FUD wax removal.

My recent FUD deliveries no longer have the hard wax to remove, instead there
is an oily sludge deposit that flushes easily with a hot water jet and w/up liquid.

Post-production, I think Shapeways must sometimes use a solvent to either
chip-out items or check detail is present on very small items.

Same here. I just soak my parts in isopropyl alcohol for a few minutes and its a perfect surface to paint.

My last three orders have been excellent and I'm considering making my parts public again.

i have found a very simple way for wax removal: compressed air.
i washed my last FUD-prints with some "nail polish remover" (without acetone) and then literally blown away the liquid with compresed air.
That works for me better than anything i tried before!

I've had about the same results with warm water and Spic n'Span soap, floor wax stripper, lacquer thinner, Bestine, and paint thinner. And all leave the tenacious frosty surface on parts which needs to be mechanically abraded away (which includes Grit Blasting, see the other thread here).

Due to the cruddy surface, I am loathe to offer any detail parts for public sale, ruining my plans to take over the world (drats!).

What really puzzles me is Shapeways' and 3D System's silence on this topic. Come on people, this is YOUR process, make some recommendations!

I think the only way to get a clear result is by molding and then casting in a vacuumed clear resin. Even if you successfully cleaned an item and got a clear result, it's always ging to be at risk down the road.

I have been getting better and better prints. I've also gotten better at removing the crusty frosting stuff. A couple of bathes in simple green,,, dry,,, bathe in alcohol,,, dry then finally use a tooth pick or a bamboo skewer and a little pressure to rub the crust off.
Before you make molds, you really need to get that crust off.
Here are some castings from most recent prints.

What I have found is that painting the crusty bits with a liquid styrene glue, such as polyweld or MEK/butanone using a stiff (hogs hair) brush will remove the crusts. My work flow is something like -- ultrasonic with lots of detergent -> dry -> paint with polyweld -> ultrasonic -> dry -> acrylic paint -> sand -> ultrasonic -> dry -> acrylic paint, and maybe repeat the last sand/paint cycle.

It looked like the days of a thick layer of wax were behind us, but in my last order I received one bag with my models almost clean and 10 minutes in White Spirit cleaned them up. But another bag with thick wax stuck to it. I am puzzled why two similar products, ordered at the same time, are so completely different in the amount of wax left on the products. I've tried white spirit, I've tried 6 minutes in 60 degrees C ultrasone bath and 10 minutes in an 70 degrees oven. No change at all. Any idea's?

Hello
I had the same problem with my parts. I used Bestine in the ultrasonic cleaner which cut the wax. What you are seeing looks like mine did
after a ultrasonic bath. But I now use an air eraser and baking soda and that process gets all that junk off the part. Harbor freight freight is where I got mine for $25.

So I do some baking soda sandblasting and my parts cleaned up just great.

Bob

Thanks for the replies.

@Mitchell: That is sorted, thank you. I just thought it wasn't worth a re-print and imagined I could get rid of it easily. But on my models I can't use a brush, as suggested several times in this thread. It has to come off by melting or rinsing, but didn't.

This thread has photos of my parts after the baking soda thing:

https://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&goto=700 79&#msg_70079


These are smaller than a pencil eraser tip also



Bob

Interesting read, but I don't see myself going that far. It's wax, so it should be "meltable", isn't it? The right fluid in combination with the right temperature should be able to dissolve it, right? My model has walls and parts behind walls, with fine rods inside, so "blasting" it is not option.

I prefer to use a combination of heat and baking soda and some burnishing for mine. Last Friday I received a print that while not horrible, was not as good as the prints I have been receiving. The problem was with residue from the support material all over the face. Fortunately it is a 1:6 head and was not difficult to clean up quickly but I missed my window of opportunity to go to production at a relevant time due to shipping.
It shipped in record time, in fact 4 days after the order was placed, but UPS did not deliver it till 7 days after it was shipped. It just languished in some backwater warehouse in NY before actually being sent to me.
I wish Shapeways had an option to ship USPS. The United States Postal Service ships first class mail up to 13 oz for a couple of bucks and I have never seen them take more than 3 days to deliver a package from New York to California. UPS makes sure that your package is delivered the maximum number of days you pay for while the U.S. Post Office delivers all packages as soon as they can.