3 important conclusions on how to make 3D printed products better

3D printer and known among the 3D community blogger ETA4EVER shared how he spent one of Friday evenings – by printing a detailed sculpture of the winged girl Sarah.

The final artwork was not very good, but the conclusions the author made are quite valuable.

According to ETA4EVER, he used gray and black PLA-filaments BF and REC as well as genuine HIPS from the FDplast for printing a winged sculpture. Once the artwork was ready he polished it locally and treated it with dichloromethane using a hard brush. Then, blogger fixed the wings on the paper clips. The author covered a sculpture with a gray aerosol primer to make it smooth. The final operation clearly showed all the defects of post-processing, so the author found out where it was better to grind, to smooth, etc. ETA4EVER decided not to alter the object since the main purpose of printing the sculpture was to draw conclusions. So, here they are.

Conclusion 1: Post-processing is always important

At least polishing and chemical processing. You need to remove the layered structure, rub the object to complete smoothness if the product is ornamental. Otherwise it will be a low-quality semi-finished product that increases the number of bad products at the market. You should keep layers only in one case – if this was originally intended.

Conclusion 2: The better print quality is, the less problems you will have later

A cliché many people forget about. If you pick the right shape, consumables and set the correct settings at the design and preparation stage, it will take less time to postprocess.

Conclusion 3: An expensive 3D printer does not guarantee the products will be of high quality

Saving on a 3D printer always leads to long hours or days of post-processing. However, if the device was expensive and already assembled it does not mean that you will not have to clean and polish. The quality of the product depends mainly on experience, correct settings and assiduity in post-processing. Are you ready to focus on the details? If so, you will succeed.

As a final conclusion we give you the golden rule of the printing enthusiast: the final object should not only be functional but also good-looking.

 

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