{"id":667,"date":"2019-12-24T09:40:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-24T09:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/?p=667"},"modified":"2019-12-24T09:40:34","modified_gmt":"2019-12-24T09:40:34","slug":"using-printer-resin-as-filler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/?p=667","title":{"rendered":"Using Printer Resin as Filler"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For decades I’ve been looking for an “easy” way to\nrepair pinholes, air bubble defects and hairline gaps in resin kits. My usual\nfiller choice is a 2 part epoxy like Miliput or MagiSculpt which usually works well\nfor larger defects, but can be a real bind to use on tiny but still very\nvisible issues. You can sit there and poke it into bubble holes but sometimes\nit can be hard to get it to stay in place without a lot of pressure, which\nusually ends up with it not completely filling the hole, or being distorted\nsome how and requiring another application once the initial one has cured. This\nprocess can take hours to complete. It’s also hard to get very thin layers to\nadhere well to hairline defects where there just isn’t enough surface for the\nputty to stick to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve tired other types of more liquid fillers, but they all\ncome with drawbacks – shrinkage is common in many – which again requires re-application,\nand some of the water based ones like using acrylic paste or Perfect Plastic\nPutty can give good initial effects but completely disintegrate if you need to\nwet-sand the area. Also the different hardness of the fillers can have an\neffect when areas are sanded – if there is a big difference then you can end up\nwith an uneven surface as one component is eroded faster than the other. CA\nglue is interesting filler as it is relatively liquid yet can be hardened very\nquickly with kicker. But once fully cured it is significantly harder than\nurethane ‘kit’ resin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, UV-cure glue started to become readily available.\nI’d thought about trying this for modelling purposes but never actually tried\nit \u2013 to be honest I was a bit put off by some of the toxicity warnings on the\npacket of one I looked at…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward a few years. The 3d Printing revolution is in full\nswing and I’ve owned both a “hot melt” FDM printer and a UV cure\nresin printer for some time. But until now I’d never made the mental connection\nbetween the UV glue products and the bottles of UV cure resin that are now sitting\non my shelf. Eventually a light-bulb comes on – this is a type of resin that\nhas very similar properties to urethane. It’s fairly liquid in an uncured\nstate, but small amounts can be fully cured with little more than 20-30 seconds\nunder a UV LED torch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose one of the worst still-unbuilt kits in my collection – something I’ve had for around 20 years and has remained unassembled due to the utterly terrible quality of the casting. It’s a Mars Attacks Martian soldier – reportedly cast from one of the original maquettes used while the film was being developed. I can’t even remember where I got it from, other than somewhere over the internet in the very early days. The only reason I’ve still got it is it cost me an awful lot of money – money I would never have parted with if I’d know about the quality in advance. Caveat Emptor!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every now and then I have dug this out of the back of the cupboard and had a go at filling a few more air bubbles with whatever new method I’ve been trying, but it’s always been a slog. But now was the time to get it out again and have an experiment with this latest technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s a typical flawed area \u2013 There are many air bubbles along the ribs of the spacesuit. You can see where some of these have been tackled with epoxy putty in years gone by, with varying success. Using a very small drill bit \u2013 probably around.7mm I actually made some of the smallest holes much \u201cworse\u201d by drilling them out some more. What you actually have is a larger bubble below the surface with only the very top open. It\u2019s actually much easier to fill the bigger holes than the smaller ones, as odd as that may sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The grey resin I use with my Anycubic Photon printer. The resin is more expensive than 2-part urethane, but the prices have fallen dramatically over the last year or so as demand drives supply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I dribbled a bit of resin out into a plastic lid for ease of use. You only need a tiny bit at a time. Since the resin is UV sensitive you need to work away from bright sunlight \u2013 in the UK winter, it will happily stay uncured on my workbench for several days!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Using a toothpick, I filled each pinhole with resin, leaving\nthe surface just slightly proud. It flows readily into the hole if the air\ninside can escape \u2013 this is the reason for making the smaller holes a bit\nbigger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resin was cured by shining a UV torch (eBay or your\nfavourite online emporium. You need one with a 405nm wavelength to work with the\nresin) on each area for 30 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can now sand the excess resin back down for a completely\nsmooth and flawless finish. If you’ve underfilled the hole slightly, just apply\na drop more, re-cure and re sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A quick shot of primer, and we\u2019re looking in a much better\nstate!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same process works for seams and mold lines – just\ntrickle a bead of resin along the area with the cocktail stick, cure and sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larger holes and defects can be filled by repeated\napplication – because the resin is fairly liquid it won’t hold shape on its\nown, so you need to build it up in layers. Also the thicker the resin, the more\ncure time you will need, so it’s better to cure in thin layers too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall I was astounded how easy the process was. I sat and\nprocessed 50+ holes to a point where they would be ready for paint in about 15\nmins. That would have taken a considerable time to do with Miliput, and you’d\nstill have to wait for several more hours for it to cure before sanding and\nchecking. Then comes the inevitable rework, taking even more hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what’s the catch? There must be a catch right? Yes,\nthere’s a catch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photo resin in its uncured state is pretty unpleasant\nstuff. It’s generally considered to be pretty toxic and you need to take safety\nprecautions when using it. At the very least you need to wear latex\/vinyl\ngloves because you don’t want to get it on your skin. Eye protection is also recommended\nin case of splashes when handling. It can be pretty smelly too so an adequately\nventilated workspace is required, although the smell varies between different\nresins, and the amount being used for hole filling is nothing like having a vat-full\nexposed during a many hour 3D print, which is the normal mode of use. There are\nalso on-going developments with safer resins, based on soy of all things which\nare supposed to be non-toxic but I think the jury is still out on validating\nthose claims. No-one is lining up to be the first to drink a bottle to find\nout*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having been so impressed which my experiments, I’m now keen\nto try it out in anger, but will have to wait as I don’t currently have any\nkits at the clean-up stage. This won’t replace other types of filler completely\n– you’ll still need putty for rebuilding texture and larger modifications, but\nI can see it becoming an essential and permanent part of my model-building arsenal.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was lucky in that I already have the resin as part of the 3D\nprinter toolset. But you can buy smaller bottles of resin on their own (250ml\nfor around $20) in a variety of colours including translucent and completely\nclear which itself opens up a host of new possibilities for repairing clear\nparts. My next test is how well it woks as a styrene filler – I’m not sure how\nthe two might stick together, but if there is a strong bond then it may be just\nas useful for styrene kits too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Legal disclaimer. Do not drink a bottle of any resin,\nunder any circumstances!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For decades I’ve been looking for an “easy” way to repair pinholes, air bubble defects and hairline gaps in resin kits. My usual filler choice is a 2 part epoxy like Miliput or MagiSculpt which usually works well for larger … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,6],"tags":[49,48,50,47,51],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=667"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669,"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions\/669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.antsnest.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}