Taking Care of Your Printed Parts
We want to give you some helpful tips for taking care of your printed parts. Also we want to give you some tips and tricks and what to expect from ECB 3D Printing Quality.
What to expect from 3D Printed parts
Advantages and disadvantages
3D Printing is possible by the creation of low thermal forming plastics. New technologies in machines and plastic formulas allow us to create new and exciting things without the huge tooling costs involved in injection molding plastics. Time is also a benefit of 3D printing over injection molding. We can prove designs and make them available to the customer sooner at a reduced initial cost.
Where 3D printing does not exceed injection molding is cost of high volume manufacturing and injection mold machines can control higher heat better for plastics that have a higher thermal melting point. So selling thousands of parts made of a specific plastic will likely be better off with injection molded.
3D Printed Parts and Heat
3D Printed parts of most plastic formulas will have a relatively low melting point. The plastics are known as Thermoplastics, which can be heated and reheated to create new shapes. This is because the plastic comes in a shape (filament spool, granular, etc) that is not the final shape and then is reformed into a usable part through heat.
Conversely Thermoset plastics are more permanent shapes, are formed from pellets in a high temp injection molding machine. These cannot be reshaped by heat and usually become damaged if you try.
Heat is the first concern for your 3D Printed parts (from any supplier). Every day heat sources like a furnace, windshield of a car or black top can reach temperatures high enough to soften these plastics so these heat sources should be avoided.
*Store away from heat sources​
*Store on the floor of a car instead of a dashboard or in direct sunlight
*At the park try to keep parts under the shade of a tree, bench or table when possible
Doing these things will help your printed parts last longer.
Unpainted Plastics
You do not need to paint your plastics to have them last a long time. Proper cleaning and drying of the parts can also help the parts survive longer. Paint just adds a layer of protection from UV rays and other environmental conditions that cause all plastics to decay and become more brittle over time.
ECB 3D Printing Parts and What to Expect
Before starting ECB 3D Printing I had almost 30 years of manufacturing experience from cleaning to quality management to process engineering to product development and this has allowed me to have an all encompassing view of how to make quality parts efficiently.
You will find a number of places to get free or paid 3D files. The problem with this is when inexperienced designers create something that is difficult to orientate and print. The person printing the design may need experience to avoid issues or may print a few parts unsuccessfully before finding the "right" setup for your filament and printer. This all costs time and money and possibly money for the file too.
At ECB 3D Printing we design our own products and we print them to save you time and money. We have printed the prototypes until we are satisfied with the final results. Then we go into production and print parts for inventory. After the parts are printed they are thoroughly inspected and cleaned of any webbing, goobers, support material and if they are not printed well they go into the scrap. From there the parts go into a clean tank where any glue residue from the print table is removed. Parts then go to the dryer and then get packed and put into storage until you the customer purchases them. No waiting for us to print your parts, most parts go out the same day as ordered!
ECB 3D Printing primarily uses a "blended" filament. It allows us to print in wonderful detail awhile also offering good durability. Our parts are designed to be detailed and to be used. That being said, we do not recommend using our parts on "bashers" as they tend to break everything, printed or not, anyways. We do have a few parts that we use PETG for because of the extra durability offered from this plastic. Unfortunately this plastic is not good for detail or scale parts so the parts made with PETG is limited.
ECB 3D Printing wants to give you high quality products. We go to great lengths to make this happen. We know sometimes something does slip through and in those cases, we would prefer that you first contact us at ecb3dp@gmail.com so that we can correct the situation. We do not have a 100% guarantee as in the past some people have unscrupulously abused the policy but we can say that we have worked with legitimate problems and resolved them to the customer's satisfaction.
Painting 3D Printed Parts
Painting your plastic parts is a good way to add some realism to your RC cars or your Miniatures or other uses.
Prep and painting can be easy.
Prepping a part I usually start by cleaning it with a paper towel and water then let it dry, usually by a fan. Once the part is dry I will usually start with sand paper, 320 or 400 grit depending on the detail and size of the features. As you sand you will notice little lines in the plastic, these are the layer lines from being made. Depending on your process and goals it may not be necessary to sand until the lines are gone. To clean the part after sanding, wipe down the part or use a brush like an old toothbrush (that isn't going to be used on teeth anymore) and get the plastic grit off of the part.
Primer, I like to use primer before paint. Primer is a little thicker than paint and can fill those little lines a little better than paint can. I use spray paint can primer on most parts by spraying a thin layer from multiple angles that add up to one smooth coat. Read the can for dry times but usually 24 hours in enough time for the primer to cure. At this point I will wet sand (slow trickle from a hose or dipping the sandpaper into a bucket of water) the part with 400 or 500 grit sandpaper. Most of the lines should disappear and you will see some plastic appear in high spots. This is good. You do not want to sand all of the primer off, you are using it to fill the low spots. An evaluation of the results will tell you to repeat the primer steps or move to the paint step.
Painting parts I usually go with spray paint cans again. You can find almost any color and most brands will work, but I would advise against mixing brands as it can cause lower layers to peal. So after the part has been through the sanding or sanding/primer/sanding phase you can paint your parts by spraying light layers from different angles. You are not trying to cover the part completely in the first few angle, but create a nice glossy effect after multiple angles. Now let it dry and cure per the can instructions. Often times this is the last step. However if you have paint runs or dust or hair has landed in the paint, or if you want to add a layer of clear coat, you will want to wet sand the paint with 800, 1000, or 1500 grit sand paper before repainting or adding clearcoat.
Of course remember to follow safe working habits when sanding and painting.
When your parts are painted and done they should last a long time with an added layer of protection.
