Epoxy

[AC7KH]

Is anyone using an epoxy to prime and seal their 3d sub (I am working on the Seawolf). If so what brand and where are you getting from. The salesman at Home Depot couldn't even wrap his head around a RC Sub let alone a 3D one

Thanks

[Subculture]

You won't find epoxy resin in DIY stores or on the high street. They might try and sell you some tubes of epoxy glue, which is totally unsuitable for this application.

Unless you're in the UK I cannot give you a specific recommendation. I use Easy Composites for epoxy resin products, which is Uk based ebay can also be a source e.g. https://tinyurl.com/ysc2kdnf and use you can also use google to help you find a store if no one here can give a recommendation. You want a general laminating epoxy resin, and unless you're planning on doing a lot of hulls, then don't buy litres of the stuff- it's not cheap. Does have a long shelf life though.

Bear in mind it doesn't sand terribly easy unless you put fillers in. If you're looking to use it to get a better finish on FDM prints and smooth out striations, you may want to consider shaving the print, then finishing as you would any other plastic or grp hull with putties and primer. e.g.

Where the epoxy would really be helpful would be laminating the inside of the print with some lightweight glass cloth, as that will really add strength. The weight of cloth will depend on size of boat you're making, but would suggest some 4oz would be adequate unless you're making something enormous.

Using resin it on the outside may dull or even wipe out details, if there is any.

[AC7KH]

Roger Roger I will give this a try. the scraper that is. I was also kind of looking for the epoxy to protect the sub some heating issues but that may not be possible. Anyway the scraping is very exciting.

Thanks

Robert
AC7KH

[Subculture]

Avoid printing in PLA if possible if you’re concerned about heat, ABS and ASA are far more tolerant, having a much highe glass temperature, but are more tricky to print with.

PETG is an inbetweener, and prints fine on an open bed.

If you draw your own cad files then strategically adding ventilated box sections into the print to form stiff spines will work very well to stiffen the structure far better than just increasing thickness.This will go a long way to reducing warping of your boat.

An axial hull break is far stiffer than equatorial, although I do understand why modellers prefer the latter for ease of access.

[AC7KH]

Currently I am printing the SeaWolf that I got the stl’s from Bob. I am printing my first copy as a static display and to make sure I am doing it right this initial version is in pla using the light pla from 3d Print Lab my “production “ run will be petg

Robert
AC7KH

[Albacore 569]

I am having the same sort of questions too.

I have a PVC pipe schedule 40 / 5-inch diameter (actual 5.56 inches diameter) and 41 inches long. Going to have hull sections 3 d printed attached of a similar material too.

In most states, only place I can find good primers in epoxy or lacquer, or enamel is at Auto body supply stores.

My future project, the hull color matches perfectly to several Rust-oleum 'ultra color paint and primer in a satin finish. No where on the can even using a magnifying glass does it say 'Enamel'. Expect because f environmental laws is Enamel.

What do I use to prep the PVC here for sanding and finish painting? Use the rust-oleum automotive primer too?

Miss the days when I could use autobody shop lacquer primers an my beloved Floquil Railroad colors paints but won't waste more bandwidth about that.

Tamiya spray paints & Rust-oleum seem to get along. I used Tamiya clear flats to cover a model and dry transfers successfully. Just be sure to do a initial very light coat over the transfers first and let dry before an overall hull spray, so there is no danger of the transfers running.

Dave Merriman, I have high praise for seems to have the rules steps down to a science.

Steve

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I am having the same sort of questions too.

I have a PVC pipe schedule 40 / 5-inch diameter (actual 5.56 inches diameter) and 41 inches long. Going to have hull sections 3 d printed attached of a similar material too.

In most states, only place I can find good primers in epoxy or lacquer, or enamel is at Auto body supply stores.

My future project, the hull color matches perfectly to several Rust-oleum 'ultra color paint and primer in a satin finish. No where on the can even using a magnifying glass does it say 'Enamel'. Expect because f environmental laws is Enamel.

What do I use to prep the PVC here for sanding and finish painting? Use the rust-oleum automotive primer too?

Miss the days when I could use autobody shop lacquer primers an my beloved Floquil Railroad colors paints but won't waste more bandwidth about that.

Tamiya spray paints & Rust-oleum seem to get along. I used Tamiya clear flats to cover a model and dry transfers successfully. Just be sure to do a initial very light coat over the transfers first and let dry before an overall hull spray, so there is no danger of the transfers running.

Dave Merriman, I have high praise for seems to have the rules steps down to a science.

Steve

The rattle-can companies -- Rust-Oleum, Krylon, and other big box-store brands -- seem to change their primer and paint chemistry every couple of years (either to just **** with us or for proprietary reasons). And when these companies do identify the chemistry through the use of nouns such as 'enamel', 'lacquer', and 'acrylic' you can't trust them, as those nouns used by these people no longer have the ridged descriptive value as when such painting systems were first introduced and marketed to the general public. Today's packagers of big box-store rattle can primers and paints are deliberately obtuse as to the specific chemistry of the cans content. That's the big reason I don't use them; I don't trust 'em!

Do this: Just use automotive primer and do your color work with water soluble acrylics and/or two-part polyurethane paints -- all applied with airbrush/air gun. The finishing clear-coat should also be the very tough and UV tolerant 2K polyurethane chemistry -- which can be flattened with the proper agent to get any degree of 'flatness' you wish for the final sheen of the display.

However, if you're still hell-bent on using those god-awful big box-store rattle can containers of crap: decant the primer/paint and experiment with different thinners and solvents and apply the results to a test article. All you need are cans of the three primary colors, black and white, clear, and a flattening agent (a container of fine-ground talc... if the blood-sucking litigation layers roaming around out there have not yet made it impossible to purchase the stuff!).

Rotsa Ruck!












































David

[Subculture]

PVC you can paint with just about anything you like. To give it some extra tooth just lightly sand it with something like 3-400 grit before priming. Not sure what kind of printing you're using but none I'm aware of use PVC. However most plastics used will work fine with normal automotive primers. If you want a really keyed-in primer you can get plastic primers, which partially etch/melt themselves into the plastic.

Here in the UK it's easy to get paints mixed in any colour/shade you want. If you want hobby sizes of car grade paint, zero paints are pretty good, and distributed in the US by these guys

https://hobbyworld-usa.com/index.php?id_category=1123&controller=category&id_lang=1

[gboxwood]

The best resin to post-process 3D prints (in PLA as well) is XTC by Smooth On. Not cheap and as stinky as hell but easy to use and extremely easy to sand.
I used tons of it over the years, usually 2 coats with sanding in between will yield the best results, 1 coat could be enough, depending on the application.

Of course, it is a rather thick layer and it should be regarded as such when dealing with details... you don't want to fill those in the end. So it depends also on the size of the models and the amount of details/features that could be possibly hidden away in the process.

XTC-3D™, High Performance 3D Print Coating | Smooth-On, Inc.

I always sand the 3D printed parts before coating them with the resin.

Another good trick I learned is to use a scraper and simply scrape the print lines... this is rather easy, it doesn't generate a lot of sanding dust and it is quicker and effective as well.