XTC Finish

http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/11/16/xtc-3d-clean-finish/

I have some on order and will try it out. Looks promising.

 

I ordered some last weekend. It's sitting on the shelf waiting for a few spare minutes...

 

Let me know if you get a chance to try it -- mine will not be in for a week. That is getting close to Thanksgiving, which is buh-bye time for me I got to go west-coasting for a bit.

 

I will read the labels when I get it in and see if it says.
It appears to be an epoxy like resin of some sort.

 

I'm going to try to get a review up later this week, but my initial reaction is pretty unimpressed. It works OK, but I can't imagine it being any better than other clear coat materials or fill primers. It tends to cover up fine detail, but also does carry some layer lines up to the surface.

Caveat here is that I had a similar reaction when I first tried ABS vapor polishing, so it's possible that some of the 'unimpressed' has to do with my technique. Let's see if @mark tomlinson has a different experience.

 

Waiting for it to cure now, but largely I concur. This is nice and adds a clear coat that bonds well (which can add a bit of strength to thinner sections). It is not 'better' than, for example, acetone on ABS (IMHO). It does give it a nice shine and smooth out slight imperfections. The flip side of that is as @Printed Solid points out that this COULD cover/eliminate really fine detail.

 

OK, looks nice. It is just about done curing and that did help it look better. It really needed a 3-4 hour cure here (humidity? Temp?) in Central Florida.

• It is a nice, glossy finish, but not, quite, as good as ABS in acetone. (Given that it is not liquidizing the surface of the plastic that might be OK.)
• It hardens the surface of the model somewhat.
• It doesn't seem to obliterate any of the model (not even smaller detail) BUT it does cover it. So if you are using this with pigment* or flakes you could end up not being able to see the fine detail. As long as you are clear-coating it, then that is not much of an issue. The fine detail can easily be seen under the clear coat. In fact this one we printed with a translucent blue PLA and then added the clear coat... (that just looks odd).
• You need to work with it in a well ventilated space. (It reeks and is strong)

I would suggest not mixing up much at a time (we did like just under 1/4 oz for this model of combined resin and agent). Don't mix up more than you can spread over it in about 5 minutes (because after that it is getting too tacky). Yeah, they claim a bit longer for working time, but I'd say 5 minutes. If you need more coverage then mix up multiple small batches. Cleaning up the brushes and such is a bit of a pain, but denatured alcohol does work.

We could (probably will) put another coat on. It is like polyurethane in that respect (you can layer it).
(Sorry, hard to get a photo that captures the finish without too much glare.)

*You can supposedly use pretty much any paint-style pigment or metal flakes, the like. I did not experiment with that and just left it clear.