The Ultimate Guide to Smoothing & Finishing Your 3D Prints

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[jabciuthehut]

A great tip for the foot sander: get a pack of these 50mm sanding discs with a hook and loop foam pad (from amazon) and stick the foam pad with a double-sided tape to the base of the sander. Then you can use it with any grit you want! Saves a lot of time when sanding filler.

[puppetstring]

Just finished painting a helmet literally as this video got posted. There are so many tips in here I could have used since it was my first time doing this. Turned out great, but rest assured this video will come in handy for the remaining parts once they are off the printer. Thank you

[LochneyRBLX]

Yes!!! She finally uploaded!!! Great video.

[TReischl]

Just ordered a foot sander! I had no idea they even existed. Fan freakn tastic! Great video.

[austin]

I’ve been hoping for a tutorial like this from you! I love your videos appreciate all the hard work!!

[silverdragonheart]

With regards to sanding PLA I've always had good results using wet sanding, the problem with PLA is that it has a low glass transition temperature so when dry sanding it tends to heat up which makes it very difficult to sand, if you have a bowl of cold water near by and use wet and dry sanding paper just keep dipping the part your working on in the water every now and then and the sanding paper too, then it keeps it all cool and it works much better. Using up to 1500 grit paper I've got a mirror sooth finish on PLA, it did take a lot of sand though.

[radish]

Foot sander upgrade: foot pedal power switch. Hold down to sand, release to stop, way better than fumbling with the inline control. I bought a Wen switch from Amazon for $12 USD, definitely worth it!

[noid]

Nice finish.
My unrequested tip would be to adjust your Z offset and at least a .2 mm gap for your supports
so you can save time and just flick them off. Keep those pliers in your tool box.

[deadpool_mwtm]

A tip for perfect surface finish: in the end use either 1k or 2k clear coat and do a few layers. 2k clear coat is extremely good with filling some surface imperfections and also makes your paint job extremely durable. You can then also use some other spray clear coat (matte for example) if you don’t want it to be glass shiny, or just lightly wet sand it a bit with 1200/1500 grit sandpaper for that neat semigloss finish

[PeterKNoone]

Thanks to you I have the foot sander and rechargeable blower thingy. I've just ordered your the UV light and pans apron thingy.

[astrophysicistguy]

Bondo spot putty is acetone based so if you put some Bondo into a cup and add a tiny bit of acetone you get a nice slush that you can now paint onto your part with a chip brush. Great for getting into spots your finger can't fit as well as when you need to cover large areas. Never mind, you cover this later in the video ..

I also use Rustoleum 2 in 1 filler primer exclusively. At $8/can it's half the price of Dupicolor primer and way easier to find. I make a lot of big sci fi props and armor and would go broke buying dupicolor ...😬. 2-3 good coats of it and the part is ready for painting usually.

[AndyofCT]

Damn… those are camera ready props (maybe even better looking than some on set props)

[fotisxevgenis]

Ive never thought about it but I googled it and PETG says is far the easiest to sand. WHY NO ONE TOLD ME THAT ??? 🤦‍♂🤦‍♂🤦‍♂

[Gig]

This came out great! Nice smooth finish. I think you could push it further and use shaped sanding blocks. It keeps edges and seam lines consistent and from dipping lower than the rest of the print. I mean it looks fine the way it is but just a tad extra can make a difference. Whenever we sand random shapes we always shape our sanding blocks to the surface it's sanding. Then 77 the sand paper on.

[ThumpertTheFascistCottontail]

great video ☮💚kudos for applying your spot putty with a brush, i see so many folks using spray cans & it's crazy inefficient. may i recommend using a wet & dry sanding blocks when blending seams like you have on the hammer handle there. they're great for smoothing curved surfaces in general. took me way to long to catch on to foam sanding blocks.

[lowan]

@M.M's Prop Shop, you probably already know this, but UV lights are really dangerous. You should do your own research about it to learn of it's dangers. But I have seen people get really hurt and sick from long time exposure. Oh! And by the way, great video haha have a nice day.

[crispy_]

To spread the bondo I use a piece of scrap EVA foam as a tool. Works a lot better than a gloved finger

[lonewolfsstuck]

I have been trying to find a small head sander for a while, i even considered maybe making something from a RC motor and prints, but the foot sander is cheap enough and a good idea.

[onbedoeldekut]

The best 'metal' paint I've found is Mirror by Culture Hustle, it's so preposterously good, but is equally expensive.

[TheGeronimojack]

Great video! If I remember correctly, in one of your videos, you mentioned that you make custom orders. I have been looking for life size Labrinth (David Bowie) door knockers. I prefer them as raw prints so I can do any modifications myself. Are you interested?