It’s not enough to 3D print a part – there are tons of things you can do from there! [FuzzyLogic] shows us his approach to adding insert labels, icons and text to a 3D print, by extruding them into the print and filling the resulting cavity with nail polish! This makes for colorful and useful prints, as opposed to boring single-color parts that we usually end up with.

The devil is in the details, and [FuzzyLogic] has reduced the details to a technique. Nail polish needs to be diluted with acetone for it to flow well, and some syringe and needle combination will be your friend here. Of course, don’t forget to take surface tension into account – even with well-diluted nail polish you can’t make the grooves too thin. A little more acetone on a cotton swab will help with minor mishaps, and a coat of clear acrylic paint will seal the lettering securely in place. The five minute video tells you all about these things and more, such as the basics of extruding text and icons in a typical CAD package, and has a bit of bonus material for those who watch to the end.

Adding markers to our prints is a nice finishing touch! If you’re looking for more of that, here’s a custom tool change printer with a pen attachment that makes beautiful custom housings for the Pocket Operator.

This post Brighten up your prints with this nail polish approach

was original published at “https://hackaday.com/2022/03/14/brighten-up-your-prints-with-this-nail-polish-approach/”