Community guideTips & tricks / Preparing parts
Before your first cycle: which printer technologies can be vapor smoothed?
Short answer: parts from the common powder bed processes, plus some extrusion-printed and machined plastics. The detail depends on the machine and the consumable.
What AMT publishes
By machine (product pages):
| Machine | Compatible technologies |
|---|---|
| PostPro SFX | MJF, SLS, HSS; FDM ULTEM and Onyx parts |
| PostPro SF2X | MJF, SLS, HSS; FDM ULTEM and Onyx parts |
| PostPro SF50 | MJF, SLS, HSS, FDM |
| PostPro SF100 | MJF, SLS, HSS, FDM |
The vapor smoothing family page also names SAF among the powder bed processes vapor smoothing can be applied to.
By consumable (consumables page):
- PostPro Pure (FA5802): powder bed SLS, MJF, SAF/HSS; extrusion FFF and FDM for ULTEM and ONYX. It also lists CNC-machined PC, PEI and PMMA.
- FA326: SLS, MJF, SAF; FFF and FDM. Usable in the SF50 and SF100.
- FA9202 (polypropylene): SLS and MJF. Usable in the SFX, SF50 and SF100.
What to check before you run parts
- Your material, not just your technology. A PA12 from one supplier and a PA12 from another can behave differently. AMT’s compatible materials lists go down to the grade; you will find them on the documents page.
- Your consumable. Which consumable your machine uses decides which materials you can run. See PostPro Pure, FA326 or FA9202: which consumable for which material?.
- Your recipe. Your AMT application engineer sets it for your material and parts.
If your grade is not on a list, that does not mean it will not smooth. It means nobody has published a result yet. Send parts for a benchmark, and if you are happy to, tell the community (opens the community forum in a new tab) what you learned.