Minor damage repair

[jdurand]

On this one product I'm printing a zillion of, sometimes when peeling off the raft a few fibers from the bottom of the part are pulled loose. On my wife's suggestion I tried our hot-air soldering station, just waving it over like you would flame glass.

The loose bits pull up taunt and stick together nicely.

I understand not everyone has a hot-air station but if you have access to it, use it.

Here's the station we have:
http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_851.html

[Eaglezsoar]

Does this make the surface shiny like a vapor bath would?

[JFettig]

I use my hot air station to close up cracks and re-color the white spots from supports and rafts.

If you're getting strings on your bottom layer above a raft, you may need to be a little closer - it will be more difficult to remove.

Here is a part I printed on a raft and ran my hot air nozzle over.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/UqTL3qP.jpg[/img]

[Captain Starfish]

For those considering it, the WEP 898D I bought from eBay cost about $90 (Australian, more like USD60 at the moment) and has been flawless. I use it for electronics work - desoldering, reflow, heatshrink etc. But I also use it for a much better regulated "flame polishing" than a ciggy lighter will do and you can weld nylon and PLA parts together with them too.

[jdurand]

We've had our hot air station quite a while, I'm sure there's lots of lower cost ones out there. I know that Hakko isn't exactly cheap.

[Eaglezsoar]

I have to look at purchasing a hot air station. I do a lot of soldering and I can use it for my printer parts too, thanks to your tips.