lithgowlights
Dedicated elf
- Joined
- May 6, 2010
- Messages
- 1,023
As many of you know I started adding a number of 3D printed items to this years display, but plastic in the hot Australian sun is far from ideal in terms of lifespan, so I did a few experiments this year to determine a way to protect the investment and I have come up with an ideal solution based in tests here
What I did was get a tint tube kindly donated by BensChristmasLights and masked it off into 6 sections, and spraypainted each section with a single or combination of 2 clear coats, and the results were pretty obviously grouped into 2 groups - did not work, and worked. My best options, and the one I am using this year is below. These were sat outside since March this year, and while that did include winter, they were positioned so they were in the sun as much as possible until late October.
Ideal - Primer coat of Dulux clear Plastic Primer (Sold by Bunnings), and then a top coat of Septone Acrylic topcoat clear (Available here from Supercheap Auto).
Pretty darn good runner up was just the Septone spray, but it did peal a little bit as it did not appear to have bonded real well to the base plastic. If you have things that don't get bumped and rubbed then this might save you a few dollars, but I do suggest using the Primer.
OK - A runner up that was pretty good, but not as good as the solutions above was simply a coat of Supercheap Auto Acrylic Clear.
Useless were Dulux Duramax Clear Gloss and White Knight Clear Gloss as they appeared to have no UV protection at all.
I also repeated the same test on some of the LED covers donated by AussiePhil and while they were not out as long, there was a clear difference when using the Septone paint - they were both not yellow AND not brittle, unlike the other ones with the other paints. The supercheap auto acrylic clear was pretty good as well but only when used with the Dulux primer - it flaked off without it.
All my LED covers were given the primer and 2 coats of Septone clear, so I guess I'll see how they look in January, but I think they will last OK. The sprays also have the advantage of waterproofing the covers, as they are not that waterproof without some treatment, and the untreated ones did let water in during heavy rain events - just a few drops, but it was noticeable
One last tip - be careful of the Dulux Plastic Primer if you have araldite on your items - it causes araldite to turn rather yellow, as I found out with the 12 pointed Pixel stars...
What I did was get a tint tube kindly donated by BensChristmasLights and masked it off into 6 sections, and spraypainted each section with a single or combination of 2 clear coats, and the results were pretty obviously grouped into 2 groups - did not work, and worked. My best options, and the one I am using this year is below. These were sat outside since March this year, and while that did include winter, they were positioned so they were in the sun as much as possible until late October.
Ideal - Primer coat of Dulux clear Plastic Primer (Sold by Bunnings), and then a top coat of Septone Acrylic topcoat clear (Available here from Supercheap Auto).
Pretty darn good runner up was just the Septone spray, but it did peal a little bit as it did not appear to have bonded real well to the base plastic. If you have things that don't get bumped and rubbed then this might save you a few dollars, but I do suggest using the Primer.
OK - A runner up that was pretty good, but not as good as the solutions above was simply a coat of Supercheap Auto Acrylic Clear.
Useless were Dulux Duramax Clear Gloss and White Knight Clear Gloss as they appeared to have no UV protection at all.
I also repeated the same test on some of the LED covers donated by AussiePhil and while they were not out as long, there was a clear difference when using the Septone paint - they were both not yellow AND not brittle, unlike the other ones with the other paints. The supercheap auto acrylic clear was pretty good as well but only when used with the Dulux primer - it flaked off without it.
All my LED covers were given the primer and 2 coats of Septone clear, so I guess I'll see how they look in January, but I think they will last OK. The sprays also have the advantage of waterproofing the covers, as they are not that waterproof without some treatment, and the untreated ones did let water in during heavy rain events - just a few drops, but it was noticeable
One last tip - be careful of the Dulux Plastic Primer if you have araldite on your items - it causes araldite to turn rather yellow, as I found out with the 12 pointed Pixel stars...
