At last I should say! As it has been a while since my last post on this subject. This was mainly caused by the fact that I couldn’t get the correct chemicals to finish and polish this 3D printed part. And work got in the way too from time to time!
Due to how the 3D printer works and the chosen
filament material, the various printing layers are just visible. Which gives it
a slightly rough finish. But the used ABS filament material (actually ASA) can
be “polished” by hanging the printed part in acetone vapours for an hour or so
(depending on ambient temperature).
The idea behind this is that the acetone vapours will soften the outside of the material and smooth the surface in the process. After which it needs a few hours to evaporate the acetone, leaving a nicely polished finish. But in my case that highlighted a flaw in my design: the gear-lever-knob-locknut’s recess! The remaining rim at the edges of the hexagonal recess turned out to be too thin and sharp, as a result of which they were partially dissolved by the acetone. And as you can see in the picture below that didn’t look too well.
Time to return to the drawing board and change the design a little. I decided to get rid of the hexagonal recess and to reduce the inside diameter. This way it’s a closer fit around the refurbished gear lever.
After which it took some time and a few attempts to get the printers output right. And it was safe to say that the raw output already looked much better compared to the first attempt.
And after another acetone vapour treatment it came out really nice.
Only the inside diameter turned out to be about 0,1mm too small for a smooth fit over the refurbished gear lever. But that was easily sorted with the correct diameter drill.
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