How To Get A Smooth Top Layer | No Sanding | 3D Printing Tips & Tricks

In this video I show you the slicer settings to use to get a smooth top layer right off the 3D printer. No sanding or painting necessary. This tutorial video shows you the steps I used to get a great finish on a 3D printed Star Wars clock.

After watching this tutorial click on the link below to download and print the free Star Wars STL that I used in this video:

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00:00 Introduction
00:33 1st 3D print - default settings
00:49 2nd 3D print - upside down
01:20 3rd 3D print - ironing
02:09 4th 3D print - New print nozzle
02:49 5th and final 3D print
03:48 Additional 3D printing tip

[ggaub]

gaps between extrusions on the first layer is something to rectify. Either your z offset is not right, or your extrusion rate is not right. With a perfect first layer, the bottom will pretty much always look better than the top, even with all the settings you used.

[TheOfficialOriginalChad]

The correct answer was #2, upside down. What you saw were not layer lines, they were evidence that you need to calibrate your Z offset. There should NOT be space between lines on any layer, but most importantly the first layer.

[superuser]

The only thing I would do different is, to print small test pieces, instead of waisting time and material of full prints.

[KoehlerTobi]

Such thing always upside down. But needs perfect first layer. Love smooth pei for this

[jimhinkle]

I bought an Infimech TX a couple of months ago. Guys, this thing is AWESOME. I'm getting rid of all my ender 3s. I'm no spokesman either.
I'm FINALLY able to finish up on my 1:1 F-16 Cockpit for DCS and MSFS. SUPER Smooth prints. I literally slice and hit print. I walk away and it's done!!!!

[xtreme]

Subbed because your video was no-nonsense and gave a really good layout of what I was going to see, and saw exactly that. Perfect!

[EmoKillsBest]

I appreciate the time you put into this video, especially with the number of times you reprinted the clock.

A tip I can pass along to you is to flip the flip upside down, like you did in the video, but print it on the reverse (smooth) side of a glass bed. It will come out insanely flat and smooth

[olavodias]

I really liked the video. I would probably stick with the upside down option, as long as your surface is not damaged, it should work well. Nice job showing us all these options, thank you very much

[blakewillett]

Textured bed sheet, upside down, lower z offset so the squish will blend, and same bottom layer advice you used and it’ll look 10x better no ironing needed

[flyingfortress]

Thanks for the tip! I’ve been using cura for 2 years and never knew about the monotonic settings. This solves a lot of problems I’ve had to deal with

[jamiemacdonald]

Bambu slicer has several adjustable parameters for ironing, one of which is Ironing Flow. It's default is 10% but I find 11-12% gives me a nearly perfect top layer.

[SKPhoto]

I think you would benefit from using Orca slicer, an ABL decice to create a mesh before each print, and a PEY hologram sheet to print it upside down amd give the clock face a holographuc surface. Orca slicer has a lot of great calibration tools that are filamemt and machine specific. You can create a one layer print to perfect your Z offset value prior to running all the calibration prints

[litebreeze]

Good video, i like your style, no nonsense, you get straight to it and show us your full process with clear and concise explanation. Good work. First video I've watched on your channel, I'll be back for more 😊

[TheTimPilot]

I've just started filament printing, and this tip is exactly what I've been looking for 😃

[sjm]

Printing face down on glass with a light coating of hairspray does it for me, almost perfect surface quality! Also need just the right z offset to avoid gaps.

[TheRealClutch]

Monotonic simply means the head is traveling in the same direction for each extrusion move. It is interesting that Cura does this more orderly but that isn't a requirement for monotonic. Good video, I think I need this clock for my theater.

[Caminando_con_Aitor]

I like you don't use music in your videos, thank you for that and for share the settings.

[zviratko]

1) Print upside down (and use a build plate with a nice texture)
2) Decrease first layer line width. 0.3 works just fine with stickier PLA, 0.35 works with most materials.You need to watch the first layer, if it rips or lifts, then either increase the width by a bit or use a lower first layer height (0.12mm instead of 0.2mm for example).
3) Increase first layer flow rate to 105-110%
4) Use a different first layer infill pattern that doesn't leave gaps (this depends on geometry, I don't change it for most models). Concentric sometimes works better

Ironing sucks, leaves the surface too shiny, tends to clog the nozzle on some printers and can leave some nasty lines sometimes.

[aleksandarpesic]

Flip it upside-down, level your bed, lower your z offset just a little to make a squish and that's it. No need for such a waste of filament.

[criznash]

honestly it looks like you have some under extrusion going on, especially on the bottom layer example.