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The challenge of printing clear/transparent parts.

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by BrooklynBay, Jan 17, 2023.

  1. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Those the originals?
    Did they ever dry?
    Did you try more hardener?
     
  2. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    The picture shows the tiles with one coat. That coat never dried. I mixed another batch, and added more hardener, but the second coat is still sticky. Shouldn't it dry after a few days?
     
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    4 hours max.
    Unless there is a mix-up in in the mixing.
    Heat will also help (try a hair dryer) and if time and heat and making sure the mix is correct are NOT helping then you must have a bad batch.
    I'd get it replaced/refunded in that case.
     
  4. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    Maybe the coat is very thick so it takes longer to dry?
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    A valid point. I try to use as thin a coat as possible since for this application you do not need a thick coat.
    I would still expect that it is mixed wrong or a bad batch if it takes more than a day to cure.
    Try the heat -- that has to help or something is very wrong.
     
  6. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    The first time that I used it was on a PETG lens to make it clear. It hardened within a day, and I had it in a well lit area. This same batch was used on PLA tiles, but is in a basement which is dark most of the time. Resin printers use UV light to cure the resin. I know that this resin requires a hardener but I wonder if the lack of UV light is creating the issue.
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Can't say on that... I would suspect that it will not hurt anything to try it. The resins for SLA/DLP are quite different from most epoxy resin so don't try to draw broad conclusions.
     
  8. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    The tiles still have sticky spots. I put them on a warm radiator cover for a few minutes to see if it will dry everything but it made them worse. Some of the epoxy got soft, then started to drip off the edges. I put them in the freezer, and it looks like it's working slowly. It's not as sticky, and the epoxy isn't dripping off.
     
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I have never tried it on anything other than ColorFabbXT -- that was sort-of the whole reason I bought it :)
     
  10. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    I got into trouble with that epoxy on my tile job. I put the tiles in the customer's house over night which is a lot hotter than my house. I went back today to install them, and all of them stuck together. The heat softened the epoxy. I went home to get the hardener to brush over the tiles. It hardened the gooey epoxy but they didn't look nice anymore. I don't know how they could get that soft without being near a radiator. They were in a plastic bucket in a hallway.
     

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