Sealing a 3D Printed Piece

3D Fabrication
#1

Hey All,

So some of you may be aware that over the past few months I’ve been 3D printing pieces of a video game gun for BlizzCon. Well, BlizzCon has come and gone and the piece was awesome. Big hit at the convention. Now, however, I could use a little bit of help/advice finishing everything, and was hoping someone out there was more knowledgable than I.

First, I got the gun signed by the character’s voice actress while I was there and I’m SUPER EXCITED about the whole thing. Now, I want to go ahead and seal the whole thing so I don’t have to worry about the signature fading like some of the others did (although they spent 2 days rubbing up against my hair, which is probably what happened). Does anyone have any advice as to how I can make sure this signature doesn’t fade over time?

Second, the entire thing was supported by a trio of wooden dowels built into the body. On the flight home, two of the pieces that were glued together came apart and the dowels broke in half. If I can remove about an inch worth of dowel in each hole I can put in new ones, but because the dowels are glued in and run the length of the gun I’m not sure how to remove them. Any advice in this regard will also be appreciated!

#2

Sharpie?
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#3

Sorry your piece broke … but can you show pictures before it did? It sounds like a really awesome piece!

#4

To be quite honest, I’m not 100% certain I have a photo of it before it broke. Fixing it will be pretty trivial, however, so at the very worst I can go ahead and take photos of it once I’ve got it all put back in one piece. Again, all I really need to do is remove about an inch worth of dowel and seat new ones and it’ll go back together in minutes. That’s largely why I’m asking if anyone has any idea how to do that.

And yes, Brian, it’s black sharpie. I honestly had hoped for silver, but the signing was already super over time and they were trying to get everyone through as quickly as possible.

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#5

There are a large number of solvents that readily dissolve whatever it is that Sharpies leave behind. Whatever advice you are given thoroughly test before committing to the actual signature. For example, if someone recommends a specific clear coat because that worked well for them do not assume that is still true. Paint manufacturers routinely reformulate their products. That specific clear coat may now include a solvent the destroys the signature.

For some reason I want to say epoxy is a good choice. I have a vague recollection that is what my brother used to protect a Steve Vai signed guitar.

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#6

I can always print out a sheet of plastic and paint it the way I painted this one, write on it with sharpie and then use whatever sealant I want to test before I use it on the real thing. Thank you for the advice, i wouldn’t have thoguht of that.

You think I can remove parts of the dowels with just a drill, maybe? or something else?

#7

Seeing the trouble would be helpful.

#8

I’ll be home in about two hours. I can take photos of it then ^_^;;

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#9

Sorry, that took longer than two hours Still, here we go.

So here’s half the broken section. I figure I can sand down the glue residue pretty easily, but the wood in the two holes are either glued in or extend much further into the base than I’m willing to try and pull out, so I need to remove them like the bottom left hole so I can replace it. The other half has the same problem.

Broken Part
Broken Part.jpg1109×1478 120 KB

Then this is the signature in question. I covered it in cling wrap for the flight home, but I’m hoping for something a little more perminant. There’s various places I need to touch up the paint before I do whatever I’m going to do, but after that I’d like to just go ahead and display it without worrying about it being destroyed over time.

Signature
Signature.jpg774×580 58.6 KB

#10

Protectaclear is used by jewelry folks as a good clear sealant that wears well. I particularly got on the trail of it because a lot of sealers will totally mess with alcohol inks and these won’t.

The lady on the phone was helpful and asked what I wanted to seal and pointed me towards the best product.

I think if you told her you wanted to put it over sharpie marker, it’s common enough I bet she’d know how it acted.

Or if you want to test drive a sample just to be sure, I can bring mine and let you try it on a sample first. I have both liquid and spray forms. Then you’d know for sure before getting a larger amount

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#11

I think you’ll want to treat this more or less like a broken bolt situation: centre a drill on the remnant and drill the holes to size.
One way to do this is to use a drill press, and/or drill guide, some techniques for which are in this thread, including the metal drill guides that should be floating around somewhere, if they’re the right size…

#12

That sounds like what I needed to know. I’ll probably want to do some tests first, and make sure I know what the size of the hole is obviously (I’m pretty sure I remember the dowel size I used). The last thing I want to do is mis-aim the drill. That would likely be bad.

Thankfully, if I can get some of the dowel out of there I can go and reglue everything, which would be super helpful because then all I’d really need to do is touch up the paint and then seal the whole damn thing.

#13

Which phone number did you call to get the super helpful lady who was able to answer questions for you?

And I would absolutely love to try and do a test on a sample just to be sure. I really don’t want to risk anything with this signature after what I went through to get it lol.

#14

Here’s Everbrite’s website (Protectaclear is one of their products).

Hm, it does look especially particular to metals, but that might not necessarily preclude resin. Another thing to ask I’d suppose. And poke around the website, maybe there’s other options that may present.

The phone number was off this website.
https://www.everbritecoatings.com/ProtectaClear.htm

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