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
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 4:29 pm
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.
Re: Smoothing out TPE surface
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 4:34 pm
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.
Re: Smoothing out TPE surface
Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 5:20 pm
by terabyte
Thanks Dollarhyde and Panther68 for the info, I will check out videos and proceed.
Re: Smoothing out TPE surface
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 11:19 am
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!
a1130_1.jpg
Re: Smoothing out TPE surface
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:43 pm
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.
