Filling 'contour' lines

[nheather]

49 minutes ago, Pouln said:

I read the same in conjunction with the Elegoo Saturn. According to the manufacturer, this printer has a monochrome LCD which allows more uv light to pass, therefore shorter layer times and they state that the LCD will live much longer than that of other printers.

 

The Saturn cannot be bought yet. They say it will be available through Amazon in October/November this year.

Thanks,

 

Yes I will probably hang on until the new tech comes out.  They are talking as fast as 2 seconds per layer - that’s 1000 layers in half an hour - fantastic if that is genuine.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[Simon Cornes]

Getting a bit off topic I think chaps!!

[ratsmitglied]

7 hours ago, nheather said:

The photon is an SLA Resin printer is it not.  What do you think of it.

 

I’ve not done much research to date, I watched some videos of the Elegoo Mars and was blown away with what it produced, and how simple it was use (barring the mess of the resin and the cleaning up).

 

 

Yes it is - I'm pretty happy with it now I've worked out it's quirks and found a resin and cleaning process that I'm happy with using. Overall it's now my go-to printer for most things because there is less to check before each print and when failed prints occur it's mostly my fault rather than the printer's. There is a learning process involved with finding the correct layer times for a resin, how to set your supports (basically required for resin printing)

 

On another forum I'm a member of there are a number of 'non-tech' people (their words) who have the Elegoo Mars and they have had no problems getting them up and running.

 

[qn30jEkPz7]

9 hours ago, Simon Cornes said:

Getting a bit off topic I think chaps!!

ok, to touch on the original topic at hand. This is what I use for filling big areas on FDM prints https://www.toolstation.com/toupret-ready-mixed-fine-surface-filler/p10135 I use a smaller squeezy tube from the Dulux decorator's centre that stores better after opening. 

[Simon Cornes]

Wow - that’s amazing - almost back to Artex!! Do you apply any kind of primer before using the filler? There is obviously no chemical attachment to the surface as I assume that stuff is water based (like acrylic I suppose) but it does say it adheres to paint. Don’t tell me you use Dulux paint for your models!!

[qn30jEkPz7]

It’ll likely have an acrylic binder and very fine mineral filler so I’ve used it on both straight PLA and primed with either a Halfords acrylic or a Vallejo polyurethane primer with no issues and when dry it sands nicely smooth with fine sandpaper. It won’t react with the surface but seems to adhere well for my purposes.

 

I used to work (starting off formulating industrial paints and developing resins) for the Dulux parent company and as they do Sikkens car refinish and loads of aerospace coatings I’m pretty much honour bound to use at least some portion of the corporate range for models. 

[Simon Cornes]

Thats really interesting. I was only speaking in jest when I mentioned Dulux but its amazing what a broad church Britmodeller is! If you have experience working in the paint industry then I'm more than happy to accept your word regarding this filler! 

 

[qn30jEkPz7]

1 hour ago, Simon Cornes said:

Thats really interesting. I was only speaking in jest when I mentioned Dulux but its amazing what a broad church Britmodeller is! If you have experience working in the paint industry then I'm more than happy to accept your word regarding this filler! 

 

Steady on, I ended up office based and wearing a suit so I’m good at sounding plausibly knowledgeable. If you try a bit in an unobtrusive area (or better yet send me your address and I can send you a test chunk of printed model to try) before you go slathering it all over your nice (& pricey) TSR.2 

 

 

[Simon Cornes]

Thank you. I’ll pm you my address!! True, don’t want a TSR2 to look like it’s been through a hedge backwards!!

[Kushan_Farsight]

just to throw my 2c into the ring,  For filling contour lines, standard modelling filler and primer seem to work best for me. I have tried that XTC stuff, and hated it. gloop got everywhere, stunk to high heavens, and i still have some uncured on my magnifying glass, after about 4 years. Probably was due to bad ratios, but  when i have seen that stuff used, it tends to be on 'organic' models, where it can be slathered on and hide all those hard ridges and layer differences. How it would work for vehicles, where there is a blend of smooth and angular shapes, im not sure, hence why ive used standard model filler and primers in the past. 

[Bangseat]

Hello, bit late here but I find it depends on the depth of the layers. For my VC10 I had a print farm do me some parts which I now know in retrospect were printed with very thick layers, sanding was only went so far as some of the grooves went very deep and the only surefire solution was P38 car filler:

But it did work!

I also have One Man Models HS 748 in 1:72, and his layers are finer. I've been able to obliterate most with Mr Surface 500 and sanding. Its going to take an age to do however, its one of those things I pick up and tinker with no particular timescale in mind!

 

[Simon Cornes]

A mate of mine has also suggested P38 as well because the LBP TSR2 is quite heavily 'ridged'. The fuselage is printed vertically like your VC-10 and the wings are printed horizontally and the 'contours' look like woodgrain! My concern is to not sand off too much material because I take the view that the highest points on each 'ridge' are the correct dimension so I would end up with a smaller diameter fuselage or thinner wings if I sanded too much off. A case of rushing slowly!! I also intend to use Halfords Hi Build primer on top of the P.38, sanded down wet to get a smooth surface. Its odd, all this effort to create a surface that we get virtually automatically with a styrene model! And I will then have to mark out and scribe panel lines in the Hi Build primer!

[Bangseat]

9 hours ago, Simon Cornes said:

My concern is to not sand off too much material

With the caveat that different PLA filaments may vary, I have found it to be very solid stuff, a lot harder than resin eg, and even if you go in hard the filler will yield long before the PLA. I don't think you're in danger of losing the shape, provided it was there in the first place!

[Simon Cornes]

That is reassuring to know - thank you! 

[Photon]

Have you thought about printing with polystyrene filament? It prints beautifully and is really easy to sand. It can be glued using standard modeling cements, so you can easily detail prints with kit parts or Evergreen shapes. I just posted a thread about printing with polystyrene: