I’m printing some masks/surrounds for photographs. When I print, even at the finest detail, the print lines are obtrusive. I do realise that I can sand/fill/paint the surface, I have done but it’s too time-consuming and I want to make quite a few of these masks. I have seen a 3D print with a surface texture similar to coarse sand and I’m wondering if this would hide the print lines. How could I add this ‘noise’ to my print surface? Is there another or better way to hide the print lines?
Images - a prototype of the product I want to make and the masks with the offending line.
hmmm, this will depend on your 3d printer, but looking at your prints, maybe what you need is some sort of textured printing plate, and to print your pieces upside down
I’ve got a pair of bambus right now, both came with a standard textured plate
and while the top surface looks like yours, and the sides are just stacked layers, the bottom has more of a grainy finish.
If your print has relief on the front face or for other reasons cannot be printed upside down. You could experiment with setting the top surface line pattern to concentric, which prints the surface lines in a concentric pattern radiating outward/inward. While the lines will still show, you might find them more esthetically pleasing than the unidirectional diagonal lines.
I’m not sure if this is what you described, but I’ve seen a different type of 3D printer that has a powder as a raw material and everything made with that printer has a sandpaper like texture to the final result. The one I saw was pretty expensive, so probably only an option if you send the file out to a service house that has such a printer.
