I’ve had my Form1 for almost a week now. This is my 4th print. It printed perfectly. I used the auto orient button and default support settings. There were a few small red areas but no defects at print time. This is a scaled down model of a table base my manufacturing company has been producing for over 20 years. I chose it simply because it was quick and easy to model.
The original table was 36" diameter made from 3/4" solid square steel material. The print is 3" diameter with material that ended up being .064" square.
The first image is obviously straight from the Form1. The second is after I moved the supports but with no sanding. The final image is after about 30 minutes of sanding and a quick metallic spray can job.
A little more sanding time would have brought the final product closer to perfect but when you hold this in your hand it actually looks pretty good. For the images I purposely zoomed in so that you could see the imperfections caused by the support attachments. Dimensionally it is perfect to the eye.
I picked up Rust Oleum’s Universal dark steel at Home Depot. It worked well and did not eat up the plastic but ideally I’d like to find something that goes on a little “thinner.” Something that can shoot out of an airbrush would probably be best.
Try the Krylon Fusion line of paints. They bond directly to plastic no primer required. Walmart carries 6 basic colors. If you want other colors you have to order online from another store if found Gatzies online to have good prices and a pretty good selection of colors.
William: Yeah, I was going to give Krylon a try too. I just happened to be near Home Depot so I grabbed what they had. The paint I linked is like the Krylon though, will bond to plastic with no primer just like Krylon. It’s one of their newer paints…
Will and Vince: Yeah, I was really worried about that leg. For fun, I will try a print with the table perfectly upside down so that all four legs have no support. Should save a lot of material that way if it will print.
You might want to look into Vallejo Model Air metallics. Wargamers seem pretty happy with that line for miniature painting. Metallic paints tends to seperate so just be sure to shake it vigorously or use mixure before loading it in the airbrush.
I used Krylon silver on my Halo chip. It looks pretty cool. I think the best silver is http://alclad2.com/ . Hobby modelers use Alclad and then polish it with toothpaste.
Lucas and Kevin, thanks for the airbrush paint sources. I’ll choose one and give them a try.
Kevin, did you not have any issues with the Krylon paint spraying on too thick? The the Rust Oleum I tried on a flat part similar to yours - if I backed up to get a thinner coat then it just went on “sandy.” I had to get closer to avoid that but then it just filled in the details so that they were no longer sharp looking.
For fun, I tried printing the C table with NO supports. Oddly, it worked except for one section of the circular top which was right against the build platform and one of the four “legs.” Everything else looked ok.
Also, Tamiya paints come highly recommended from our friends at Rawrz - they’re a little more expensive and you have to order away from them but I can tell you that the results are top notch.
