If you are planning on painting your parts, soda blasting can create problems. Many of the newer paints are acidic and will react with the soda and not adhere correctly.
Regards,
Doug Mitchell
dmitchel_at_ymail.com
Ed Tackett <etackett_at_rapidtech.org> wrote:
>Yea Fine de-powdering is a real time killer.
>
>
>
>You can use small tumbler media to "cut" the nooks and crannies. In that
>case you could lubricate the parts in the tumbler but that would have to be
>tested.
>
>
>
>Sure the idea is sound kind of like a gold mining trammel think washing
>machine drum on a spinner with HP air and then hit it with blast media Ill
>send you a diagram in a few minutes.
>
>
>
>Maybe running baking soda would work
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodablasting and media is cheap
>http://www.eastwood.com/soda-blasting.html
>
>
>
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>
>e-
>
>
>
>Ed Tackett
>
>Director
>
>RapidTech
>
>National Center for Rapid Technologies
>
>University of California Irvine
>
>Saddleback College
>
>(949) 824-4938
>
>Skype me _at_ ed.tackett
>
>
>
>Confidentiality
>
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>2510-2521 and is legally privileged. This email and its attachments are
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>
>From: owner-rp-ml_at_rapid.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml_at_rapid.lpt.fi] On Behalf
>Of Amend, Matthew J
>Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 2:03 PM
>To: Greg Paulsen; rp-ml_at_rapid.lpt.fi
>Subject: [rp-ml] RE: de-powdering mass quantities of sintered parts?
>
>
>
>Hmmm. Removing parts from the cake is quick, it's removing powder from the
>parts that takes time. Especially getting it out of nooks & crannies. Also,
>we are careful to put the loose powder back into the recycle mix but want to
>discard the baked powder that's adhered to the parts.
>
>
>
>We're thinking along the concept of a drive-through carwash. Put them into
>some sort of cage that gets blasted by HP air and then by beads. Preferably
>all within an enclosure.
>
>
>
>
>
> _____
>
>From: Greg Paulsen [mailto:GPaulsen_at_protoprod.com]
>Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 1:42 PM
>To: Amend, Matthew J; rp-ml_at_rapid.lpt.fi
>Subject: RE: de-powdering mass quantities of sintered parts?
>
>I was reading an article on Shapeways and noticed they use a large tumbler
>(commonly used for polishing metal parts). Here's the article's link:
>http://fabbaloo.com/blog/2013/1/8/deep-deep-inside-shapeways.html#.UP2znSc0V
>8F look at the 4th picture down. Depending on your part/cake density and
>your parts geometry I could see a whole cake thrown in a tumbler and left to
>self-clean. This may affect recycle rate if you're throwing cake back in the
>mix.
>
>
>
>As an experiment we rigged a rigid grate/sifter over a collection bin that
>was mounted to one of our smaller tumblers and turned that on. After a
>couple hours the majority of powder was broken free and parts were ready for
>bead blasting. You just want to make sure that dust containment is available
>if you try this or things can get messy.
>
>
>
>Gregory M. Paulsen
>
>Prototype Productions, Inc.
>
>Office 703.858.0011 x314
>
>Cell 540.974.1348
>
>gpaulsen_at_protoprod.com
>
>www.protoprod.com <http://www.protoprod.com/>
>
>
>
>From: owner-rp-ml_at_rapid.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml_at_rapid.lpt.fi] On Behalf
>Of Amend, Matthew J
>Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 4:07 PM
>To: rp-ml_at_rapid.lpt.fi
>Subject: [rp-ml] de-powdering mass quantities of sintered parts?
>
>
>
>Hi folks,
>
>
>
>I'm with an RP lab at Boeing and we're looking for a way to save time and/or
>labor de-powdering parts from our nylon sintering machines. The quantities
>we build are increasing and it's getting cumbersome to do all the cleanup by
>hand.
>
>
>
>Does anybody know of automated or mechanized methods for de-powdering?
>
>
>
>
>
>Matthew Amend
>Boeing Rapid Prototyping & Modeling
>Laser Sintering Lab 9-120 12E3
>206 662 7495
>
Received on Tue Jan 22 2013 - 00:37:09 EET