The Fuse Blast has been an extremely beneficial piece of equipment and greatly improves blasting consistency. I am hoping the Polishing attachment/upgrade may take finished quality to another level, but it has remained a well-kept secret. I’ve heard that larger plastic spherical media will be used, but besides that have not found any updates on its functionality or the release timeline (besides Q2 2024).
Has anyone heard of a tentative release date or any other details about the Polish upgrade?
Side Note on Glass Media Embedment:
I only found information regarding this issue through customer support, so I figure I should get it out there. The glass media used in the Fuse Blast was not being changed frequently enough, and it began embedding into Nylon SLS printed parts. This left a faint white residue on the part surface which caused significant problems during the dye process with splotches and overall dye color/depth (going for black and ended up slightly blue).
Yes, we are also very interested in the polishing attachment. Seems like something they promised doing. Hopefully won’t take buying a new Blast 2.0… Q2 been and went with no news.
They also talked about a deionizer rod or something? To take that last little bit of powder that clings to the parts off.
Are you saying that the deionizer is not standard? Thats really stupid if its not seeing that you basically have a standard blast cabinet without it.
I would not be surprised if that is an addon for like 2-3k.
I’m glad to say Formlabs did provide a Polished/Non-Polished comparison sample. With that said, we are absolutely due for an update on the Polisher ASAP. We’re closing in on the end of Q3 and need some more basic information. Without offering even a rough timeline, I would assume a lot of other customers have started looking for other options (vapor smoothing, tumbling, etc.)
To my knowledge the deionizer is standard (it’s the small black box above the media nozzle with 2 sharp metal prongs). I don’t believe it activates (LED blinking) until the Rinse process is started.
Powder removal hasn’t been an issue in my process so far, and increasing Blast or Rinse time/pressure could solve this. The last bit of “powder” we deal with on occasion actually seems to be broken-down glass media. Nothing would remove this white residue, whether it was washed thoroughly with detergent and water, blasted directly with compressed air, and/or soaked overnight. After emptying the old media and replacing with fresh glass, this issue immediately went away which was a good indicator that it was causing the problem.
Hi Matt, thanks for the update! Very glad to see this product released.
I’ve got a couple questions with some added context:
What is the typical polishing time range for thoroughly sifted parts? In the video it looked like your cycle was set to “Long Polish” and lasted 30 minutes (+ 5 minutes of rinsing).
-Compressor capabilities: We purchased the Eastwood QST 30/60 at Formlabs recommendation and have learned that it can hardly handle the required SCFM at 30psi for the default blasting cycle (w/ 3mm nozzle). Of course, the Adaptive Airflow settings will likely allow any cycle to run but this could result in a significant time increase.
-Polishing Agent: On the product page it does not list the volume for the $50 bottle but states that 7mL of the agent should last for about “6 hours” of blasting. At our normal blasting time of around 10min this would certainly be a good value, but if 30min is the typical polishing requirement this cost may add up quickly.
Is the plastic media lifetime comparable to glass media?
-Pulverized glass fix: We are thrilled that the plastic media “is designed for longevity, lasting for over a hundred Blast cycles, while resisting the breakdown that occurs with glass media.” This is really a massive benefit. I have not found a Formlabs specific cycle estimate for glass media but I’m curious how much the longevity varies between the two media types.
Is there potential for recycling nylon powder from the waste hopper?
-Larger media: since the media is a larger size it could be easier to sift out used nylon powder. Of course, it will be wetted from the agent so that may not allow for reuse. Just curious if there is any discussion or consideration of this feature.
Hope I wasn’t too critical, just hoping to fully understand the associated costs before purchasing the add-on!
No problem - and thanks for the questions! You’ve set me up for a proper FAQ:
Polishing time range: With ‘potatoes’ from sift, 10 minutes will give you clean parts. 15-20 mins will give you a noticeable ‘light’ polish, which will improve with time until it plateaus around 45-60 minutes, depending on build size. Personally I skew towards best surface finish, so I’ll just throw my parts in for an hour, while others are plenty happy with a shorter 20 minute cycle.
Polishing Agent Volume, Lifetime, cost: Great catch on volume, will update the store page. The polishing agent bottle contains ~4oz (115mL). or enough for about 16 full water tank refills (diluted in ~750mL of tap water for a tank). The recommended flowrate is 1-2mL, so one full water tank will last between 6.25 - 12.5 hours of blasting. Depending on your desired level of polish, at a 1mL/min this’ll last you somewhere between 12 - 37 cycles. Working back, you’re looking at somewhere between $0.08 to $0.25 for a build.
Compressor: At 60PSI, the Eastwood should handle about 15 minutes of continuous blasting before recharging with adaptive airflow, which takes ~2 minutes at a time based on our testing. Personally I’m a fan of the adaptive airflow because it can really help you out if you’re in a pinch and need to use something much smaller, but with the Eastwood you’re looking at a pretty modest time increase. However, if your current setup seems to be marginal, I’d recommend updating to the latest firmware so you can drop the ‘cabinet rinse’ pressure - we had set the default at 60PSI, which we later found out was a bit too high. 50PSI for the cabinet rinse is just as good and will prevent any erroring out.
Plastic Media Life: Glass media will still last longer than a standard cabinet, but will need topping up as the glass breaks down and filters out of the system. Polishing media doesn’t shatter or abrade, and we haven’t found an upper limit on media life. I had to choose a number so I put over 100, though ours has been in use continuously for much longer.
Recycling Nylon powder: We haven’t really explored this, but I’d have similar concerns about the polishing agent. Maybe one day I can run a test, we just always have more to work on than time in the day!
The update that enables this feature (1.1.0) has also fixed the Waste Hopper LEDs.
I had no idea that there were LED’s in the waste hopper and was wondering how that could be overlooked when the Fresh Hopper had LEDs, LOL. Thank you for that fix.
I was wondering if the Polishing Media was tested without the Polishing Fluids and what parts look like when processed with the new plastic media but without the fluids.
Also, is there and list of tested media either from Formlabs or the community? What have people found works best on their parts? Particularity those who Dye their pieces and apply polymer coatings.