RE: Cleaning SLS RP parts ???

Again depending on your material, you can do a few things with your bead
blaster or air hose. One thing is to take some flexible tubing to insert
into hard to reach areas and then attach that to your bead blaster or air
hose. Another thing we found was taking a vibratory sander in conjunction
with air helps "shake" the powder off the sides and is removed by the air.
We've also taken pipe cleaners and a variety of wires to scrape the inside
of a part that is enclosed.

Also take Tim's advice and look at temperature. If you have an enclosed
area, it will tend to build up heat and accentuate the powder caking
problem. You may have to run those geometries a little cooler than a
typical build.

But honestly, no item has yet been devised that beats good ol' fashioned
elbow grease and compressed air with a media like glass beads.

*********************************************
David K. Leigh (254)933-1000
Harvest Technologies fax(254)298-0125
Rapid Prototyping Services dkleigh@harvest-tech.com

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi]On
Behalf Of Timothy J Gornet
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 8:53 PM
To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi; Scott.Smith@us.bosch.com
Subject: Re: Cleaning SLS RP parts ???

Scott,
The bead blaster should be all that you need. Sounds like your part bed
temperature may be a bit high. You shouldn't have to chisel the powder
off of your parts. If you put parts in the bead blaster that have alot
of powder on them you end up with more DuraForm than bead media and it
becomes much less effective. You might also want to replace your glass
beads in the blaster as well and see if that helps.

If not than a part bed temperature should be reached that allows you to
brush or lightly scrape off the majority of the powder. The bead blaster
should easily take care of the rest.

Good luck.
Tim

Tim Gornet Computer Aided Engineering Consultant
INTERNET: tim.gornet@louisville.edu
SLUGNET: Vogt Bldg. Rm 101, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
40292
PHONENET: (502)852-0714 FAXNET: (502)852-8890
Rapid Prototyping Center
http://www.louisville.edu/speed/rpc/
>>> "Smith Scott (AP/ECP6)" <Scott.Smith@us.bosch.com> 01/20/04 5:01 PM
>>>
I am currently using a bead blaster to clean the excess Duraform GF out
of my parts, but I am having trouble with the hard to reach areas and
blind holes. I was wondering if there were any other methods used to
clean SLS RP parts. Do ultrasonic cleaners work? Any input or
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott Smith
Received on Wed Jan 21 21:10:42 2004