Resin glue for 3D printed parts

[Rince]

Hi,

 

I am going mental over some 3D printed parts I got from pop goes the monkey and hope some of you can help out.

 

In the past I have built resign models from forgeworld, this half-resign from GW, never a problem. I soak the parts in warm water with added Dawn and give them a good scrub.

 

Now with the 3D printed parts, nothing sticks. I’ve tried Army Painter Super Glue, Gorilla Super Glue and Loctite Ultra gel. 
I have been successful glueing fingers together, myself to the wall, and everything in reach. So the glues are generally working.

 

Is there some occult handling of printer resin I am missing? What is your go-to glue? 

[Doghouse]

That sounds odd, do you know what kind of resin they used because I just use Gorilla glue on my 3d printed stuff and it bonds stupidly well.

 

 

[Rince]

It says “fine detail plastic that is acrylic material[…]”

[NovemberIX]

Depending on the parts that need to mate up, you might be better served by sanding or scraping a slightly rougher surface for the adhesive to work into. Relatedly, did the glue leave a residue on the resin part?

[Bung]

I used normal superglue for pgtm stuff.

But i buy the cheapest in 20 ml bottles from eBay.

[Arkhanist]

I've always used superglue for 3d printed parts, including shapeways and various UV resins I've printed myself without any issues. Mostly loctite gel, but works fine with others too. Popgoesthemonkey don't specify the resin they use, but they do say to just use superglue like other resins.

 

So the first thing to try would be to rinse both parts again in just plain water, just in case (i.e. 3d part and what you're sticking it to) Then use fine grade sandpaper or a jewellers file to add some roughness to both surfaces and try again with superglue.

 

If it's still not working, I'd probably go old school and try out some 2 part epoxy glue; that stuff sticks pretty much anything solid together.

Edited November 14, 2022 by Arkhanist

[Rince]

Thank you all for your replies! I’ll try epoxy to end this once and for all

[Sky Potato]

Try drilling and pinning on top of the glue if just gluing fails

[Imren]

I have been building with 3D-printed UV-resin, FW resin and other 3rd party resin and never had any issue, but this is what I do:

1. Put the parts in a 1-2 liter bowl and squirt some dishwashing detergent in the bowl.
2. Fill up with hot water and let it soak for a few hours.
3. Take an old toothbrush and dip the head in a dishwashing detergent solution (keep it in a glass next to you on the kitchen bench) and give every part a good brushing.
4. Rinse parts and let dry.
5. Assemble the model(s). I also pin the feet and cork them up as a handle.
6. Give them another light brush with the toothbrush soaked in dishwashing detergent solution and rinse so that skin oils from touching during assembly gets cleaned away.
7. Let them dry and prime.
8. Wait 24h for the primer to cure. This way the primer stucks really well and you can sand it.

I use enamel primers (Alclad II primer and AK xtreme primer filler) for scenery (more robust) and acrylics such as Vallejo and stynylrez primers for models and never had any issue.

[Grotsmasha]

On 11/15/2022 at 7:39 AM, Sky Potato said:

Try drilling and pinning on top of the glue if just gluing fails

 

From experience, I'd recommend NOT drilling into 3D printed resin, it is typically too brittle. Torso's might be fine, but arms/wrists/gun barrels are too small and they'll shatter.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Grotsmasha

[Craig]

Maybe they didn't clean the resin properly or used something odd to clean it. I'd suggest giving them a bath in isopropyl alcohol to see if that helps.

[Sky Potato]

1 hour ago, Grotsmasha said:

 

From experience, I'd recommend NOT drilling into 3D printed resin, it is typically too brittle. Torso's might be fine, but arms/wrists/gun barrels are too small and they'll shatter.

Completely fair point - I just had resin in my head, and not 3D printed resin. Thanks for the correction.

[Tyriks]

1 hour ago, Grotsmasha said:

 

From experience, I'd recommend NOT drilling into 3D printed resin, it is typically too brittle. Torso's might be fine, but arms/wrists/gun barrels are too small and they'll shatter.

Really depends on the quality of the resin too. Some is totally fine for drilling, some is more brittle. Hard to know which is which until you ruin your print, unfortunately.