Do I have to sand or is there some magic I’m not aware of?

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments View context
4 points

I’ve thought about attaching a jar to my drill and turning the part in some kind of medium.

What kind of parameters need adjusting for your process?

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

doing that is going to create a rotary tumbler. i think for this specific object that might work totally fine, but it might be too rough for anything with fine details or sharp angles. vibratory tumblers are more likely to keep the object’s overall geometry intact, whereas rotary ones will eventually sand things into kind of an ovoid shape?

as for parameters, the main ones are which grit levels for each stage, how long to run it for each stage, which tumbling medium to use, and how much water. i haven’t really ironed out any general guidelines but in my experience (perhaps obviously) most plastics don’t need nearly as long as most minerals.

it doesn’t seem like many people have gone this route yet, so if it works out, please post about your process!

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

I just looked in to a vibratory tumbler, they aren’t cheap!

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

You’re not wrong… 😅

I am fortunate enough to work somewhere that has one, although we also make it available to the public!

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

If you’re in the US you could try the harbor freight route. They’re still not super cheap, but this will let you feel out whether or not you’ll get enough use out of one to justify buying a “nicer” one of/when the harbor freight unit breaks.

permalink
report
parent
reply

3DPrinting

!3dprinting@lemmy.world

Create post

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

Rules

  • No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.

  • Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.

  • No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)

  • No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing

  • Do not create links to reddit

  • If you see an issue please flag it

  • No guns

  • No injury gore posts

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

Community stats

  • 1.6K

    Monthly active users

  • 1.3K

    Posts

  • 17K

    Comments