3D Printing meets the heat wave

[Peter]

It looks like a bomb has hit it.


All of these were printed hollow and I thought I had manged to drill and drain all the uncured resin inside. But the recent very hot weather has proved me wrong - there was still uncured resin inside and as it seeped away it blocked up the drain holes. It then expanded and forced its way out through the weakest points giving the impression of an internal explosion.

So back to the drawing board for these and attempt to find a better solution and replace the damage. I also have other models that have suffered collateral damage and have resin sprayed on them. Hopefully I can solve this by painting over with matt varnish.

Larger picture

[Minuteman]

Dramatic stuff, and I guess somewhat unexpected too.

If you have any use for 'knocked out' vehicle markers on your WW2 battlefields, then you have a ready supply here.

[zirrian]

I started taking out basically a cube out of the bottom instead of hollowing and then adding drain holes. Easier to support, clean and much less chance of this happening, plus less material used.

[Fire at Will]

I started taking out basically a cube out of the bottom instead of hollowing and then adding drain holes. Easier to support, clean and much less chance of this happening, plus less material used.

Sounds a good solution, I'm planning to use more or far larger drain holes 10mm rather than 3mm for my next attempt

[Bill Slavin]

Oh, man, what a disaster! Especially after all of the 3D printing and painting involved. I'm fascinated by your and other people's forays into 3D printing, but like anything I guess there is a steep learning curve. Still, a tough way to learn and the uncured resin might have lingered forever if you hadn't experienced that colossal heat wave.