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Making PLA 0.15mm smooth, glossy and safer. How well will just resin work? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 4 days ago by to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
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A friend of a friend makes some useful equipment, and after ordering one of their items, I realized I have some concerns.

  1. This is a tool that will be breathed through (like a short tube, just for regular air) and PLA microplastics are microplastics. I assume coating with a food-safe craft resin should minimize the risk of deterioration or leaching of any additives/dyes if the filament isn't food-safe. Let me know if that assumption has problems.

  2. Ideally, the appearance would be midnight black and highly glossy, at least from a metre away. That said, I don't want to sand it because I don't have access to a workspace, I don't feel comfortable releasing microplastic debris into the air or water just for a small tool, I'm not contaminating my living space with it, and a respirator is an additional cost for a small, one-time project. Will glossy resin alone give a decently smooth appearance on top of unsanded 0.15mm?

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[–] [S] 1 point 4 days ago* (1 child)

layer lines create crevices that are difficult to clean. If you aren’t willing to sand the piece, your resin coat probably won’t change that.

I assumed (without evidence) the resin would tend to level out rather than retain those layer lines, but I suppose the viscosity might affect that and I don't know how viscous the once I'm looking at is.

e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/8mt9vk/comment/dzqxfda/ [comment has before shot, OP has after]

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  • [–] 3 points 4 days ago

    Generally speaking, a coating will conform to the substrate as a function of both viscosity and layer depth. You are right that a more viscous coating is going to be easier to apply and smooth, but it still won't be particularly smooth unless you did the pre-work to get it there.

    That person sanded their print first. There are also some filler-primer paints that will fill the layer line crevices for you, but you still need to sand the surface before applying anything.

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