Applying an acetone mist to some black ABS printed parts.

3D Printing
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1

Applying an acetone mist to some black ABS printed parts. I’ve run into this sort of “frosting” artifact before, seemed to be connected to old or impure acetone. Anyone have thoughts on eliminating this white effect? It appears after acetone dries…

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2

The white is a component of the plastic that’s redeposited and has a different solubility than the ABS itself. Even completely clean acetone will do this.

3

Go over it quickly with a heat gun. Makers Muse has a video on YouTube about it.

4

Hypo read my mind. Run a heat gun real fast and it will barely make top layer black again

5

Looks like what happens when the acetone’s evaporative cooling condenses moisture out of the air. To prevent that you have to keep the part warm (below the acetone’s boiling point, but ideally as close as possible to it) until it has all evaporated away.

6

I wonder if baking it would help. I’ve seen this but just printed another one. Paint works too :slight_smile:

7

@Brook_Drumm Unless you have an oven that can reliably maintain a temperature below 130F without going over (which would boil the acetone), I wouldn’t try it.

I sometimes put prints on a heated bed set to 50C while they dry to help with this.

8

I wonder if the acetone itself is picking up moisture from the air during storage.