SURFACE FINISH Q: How to get the best surface finish in casted part?

Do you have any pictures of results using that? I have details like rivets where it can be difficult to sand around them

I’ll dig through some parts and see if I can show a sample. I haven’t had a need for it because most of my prints are using the 25 micron setting and I can’t even see the build lines.

Tried to zoom in best I could, You can see on the left where the surface is smoother and cleaner but unfortunately I don’t have any models with substantial build lines. This part was one that I had that had artifact grooves you see in the background from an earlier version of PreForm that had trouble with intersecting shapes.
In any case you can see the air erasers don’t do any heavy removal of the surface and should be nice to soften or remove build lines that are 50µ or less. The pigmented resins tend to show more lines for me than the clear that I typically use.

Hey guys,
Im just testing my new Form 2 - there are 2 rings, the massive one is printed with 50microns, the other one with branches with 25.
They looked nice (more or less, there are particles of white stuff on it - I expected it to me smoother and only blue) with supports.

Anyway, after clipping off the supports they arent looking that nice anymore :slight_smile:

How would you finish them?
Would you layout the complicated one upside down and support every “branch” like I did or just let it hang and hope it’ll be OK? :slight_smile:

Are you using 0.3mm supports? They look quite thick.

You could try to print the big part the other way around. Probably one support for each branch and then hide it on the back side. It’s hard to see, but some branches can probably be printed without support as well.

I agree, it’s possible to p[produce good prints for casting but if they are more complicated then the support points can make a real mess of things. I think I would have experimented with this piece to try and angle it so all supports were on the bottom of the branches and there were as few as possible, like the ring you’ve done.

Yeah, I’d flip the big ring and it would require fewer supports. The other one is an issue though because it has detail on all sides so there’s no ideal orientation.

A new process for smoothing was released in Japan. It involves using Acetone in a flair pen then painting over the surface that softens the resin ridges created in the build process
I have not tried this and don’t know which strength of Acetone is being used.

Acetone type of finishing is for FDM prints, and it’s not quite ideal since it ruins small detail.

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I would also suggest adding supports outside of PreForm. It’s pretty good for regular models, but I find I get better results adding my own supports for jewelry. I would print the dandelion looking ring with the shank down, and add the sprue to the back for the shank. The other one I would print perfectly horizontal (looking down from the top would look like an “O.”)

Also, the white flakes are that the print most likely had parts unsupported in this print job and there were “floating islands,” or a failure on the previous job and the resin wasn’t filtered. I would suggest filtering your resin before printing again.