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Making PLA 0.15mm smooth, glossy and safer. How well will just resin work? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 5 days ago by to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
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A friend of a friend makes some useful equipment, and after ordering one of their items, I realized I have some concerns.

  1. This is a tool that will be breathed through (like a short tube, just for regular air) and PLA microplastics are microplastics. I assume coating with a food-safe craft resin should minimize the risk of deterioration or leaching of any additives/dyes if the filament isn't food-safe. Let me know if that assumption has problems.

  2. Ideally, the appearance would be midnight black and highly glossy, at least from a metre away. That said, I don't want to sand it because I don't have access to a workspace, I don't feel comfortable releasing microplastic debris into the air or water just for a small tool, I'm not contaminating my living space with it, and a respirator is an additional cost for a small, one-time project. Will glossy resin alone give a decently smooth appearance on top of unsanded 0.15mm?

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[–] 3 points 4 days ago

You’re better off just casting with food safe resin. Keep in mind that virtually no resin is stable when heated unless you explicitly get a heat stable food safe resin.

Even “food safe” FDM runs the risk of contamination by mold and bacteria, since it’s quite hole filled even when it may look smooth. All it takes is one hole in the resin and you’ve got a recipe for contamination.

So, yes. It’s possible. Just keep in mind that you need to be careful. And if just make sure everything involved is food safe, even if it’s encased in the resin. Better safe than sorry.

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