How to Achieve a Brilliant Paint Finish on Your Prototypes

By on May 10th, 2018 in learning

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 How do you get fantastic finishes on a 3D print? 
How do you get fantastic finishes on a 3D print? 

We can always depend on industrial designer Eric Strebel to put a ton of effort into every project he makes—especially when it comes to his YouTube videos that unveil many design tips and tricks.

In his latest, Strebel showcases how he makes his prototypes look so dang remarkable—from filling imperfections to achieving that perfect coat of paint.

Starting with a cellphone holder mold he made for a previous video, Strebel coats the mold in automotive primer to seal imperfections.

Once the primer has dried, he marks the still-unsightly holes and inconsistencies with a pencil before covering them in another thin layer of spot putty.

With the holes filled up, he sands down the entire body using a variety of sanding blocks. Since this particular mold has an irregular shape, Strebel uses different blocks to get into those weirdly shaped crevices. This process of primer spraying, putty filling, and sanding continues until the mold is smooth and free of imperfections.

Strebel makes a mistake by chipping off a bit of Bondo from the mold. To fix this, he removes the primer from the chipped area, takes a bit of glazing putty, and makes a new corner before continuing to sand down the prototype.

To help with the final stage of sanding in the concave area, Strebel creates a makeshift sander by laying down some Bondo onto and connects it to a piece of PVC pipe.

Read the rest at SolidSmack.com

By SolidSmack.com

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