Re: painting SLA's

From: Frank Stoeckel (frank@satellitemodels.com)
Date: Fri Oct 30 1998 - 20:38:13 EET


Gabe asked:
> I have a client that wants to SLA a part and have it painted for a show
> they are going to. While we have done this many times before, they want
a
> specific paint I have never heard of before. It is called a POLANE
paint. I
> am wondering if anyone has heard of this kind of paint and if it would
> "destroy" or "eat at" an SLA? Thanks in advance.

Gabe,

at Satellite Models, Inc. we use Polane fairly frequently, but have not
used it on an SLA part. We typically use it on CNC machined ABS or
Renshape, or cast Urethane. It makes for a nice, solid, durable finish, as
long as you can deal with the fairly long cure time (over night to re-coat
or texture, 24h before shipping, 7 days to full cure) . One thing we have
learned is that you need to use a Polane primer to prepare the part. Polane
paint does not like to stick otherwise (especially not to lacquer
primer...)

The only bad experience we had with Polane was when we painted some Z-Corp
RP parts, even with the Polane primer. The Z-Corp parts had been
infiltrated with a resin like C.A. or epoxy, which (this is my theory)
continued to off-gas during the paint's curing process, and left us with
goose-bump-like micro bubbles all over the surface.

I don't think you'll have this problem with SLA parts, though.

Hope this helps,

Frank Stoeckel
Project Manager
Satellite Models, Inc.
950 Rengstorff Ave. #C
Mountain View, CA 94043
650.903.3540
650.968.3723 (f)
frank@satellitemodels.com

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