick heating the piece on an absorbant surface may do the trick, as will washing in hot water. I've also heard that washing with Isopropyl alcohol, either in an ultrasonic bath or applied with a aerosol spray will work. I've been told of one company that had some success using two ultrasonic baths, the first with sunflower oil and the second with soapy water, but I have not been able to verify the results.
It is interesting to note that 3D Systems, who make these ProJet machines have nothing on their website about finishing this material. So maybe they don't know what the solution is.

The problem pictured here is not support material frosting. You can see a bit of that type of texture in the center of the round holes in the box. This texture is most certainly a problem with the printer and you should insist that Shapeways provide a re-print. Thanks for the Dawn tip, I'm going to try that to see if it's as effective as the alchohol. I have to remove the alchohol from the ultrasonic cleaner and put it in an airtight container to prevent it from evaporating when not in use. It has also crazed the plastic parts of the cleaner.

I learned that heated 91% alcohol crazed the see through top of my ultrasonic cleaner today. Spent some time sanding and polishing it to it's clear original see through condition. I guess the next time the top stays open.

Thanks for the heads up on the printing problem. I thought that something was messed up by the frosting being half way up the side of the parts enclosure. So it looks like I have 1 good usable set of parts and the rest of the orders are trashed. As in junk ! I have invested some hard earned cash into this and do not want to have to repeat the cash layout.
I will definitely be talking to somebody about this.

As this is the first exposure I have had with 3D printing from Shapeways I do not want to get all worked up when I order other parts that are FUD.


Bob

Some close ups of the messed up printing on my parts. Even 1 searchlight has a "good" spot on it and the rest is rough frost junk.

And another

More frost that is useless

More

Yeah, if the roughness is that intensive then that's a printing error.

Except the roughness was not there before the pieces were subjected to the ultrasonic bath. Without 'as received' photos we can't tell what damage the ultrasonic did.

Another variable that just dawned on me... My parts are not arriving in 1 shipment. They trickle in several packages over the span of 2 to 3 weeks.
This would indicate that they are not being printed in a single print job. I got 2 shipments with 1 set of parts in each package. Then the larger order showed up. I am still awaiting for the last package to arrive this week. Will photograph them before cleaning for sure.
So it seems logical to assume that the printing parameters may change from 1 run of parts to the next. Maybe the Shapeways print team have more than 1 printer running FUD parts.

I think this is the case. I received one of my "krake head" models and it had a lot of quality to the print with no frosting. I ended up trading it and ordered a couple more and these are no where near the same quality. I figure they have to have different machines running prints and just like 2D printers, no 2 printers deliver the same results

I DO NOT recommend ultrasonic + isopropyl alcohol. It will ruin your model.. :confused

Interesting info from supplier.
I found the MSDS for FUD.
Called the supplier, 3DSystems, and spoke to an applications engineer. He said an ultrasonic bath using corn oil heated to between 60 -70 C ( 140-158 F ) for about 10 -15 minutes will get all the wax that is left over from the build process off the model.
So i tried it and it does work. NOTE: oil does not dissipate heat as rapidly as water does so it was still extremely hot after the bath. Then an ultrasonic bath with Dawn dish washing soap and final rinse.

They do look good. He said the corn oil will bring back the translucence to the part. As my parts are already cleaned I will need to experiment with the heavy frosted parts have from the 1st batch of parts that I ordered.

VisiJet SR 200 Plastic is FUD. It is an acrylic material according to the app. engineer. He said there should be no problems with painting with acrylic paints ( my choice ).
So the next order gets a bath of corn oil when I get them.

Bob

The translucence is a lie, all the corn oil does is fill in all the microscopic gaps, it's the heat that removes the wax. But it's not the wax that messes with me, it's the oil. It makes painting all but impossible. I still use isopropyl alcohol. It can damage a print if exposed for long periods of time, but I never leave my parts in the ultrasonic for more than ten minutes. It strips all that ridiculous oil, and any residual wax. What it won't do is remove large wax globs.

For clean up of FUD, I soak the part in a product called Bestine. It's an artist's solvent used for removal of rubber cement and other similar materials. It turns FUD a bright white almost instantly on contact but seems to remove any wax and residue.

I know a friend of mine that soaked his for 48 hours with no damage to small details. I soak mine for only about 10 minutes. Then I remove it and do a light brushing with an artist's brush and then return to the bath. I do that until I'm happy with it and this has been the easiest method I've found without heat or scrubbing.

Also, I've painted FUD treated in this way with acrylic paint with no issues. Have not tried solvent based paint.

I tried the Bestine, and it worked quite well.. took driving all over town to find it.. finally found it (only) at Michael's. It comes in a metal can, and I would strongly advise that you only use it in a properly ventilated space. I put some of the Bestine in a small tupperware type container.. it didn't eat the container, but after 2 days it had all evaporated from the sealed container.

Old post but I thought I would put in my $0.02

We have a ProJet here at our shop and we use corn oil to clean out parts. It works great and the parts maintain a good surface finish and keep their "transparent" appearance. If you NEED to get rid of the oily residue you can clean the parts in with whatever cleaner you want but they all seem to leave the "frosting" you are seeing.