The lazy way to get a clear surface

After unsuccessfully trying to polish the surface of clear resin prints I decided to try a shortcut. I put a bit of resin on a little plastic stick and slathered it all over the end I wanted clear, then left it under a UV lamp for a few mins to cure it.

The result is pretty good considering the minimal effort it requires, it’s not perfectly flat (there’s a slight ripple effect) but it is very glossy and completely transparent, you can compare it to the original surface on the part I left uncovered at the bottom

Wouldn’t an acrylic clear-coat accomplish the same thing?

Acrylic clear-coat has come up in other threads, I don’t have any so I can’t compare the quality, but using resin it’s easier to be selective over what gets covered (there are small channels in the model that could potentially get clogged by a spray) and also avoids the mess of spraying :wink:

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I’ve seen some similar things done by brushing on liquid resin, then pressing the surface against a flat pane of plexiglass or glass and curing it. Once you detach it, you get a super smooth surface. Obviously doesn’t work well for detailed surfaces, but pretty neat nonetheless.

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Has anyone tried smooth-on xtc-3d on methacrylate resins?

Depending on index of refraction, that might work too (and since it’s self “leveling”, it might be easier to get it to spread evenly). Not sure if it’d obliterate fine detail, though.