From someone who is a painter, don’t get so hung up on not sanding through your primer. Your first primer coat should be viewed as sacrificial, you actually want to sand through most of it because that allows your scratches and everything that you were trying to fill to then build up to the level of everything else. If you just lightly sand everything and rely on your sense of touch, you’ll miss a lot of scratches and things won’t get filled in as efficiently. You will end up having to fill/sand/fill more often than if you just more aggressively sanded down the primer coat, revealing all of your areas that still need more work. There is no need to “polish“ the primer, because you’ll be painting over it anyway. 220 scratches will get filled up by spray paint, especially filler/primer so for buildable paint/film finishes, no need to really sand past 220. Great result! Looks amazing!
I was coming to the comments section just to say about the first sacrificial primer coat. It's meant to show where your high spots are. Edit: Removed an unnecessary duplicate "where".
I sand with 160 grit, and naked PLA feels like matte polished ivory. It's an AMAZING look/feel: it makes a "cheap" feeling 3D printed part feel very luxurious.. It's amazing.
I find that wet sanding saves you a LOT of sandpaper, you can use it for much longer than if you sand it dry. I usually add a couple of drops of dish soap to the water as well so when I'm done sanding I can just rinse it in water and it's nice and clean and ready for paint.
Couple quick swipes with a sandpaper eraser will probably extend the sandpaper life too. I doubt the abrasive is deteriorating sanding plastic the same way it does on wood or metal, so it's probably just gumming up.
Depends also a lot on the type and brand of paper used. I switched from regular DIY store paper to Mirka Gold and that stuff tends to stay "open" much longer and also does not dull as fast. I only use wet sanding on the lacquer.
One suggested change to your process, use primer/filler first. That builds up the surface so you’re sanding away less PLA and more filler. You get less melt and it’s quicker to sand. I go back and forth with primer/filler and sanding. Very little putty filler is need
@@V3lv3n sticks plenty fine for me honestly.. if im superglueing parts down i already sand them to almost bare pla best i can then apply glue. otherwise sticks perfectly fine for non structural parts
Resin printers are a pain, I know. But I'd way rather deal with it than sanding and filling and sanding. I'd lose all the detail, and it would be *way* more work!
Very great guide! Would've been extremely helpful back when i still did FDM printing. One thing i would recommend to avoid primer build up: if you have an airbrush, use it! I used to hate the priming phase because i would always get splotchy awful coats on my model until i switched to using airbrush primer. not only do you have way more control on how the primer is applied, you also have significantly shorter wait times which means you can prime, evaluate the model and then get right back to sanding/scraping without having to wait 2-4 hours, or in my case, until the next morning because of my climate (cold af) Another thing I'd recommend is to get yourself a scraper card or a burning tool to take away the first layer lines. I suggest getting the one that looks like a hobby knife. it's been a total game changer for me and what took me 4 hours of sanding I can get done in like 30 minutes. Anyway thanks for the video! I wouldn't say i learned anything new, but having 1 video that tells you all the tricks instead of having to watch several dozens to get the same information will be a huge boon to beginners.
Thanks for the tips. I actually do have an airbrush I use it a ton. But a lot of people don’t have airbrush’s so for this video I used rattle cans. I’ll have to look into that scraper. Thanks again!
Do you happen to have a tip for preventing the tacky texture on primer? I may just be using too much paint, but it's a pain that it's tacky until it's been handled all over even after drying
Update, That last step when you water down the wood filler, chef kiss, I needed that to perfect my technique. These last minutes worth the whole video. Much appreciated my friend.
Great video! Awesome tricks that will help anyone looking to make their 3D prints look smooth, thanks for sharing this! There's one more step I do in the beginning before sanding that you might like to try as it's a big time saver. Get some fiberglass resin (bondo brand, or whatever is on the shelf at the store) and mix it up and pour it over your print and let it cure overnight before sanding. The resin will "self-level" and do a lot of smoothing for you. Most importantly, the resin sands SO MUCH EASIER and your initial sanding time will be slashed to seconds or minutes and no dremel needed. Trying to sand plastic is just generally difficult, so i recommend the resin route. There's a product made specifically for this that I forget the name of, but in my experience the fiberglass resin off the shelf at your local department store is cheaper and more effective. As an added bonus it gives some strength, too, while also being a better surface for the primer to bind to. Give it a try, I think you'll like it!
The product you're looking for is probably XTC-3D or 3D-Gloop. I have the first one and it is a two component mixture (resin + hardener). After applying it to my prints the gaps were filled and it got the glossy finish. It's also much easier to sand.
These are great tips. I'm lucky in that while I'm only new to 3d printing I was into radio control cars, boats and planes for close to 40 years. I used to build model cars as a kid as well and then in HS I started in auto-body. Filling and smoothing is second nature to me. lol One of the tricks my auto shop teacher taught me (something like 35 years ago) is to use a mix of 2 part epoxy and methanol to thin it out and add in corn starch as a filler. You can use baking soda but it is coarser than then starch is. I use this to paint on a layer and let it cure for a few days to fully allow the methanol to evaporate. It sands well and I can get all of it at my local dollar store. It takes paint very well too. I like to mix the part A (the resin) with the methanol to thin it down and then add in the starch until it's like pancake batter then add in part B (the hardener). If it's too thin add more starch. If too thick more methanol. It also has that side benefit of leaving a very "plastic" looking surface.
@@ItsMeaDMaDe My pleasure. As an add-on you can play with it a bit by using various cure time epoxies. The longer the cure can really let the epoxy smooth out. I personally prefer a 20 minute set.
Earned a sub. I've picked up most of the components of this from people (Use sandable primer, try wood paste, ect) but no one actually goes into how to use them all in a standard workflow. Appreciated, definitely going to be improving results
The result is amazing! thanks for sharing the process with so much detail. I have ZERO experience painting 3D prints (unless just going with acrylics on top of the PLA....I know), but in the comments there seem to be people giving good ideas mostly related to get something similar with less effort and steps (so faster lets say). SO....IF you ever run out of ideas for videos, let me do a suggestion: a video post processing the same model (a new print of course), but using some of the advice to see how good it really works. Either the end result is fast and good or not, the experiment would be beneficial for everyone (including you, mostly if you discover a faster/easier workflow, and if not, you can say "told you guys" lol). Cheers and thanks for the incredible hard work you are putting with this channel, I already learnt a lot from you.
Give card scrapers or using utility knife to scrape smooth sections a try. It's a definite improvement over just sanding. I use it in nearly all my post-processing, along with 2k high build primers over plain rattle-can primers. They aren't for everyone, but when I want a really smooth and durable surface as my paint base, it's what I go to these days.
@@Feibie yeah you take flat metal and create a microburr that you can use to plane the rough parts down. It works incredibly well, but not in *every* situation :)
Hi Chris, great work. I'm hoping to print this out and I'm going to follow all your steps to paint it cartoon style. I do have an unrelated question though. Where did you get that Fantastic Four Thing bust on your shelf over your left hand shoulder? It looks really cool and I'd love to make one of those too
@@danielcoombes3310 few weeks ago I did that as a project. I got it from inspy3d. Great guys here is the link to their site. They also have a patreon where you can get all their models. inspyr3d.com/
Sanding tip if you enjoy keeping soft hands. Put blue painters tap on sand paper to hold it to the block and on the sponge. This smooths out the sand paperwork so you dont sand your finger pads too
Here goes a tip of something that I do and works perfectly. When you need to fill cracks or something else of your print, use a brush and water to mix the putty, and apply that wet mix in your print as if you were painting it, it's way more easy and fast.
Came out great! I usually do a light sanding of the print at first followed up by two coats of primer that has filler in it. After that I do one more round of light sanding followed up by one final coat of primer with filler and the end result is ultra smooth like resin. I just bough a heat knife and might try that out to remove the support marks from the prints also. I also use a small container of automotive putty to do any patchwork if needed but most of the time I do not need to.
To lessen sanding, what I do is spray primer, sand, second primer, sand, and a third final primer, and a final sanding. The first primer fills up the layer lines. The second primer fills up anything I missed or gets exposed on the first sanding. The third fills everything up. You don't even need to sand hard. Just buy one of those sandpaper sponge and just sand away while you're watching something. Sounds like a hassle but its fairly easy. You could be done with it in 30 minutes for even for minis.
Yup - that's (just) the classic process of model-making/finishing: all design prototypes, be it from wood, cast resin, laminated fiberglass or renshape are finished this way. Investing in a good (automotive) filler pays off. 2K Polyester putty is usually a better way than air-drying wood filler.
after 12 years of 3d printing i just use floor varnish, works just like wet sanding , it takes a long long time but much better on my wrists at 55 and its cherry smooth
This is the technique I use for my prints, NOW I love printing Anime Figures and other stuff with lots of texture So you can always do a mix and print the large parts on PLA and the face or parts with more texture with resin, it will save you tons of time and money in the long run.
This is a great step by step demonstration. My only suggestion is that on a really roughly printed area it might be worth double-checking the original model. I think you filled and sanded away the thin bottom edge of the cap. Don't listen to the haters. Not everybody has a resin printer. I rarely even use mine because I don't have dedicated space to set up a stinky chem lab. Besides, at this scale I'd say the PLA print was cheaper and considerably more sturdy. There's nothing wrong with putting in the work to make it look nice.
Thanks so much for the comment. I did check the model there wasn’t much of an edge to it. I tried to make it more defined. As for the haters. Yeah… this is a video on pla and good finishes. There are way more people with fdm and not resin printer for so many reasons like they have little kids in the house or afraid of the safety issues. If found the people that switch to resin rarely go back to fdm. But this video isn’t for them which doesn’t hurt my feelings when most people just say use resin without thinking of reasons people don’t use it. Oh well the world we live In. I appreciate your comment. Thanks again!
Ignore the haters, I think most of them lack the patience to do what you've done. I was going to ask if you'd considered using acetone? If you brush it over PLA models, it will smooth out a lot of the layer lines. Should save a lot of time.
@@stewburt5089 thanks! So acetone works on abs prints but not pla at least the times I’ve tried it. It might depending on the brand or type if you have gotten it to work. The one thing I should of said in the video is this is for people that don’t have or can’t have resin printers. Most of the comments are just telling me to print in resin and that wasn’t the point of this… oh well.
i just use thicker (not to thick but not water like) primer based on acetone without sanding then sand it , its waaaay easier because you already have filled layers just need to make it smooth and then aply thin primer 10times faster than any other method
great video! you can sand more finely before the first coat of primer. I generally go down to 120 180 before. I can even go up to 220 if the object has a lot of flat surface. I waste less primer like that. To fill the holes, I use wood putty, it dries quickly, but it gets hollow when it dries (so you have to be generous)
Just some advice for those who want to start sanding their projects, you may want to increase your number of permitters if you have a rough or bigger part that will require more sanding. It is not normally necessary but if you have a part that requires a lot of sanding, you can wear all the way through if you are not careful (assuming you are running default print settings with 2 shells). I think most people can get by by focusing on the primer (if youre sanding for aesthetics- most of my sanding is for dimensional accuracy so take this with a grain of salt) but you might want to give yourself some buffer on your first print or two.
I was wondering about that. I had a part I printed and only sanding a small amount I went through the wall enough to weaken the part and broke it. With sanding 80 grit, I would expect that the walls have to be much thicker than most normal parts. I don't get the point of 3d printing things though if you're going to have to spend hours sanding and finishing. Seems like it just completely defeats the point of 3d printing.
ever tried smoothing prints with a soldering iron i have been doing it with amazing results even use it to fill in gaps melting plastc back into place and you now get irons with differnet shaped top so form in detail of prints
Like a lot of people, I'm choosing whether print accuracy or print aesthetics takes priority. On parts that have a high mechanical tolerance, that generally means that the support areas are going to be what everyone sees and and may need considerable clean up. For tight spaces consider looking into mini diamond files. That helps a bit but still not a perfect solution. I really want to give sandblasting a try but don't really have the space for one. Resin printing is not suitable for mechanical function in most cases. It's far too brittle. I've researched buying an SLS printer but a small format machine that would fit into a small residential workspace is still near $30k. Maybe someday.
I have wondered at how well 3D prints worked up. This is some very useful and instructive information, Thank You for sharing with Us here on the tube! I had considered such a machine, but, having recently retired I haven't much fun money to play with. (I spent it all on model kits and createx paint.) I look forward to Your videos and again, Thank You for Your time and consideration with the videos. Oh and Your mustache is kicking it!! I have one like it as well!! Later
Hey, really informative video. I've watched a lot of how to videos on finishing 3d prints and one thing that I have never seen anyone highlight is the use of diamond nail files as an abrasive. I use them all the time, they are thin and come in multiple grits and never wear out. they have saved me money on abrasives for sure.
Your patience got rewarded with the quality look of the finished product. Well done! However, what is the point of printing the object in their intended colors if they will be sanded down for clean-up and then repainted?
really nice video. It is nice to see the whole and long process. Often this is just mentioned as doing a lot of sanding and priming, but I better understand the efford after watching this. You got yourself a new subscriber :)
I thought I was going to learn some special technique aimed at FDM printing in particular.Got a long vid on sanding 101. But I'm not mad about it, this vid is very well done. So many good techniques for good sanding. And a lot of ppl need this very well done breakdown.
switch to UV putty, it dries in like 10~30 sec with UV light. u can get those thin sanding sponges instead of the big blocks, those work better for rounded surface. tho the grids ar higher, i think they ar around 400 800 1000/1200. You can also get scriber for modeling to carve those hard lines so you can ink later.
I'll start off by saying, I enjoyed this video. I'm only just getting into 3D printing, so still researching and I only found out about resin printers today and, like I'm sure it is with most people, I thought it was magic, especially compared to PLA printing! So it got me thinking "do people stick with the lines of PLA printing, or do they work on making it look better" and I came across your video and it answered my question, yes you can work on it to make it look better.... But the amount of time it takes makes me think people probably don't lol. I still have some unanswered questions though, do people usually not paint their 3D printings? I wonder this because there's so many different colors of filament, but it'd look so much better painted right? Oh and also does the quality of the printer make the lines less obvious? Or is it just a thing that'll always happen with that type of printing.
Great vid and info, thanks. i have a nail drill (used for doing manicures/pedicures). It's a lot more delicate than a rotary tool like a Dremel and i suspect a lot of the attachments might be useful (and interchangeable with a rotary tool if one does not have a nail drill) because the attachments are made for doing things like acrylic nails and nail polishes.
I got a battery powered Hyper tough "dremel" 8 volt version with variable speed...Single best thing I ever got for3D printing and was only 25 bucks. Actually very well built too! Ordered a bunch of various bit of amazon and I'm set. I HIGHLY recommend that thing! Awesome video too BTW...I ordered a set of those sponges too now. Im now a new sub also...Thank you
Thankyou. This is pretty much how I do mine but this is the first time I have seen someone actually show those f*****g support marks!! I was honestly starting to think it was only me. I have been printing for one year and I have tried everything I could come across to try and stop the marking. It's much better these days but I still couldn't make a model without having to sand and paint it (something I am terrible at) People like to show the finished item without showing the immense amount of work that has to happen to make it presentable. I see prints that were done on a Bambu and I just think how did you get it good enough so that it doesn't need sanding> I looked into Klipper (input shaping etc) but I only have the one printer and the process looks incredibly easy to mess up and end up with an unusable printer. I use it everyday to make model figures. It's a love hate relationship - but like all good relationships, it requires a lot of work :D Thanks for showing the REAL process
Your very welcome! You pretty much summed up the reason I created my channel I was always tired of just seeing parts of the process not the whole thing. People leave out the steps that they think you should know or they just want to make it look super easy. Thanks for the comment!!
If you use your Printer primarily for models and miniatures (like me) then honestly, I'd suggest investing in an SLA printer. Sure, you're gonna have to make more space for cleanup and curing. You'd need to learn an entire new system for supporting your models BUT... It's worth it. It's a hassle at first, and you will have failures that will make a mess. But it's worth the mess. Look at it this way, with SLA printers there's a lot of pre print processing, but very little post processing. Where with FDM, very little pre processing, a ton of post processing. You'll appreciate not having to compromise size vs detail. Not having to worry about not having space to display your next huge pla print because you simply can't print it at a smaller scale without losing a bunch of detail is just, really nice. Of course, if your Printer is in your bedroom/office, then forget everything I said. But if you have space in your garage or a shed or something, I'd give it a go.
@@monkeydad47 Ah, miniatures. Never managed to master them on my machine (FLSun QQS Pro) not to my satisfaction anyway. Removing the supports (even the tree type) is nigh on impossible without breaking something. I like to think my printer is tuned in but I can't do miniatures. I have considered SLA a few times - just so I can do miniatures. Funds aren't there at the moment but it's high on my list. Everything I make on my FDM is relatively large. I can't ever remember reducing something. If it's too big then I cut it up in my slicer but I try and avoid that if possible. It makes for even more work later with filling and sanding. Thanks for the advice
@@GaryScottPhotographer you could get something cheap like the anycubic mono 2. As long as you also own an FDM printer you don't really have to worry about not being able to fit things on the resin print bed. You can print big stuff too on a small print bed you just gotta get creative with how you orient the model.
Чтобы не было "плоских" частей снизу можно использовать "Подложку". Чтобы сверху слои меньше выделялись можно в этих местах сделать отдельные настройки для печати с малой высотой слоя.
Although i very rarely sand the parts, i would suggest building a jig to have your sandpaper stuck/Locked and just move the part thru the sandpaper where you need it. Then do the fine details that your jig cant reach, Much easier than holding both the part + sandpaper
It seems you prime all the respective mortise and tenon faces for each piece and seem to avoid those areas when painting (and sometimes use silly putty for holes). It seems to me that plastic to plastic gluing would be better than paint-glue-paint. Or doesn't that matter?
As someone that also have a resin printer, I just put thin layer of resin over the PLA model, cure it, rinse and repeat until most of the layer lines are gone.
Coming from other finishing FDM prints videos, they diulute bondo with acetone and uses it as a filler primer, but its thicker. Maybe the plastic wood and water could be shoot with an airbrush in order to keep the thickness to a minimum and speed a bit the process ?! Just an idea. Also, how long would you say it takes to sand and prep ready for paint a model this size ?
That’s an interesting idea to try to spray it. The whole process of sanding and priming took about 5 hours. That includes all the dry times I had. Which could of been half of the actual time.
i fucking love plastic wood for prints. i dont have the putty i just use the stuff in the tube and its amazing. easy to apply, easy to smooth, easy to wash off my hands or mistakes. i like to scrape at it with my cutting pliers that came with my printer, then scrape it more with a small clip point knife (the rounded blade lets me focus it in a small spot) until it's good enough for sanding then plastic wood (and more sanding)
I’m amazed that every video on YT I have watched regarding sanding, not one mentioned the most important step of sanding which is done post sanding, and that’s cleaning the dust and ensuring the surface is clean before adding any paint or putty.
Sanding is definitely the most common that I still use, thanks for the techniques and tools! Im aware of other methods like flex/hard resin dipping, latex dipping, XTC epoxy, Acetone fume polishing (this one's interesting), Chinese ultra fast PLA polisher (very interesting unknown material), oven baking (risky), and a few others
So your fabulously new technique is: Sanding, sanding, sanding, filling, sanding, sanding, sanding, priming, sanding, sandaing, sanding, paiting. So basically what everybody does since 1803?
I found wet sanding works way better remember heat us what binds the filament together so when you sand or use a Dremel you heat up the print I'm working on the stargate anubis cowl and wet sanding is the key 🔑
Question?? Wouldn't resin spray help create a smooth surface? Instead of sanding the whole thing. The only part I see that would definitely need sanding is where the supports were.
Wow this was a great video, I just had to subscribe. And a thumbs up as well. I am really new to this hobby of 3D printing so any tid bit of knowledge shared is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much and great stache !
Tangent question: Is there a 3D print file for the frames of your glasses? One of my minions needs a frame set exactly like that for one of his 3D print projects, but he can't find anything like it in stores or online...
Are there any good products to fill in gaps on functional parts that will handle a lot of shock and abuse? Have been looking for something that will truly fuse to the plastic and become part of it and not something that will just crack, chip, flake, scratch, etc...
