Has anyone had issues with warped, bowed, out-of-shape 3D prints and had success straightening them to their intended shape? I have a 3D print in the clear-ish FUD material from Shapeways and before I go attempting to guess how to straighten it, I want to ask how and what others have done that was successful. Please post all known fixes. Thanks in advance!
Tim, I work with a lot of grown parts at work, we have two SLA machines. We also have a curing oven. If a part is warped, I clean off all the supports, and put it in the oven for half an hour under some weights. The weights I use will be heavy enough to see the part straighten. When I remove the part from the oven, I keep the weights on while it cools. Usually works for me. We have about 9-10 different types of resin, and the above method works on all the resins. Scott
Had started a thread here in 2019. https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/shapeways-bent-parts-problem.124456/ Different technics are discussed, and they may help you regarding your parts. But for me, I had no success with my parts, only worked for 2 hours, then I broke most of my lamp posts trying to unbend them. Fud material from Shapeways is not my friend for certain tiny structures.
I haven't used Shapeways in a long time. But for the stuff I print at home. I just run it under hot water. Bend it a tiny bit over what I need and then run it under cold water to set it.
I have been using Shapeways since 2013 before the price changes and before they started rejecting things in Z scale because of thin walls Plus handling them while cleaning is easy to break! Not toys! Must be very careful You have to hold the part under hot water long enough to soften material then run cold water over it to hold but making sure before the cold water the part has been straighten enough to hold it shape thin walls will do this. I have had so many bent up pieces and the hot water worked as long as you take your time and not adding to much pressure to break the part first! Just like Shapeways with their cleaning they don't seem to take their time to clean properly! then we either get broken model in the mail and parts aren't in the bag and trying to replace broken part not easy if missing but UV glue has been my right hand in fixing since it is a gel form and doesn't dry till the UV light hits it! The gel holds the part well! here is one recent project! I have used then walls to keep the price down but doesn't do the model good! thin seem to bend easy after stuffing it in a bag that is a bit to small! before and after! Seems like the roof came loose to made it even worst! but as I went with the hot water and got it together just fine using the UV glue which is made from the same material as the printed model the UV held it together well! this was a quad double door car