A project was brought to my desk that requires a high resistance to MEK (methyl ethyl ketone). MEK is pretty nasty stuff, and is a fair amount more dangerous than the average cleaning chemical. I know from experience that it melts formlabs materials instantly. Has anyone ever coated prints or dipped them in something to make them resistant to this stuff? Or does anyone have any suggestions?
MEK is very similar to Acetone (both are ketones) and the only things that come to mind are ceramic, metallic or PTFE/FEP type coating. You might possibly be able to electroless plate with nickel, copper or tin but I don’t know whether there are any processes available for ceramic or polymer coating.
Hi,
as @mrwakefield suggested, you could nickel plate your parts (or have someone plate them for you). There are definitely processes there for coating FL parts, I’ve even seen some how-to threads in the forum, and also plating companies doing that.
Thank you both @P3D & @mrwakefield for the replies I will look further into the metal plating. If I can develop a cost effective and consistent solution I will post updates.