Unpopular opinion: 3D printed parts need way more post-processing than people admit

I spent 8 hours last weekend sanding and priming a bracket I printed for a shelf in my garage. Most folks just hit "print" and slap the part right on, but you can see every layer line from 3 feet away. For functional stuff maybe it's fine, but if you want it to look clean, you gotta put in the elbow grease. Has anyone else found a faster way to smooth out prints without losing detail?

2 comments

2 Comments

green.mason13d ago

oh man, i feel your pain on this one. i spent a whole weekend smoothing out a small lamp shade once, just sanding and filling with bondo over and over. my biggest tip is to try ironing settings in your slicer if you haven't already, it flattens the top layers really nice. for the sides though, i've had decent luck with a quick wipe of acetone vapor on PLA if you're real careful but it's easy to melt details. honestly i just gave up on perfection and started printing things in matte filament, hide the lines better without all the work.

charlie_stone7213d ago

Right? That matte filament trick is genius, saves so much hassle.