3D Printing

[xeno]

What about using epoxy resin, the classic one used for rotocasting, the yellow creamy colour? It cures with the chemical mix, is not sticky, sands pretty well and can be applied really thin. Also not expensive and doesn't cure as hot as poliester fiberglass resin, which could mess the print.

Epoxy resin has a specific cure time, and can keep on dripping until it cures after about 3 hours (can differ with diff brands)
the only upside working with resin is that you decide when it should cure with the UV light.

One of the biggest downsides working with resin as a filler, at can pool inside small carved lines and under details.

With bondo you can decide how thick the layer should be, and before it hardens you can easily clean up any unwanted material around details.

 

[Akilo101]

I thought I would give my 2 cents. In terms of printing height, I honestly wouldnt recommend going under 0.2mm because the time saved in post processing isnt worth it to me. I have heard of a lot of people having great success with using resin as a first step to smoothing out the vast majority of print lines since it leaves a better finish after applying than bondo does. You should also look into using a filler primer (essentially a thick primer spraypaint) which you should use as a final pass after resin/bondo.

My process of printing is as follows:
Print at 0.2mm layer height
Use spot putty to fill seam lines only
Do a quick sand with 100 grit sandpaper to knock down the layer lines just a little bit
(I dont use resin because I dont have a way to cure it, but you would do it here)
Apply bondo to the entire helmet (Or just the parts that need it if you used resin)
Sand between 150-320 grit
Apply filler primer to entire helmet (This will make any areas that still need work very apparent, fix with sanding and bondo)
Final sanding as high of a grit as you want

Hope this helps!

 

[sapper36]

So Just got a Creality LCD Resin printer - My Eiffel Tower came out great for a first try. I got excited & forgot to use gloves & got a taste of resin on my tongue - How long do I have?

 

[TazMan2000]

If you can, sand with coarse sandpaper before you put the first coat of resin, or photopolymer resin on. Doing so with save you time by shaving down the peaks. The extra roughness with also make the resin adhere better.

TazMan2000

 

[KaanE]

At the end I printed it at 0.12mm. Lots of time were spent printing, not worth IMO. After all that I printed some items with 0.2 and yes, the lines are "visible", but not as much as ai thought.

i mean, for a finished "as is" item, like a jar or a Benchy, use 0.12. But it you are going to finish it later with primmer, bondo or wathever, just print it at 0.2, or even 0.25 (unless it has some fine detail).

 

[zorg]

At the end I printed it at 0.12mm. Lots of time were spent printing, not worth IMO. After all that I printed some items with 0.2 and yes, the lines are "visible", but not as much as ai thought.

i mean, for a finished "as is" item, like a jar or a Benchy, use 0.12. But it you are going to finish it later with primmer, bondo or wathever, just print it at 0.2, or even 0.25 (unless it has some fine detail).

personally for me if it's a small item only then would i go for under 0.2 layer height.

if im prototyping parts, checking fit size etc i would bump it up to 0.24 or 0.28

if you are choosing a layer height it is best to use increments of 0.04

e.g. 0.12 ,0.16, 0.20, 0.24 etc. not 0.15 0.19 etc

this is to do with the creality stepper motors, each step is a value in degrees and if you try to stop it in between these steps it can have a negative effect. it runs smoother and should take less time and hopefully a better appearance.

there are loads of other things you can do to save time such as support blocker or the support steps

check out chep's channel on you tube, he has a LOT of good advice and info. dr.vax also has some handy tips that is explained clearly and simply.

ohh and a good tip instead of sanding is to use a metal scraper to knock down a lot of the print lines first.