ABS-GF prints water tight?

[Occupant]

Wondering if anyone has any history using ABS-GF parts as end caps on a WTC and their experience doing so, how well do they hold up?

[type7]

How you print with a material is as important as the material itself. You have to give more information to get a useful response.

[redboat219]

[Occupant]

Okay, more info, see if this is enough. Using Bambu labs ABS-GF .090" thick wall with 20% infill everything else stock settings on a Bambu labs X1 Carbon. I'd like to have watertight parts without using a product/process like the Diktol from Diamant. FYI had spoken with them, its $$$ and they don't sell to the general public - or so i was told. I found a company that will do the processing like the Diktol but prefer something i can do at home without the need for any special tooling to process like a vacuum pot. Currently have a test setup in my pool as a quick and dirty test (acrylic tube with two printed endcaps and o-ring seals filled with nuts/bolts to add mass) today is a week with no issues - water intrusion would turn bobber into a sinker.

[Marylandradiosailor]

Use 100% infill. Review the video recommended above, there are many additional settings in improve the water tightness. A filler like GF typically reduces the layer to layer adhesion which may not be so good for water tightness (the youtube channel my tech fun has much great information on filament). I have had good success with PETG at 100% infill.

[Occupant]

100% infill seems excessive??? Pictured is my quick and dirty test - two end caps with o-rings and an acrylic tube, misc hardware inside for weight. First try sank after a couple days (pinched o-ring). Second attempt shown, 20% infill still floating after a week. going to pull it tonight see if any water managed to make its way in.

[Subculture]

Consider printing your endcaps hemispherical, or at least curved, because it improves their strength against pressure hugely. If you give your endcaps a coating of epoxy resin that will seal them very nicely. A layer of thin glass or carbon fibre cloth would really add strength, but probably not required.

[Occupant]

All great suggestions! my end caps are a bit different - smaller boss is for Water Tight Container, larger boss for the ballast tank. the WTC segnment has penetrations for motors, servos and battery. Planning on potting the wiring/connectors with casting resin from the inside which may or may not include just filling to the brim which would only leave the leading edge of the boss as a leak path.

[type7]

A floating chamber is not a good test. Weight it and leave it on the bottom and see if any water gets in. Partial infill leaves an unpredictable path for water to get in and the change in balance over time can be very frustrating to deal with.

[QuarterMaster]

100% infill, Acetone bathing. Do it all the time.....Shiney!

Fuses the outer walls/layers.

Size the container as required, IE Use a sealable plastic tote.

15-18 minutes.

Google is your friend.

[Occupant]

I've tried the Acetone vapor smoothing with no results... exposure times up to an hour and nothing. Appears this method doesn't work with the Bambu labs ABS-GF material. Then I swapped out to another filament I had Hatchbox ABS only to get the same results. Googling it come to find out it doesn't work on the Hatchbox ABS either dag nabbit!@#%!!! so in all the Googling someone had recommended Sunlu ABS for this type finishing. got a roll, printed and was shocked at the results - just the printed parts no vapor finishing looked more like molded nylon pieces. rather than sniff any more acetone decided to give these parts a try as is. The parts with no smoothing sealed well enough to allow filling the bottom tube, pressurizing it enough to require adding a tension rod on the bottom and then finally leaked by blowing out an o-ring.