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Smoothing out TPE surface

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terabyte
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Smoothing out TPE surface

Post by terabyte »

I was curious if there is a way to smooth out a rough tpe surface with a hot air workstation or something as simple as a lighter, thermal temp gun, and spoon? My Aylen has rough surfaces on her nose and lips area of her face, I am wondering how to get it back to close to factory smoothness.
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Re: Smoothing out TPE surface

Post by Dollarhyde »

Mishka could probably help you with that... the nose is a very delicate area he uses a heat gun. I tend to use my soldering iron with a spoon attachment but I would be scared to use even that on her face.
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Re: Smoothing out TPE surface

Post by Panther68 »

Hey Terabyte,

Mishka has created more videos on TPE repairs over the past week. 3 videos, in fact. The heat gun should be able to smooth it out.


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Re: Smoothing out TPE surface

Post by terabyte »

Thanks Dollarhyde and Panther68 for the info, I will check out videos and proceed.

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Re: Smoothing out TPE surface

Post by RGC_0767 »

Best bet would be a hot air station for electronics with various size tips. Using a standard heat gun will be daunting for tighter curved areas.

The lips would be fairly easy to re-flow the material. The nose may be much more tricky. Too much heat will deform. Too much oil will soften.

If using small tips, you can focus heat on smaller,tighter areas.

Takes a lot of practice to get it almost perfect :)

Good luck!
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terabyte
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Re: Smoothing out TPE surface

Post by terabyte »

RGC_0767 wrote:Best bet would be a hot air station for electronics with various size tips. Using a standard heat gun will be daunting for tighter curved areas.

The lips would be fairly easy to re-flow the material. The nose may be much more tricky. Too much heat will deform. Too much oil will soften.

If using small tips, you can focus heat on smaller,tighter areas.

Takes a lot of practice to get it almost perfect :)

Good luck!
a1130_1.jpg
Thanks for the tips! I have a hot air station with temperature settings and multiple tips. I will practice on a test piece 1st.

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