Sanding pla 101 | how to sand & smooth pla on 3D prints | best practices for prepping 3D printing

[@chuksiple1463]

I'm brand new to 3D Printing, I got a Bambu P1P & this video helped out tremendously

[@Darkwingdad]

Nice! Those are great,fast machines!

[@mart3h]

Very helpful. Thanks! Also dope Doom mask.. RIP king!

[@Darkwingdad]

All caps!!!! Lol

[@LoveWins]

Funny enough. I'm making my son's Halloween mask and I clicked on this video so that I could figure out how to clean it up and smooth out the edges for him. And it happened to be a video on how to do that and you're also using a mask lol so this is perfect. Thank you!.

[@Darkwingdad]

Very cool! Let me know if you have any questions!

[@LoveWins]

@@Darkwingdad I actually do haha. I wish I could show you pics to get the questions through better though. Ugh. . . KZbin needs messaging lol. The reason being, the mask has several parts. I had to print them separately. Getting them together and stuff like that plus getting it smoothed out. I mean the print was actually pretty dang good. His printer prints pretty flawless considering it's a 3D print.

[@Darkwingdad]

@@LoveWins have you seen my video on pla welding?

[@brian7010]

Well this answered all my questions and more. Thanks for the great video! Nice print too lol

[@simony5807]

Excellent video, if you follow all these steps (yes all of them) then you will end up with a very smooth and nice looking 3d print. It was hell for me since I was doing a large prop with lots of small areas with tiny details which was hours of hand sanding those small details. But in the end it was worth it for how cleen the prop looked.

[@Evmaster15]

super cool, reminds me of when I was doing molds for this carbon fiber shop i worked at

[@djklermundable]

Love your look and the darkwing dad thing. thanks for the vid

[@Darkwingdad]

Thank you!!

[@tjones3825]

Thanks again my friend. Printing a Captain America helmet right now and I'm going to follow your instructions to the letter. My other attempts at helmets and masks haven't been to successful🤭 Here's to another year!! 🍾🥂 Cheers Bruh.

[@Darkwingdad]

Happy new year my dude!

[@anleblan]

LOVE THE MF DOOM MASK. printed a death stranding die hard man mask, but have never done the sanding yet, this is the video ive been looking for. others dont do there videos detailed enough.

[@Darkwingdad]

Thanks for watching! I’ll recap and do some best practices and additional tips in the painting video I just made a resolution my videos would be shorter in 2022 lol! Happy new year!

[@TheScripflipNetwork]

I love death stranding

[@anleblan]

@@TheScripflipNetwork i never got past maybe like 2 hours of the game, story was cool, but the gameplay was not for me unfortunately

[@DarthFlan]

I always look forward to your informative videos! Thanks again. Can’t wait for part 2 of the primer video!

[@Darkwingdad]

It’s gonna be a good one! Thanks for watching

[@nicolasmaestro4971]

Thanks for the video! This is going to be very helpful for some projects I have in mind!

[@Darkwingdad]

Thanks for watching nick! Finishing up the painting video it’ll definitely have some great pointers as well! Happy new year!

[@Sith-ScaleCollector]

These videos have been fantastic and I have learned so much, can’t thank you enough.

[@Darkwingdad]

Thanks for watching! Much more to come

[@gazzlane]

Beautiful finish

[@Darkwingdad]

Thank you!

[@dorigo5347]

Great video as always! Happy new year Greetings from Chile

[@Darkwingdad]

Happy new year my friend! Thanks for watching

[@Novacasa88]

Thanks for the info! Seems to be a fairly effective method for near perfect sand job without going crazy. 👍

[@TheMrDeathbiker]

Saving this for my boba fett helmet ❤ thansk for the tips

[@Darkwingdad]

Anytime!

[@JRam1]

This was awesome!!!

[@philliplewis1109]

Great video. Thanks.

[@tomjames6202]

Another great vid

[@Dro1D142]

Are you painting, sanding, priming and sealing the inside of the mask/helmet as well or can that mostly be left alone?

[@Darkwingdad]

I don’t do the interior much, not really needed.

[@DJDamageCT]

Do you clean the print at all before putting the final sealer spray on? I feel like there's little filler particles stick in the tight spots from sanding that simply blowing on one get out. But I feel like cleaning with IPA might corrode the 2in1 spray filler?

[@Darkwingdad]

You can clean it with a tac cloth,denaturated alcohol or ipa none of them will damage the sealer. Alcohol evaporates incredibly fast & won’t affect primers or paints.

[@DJDamageCT]

@@Darkwingdad awesome, thank you! Also, do you happen to still have your discord?

[@Darkwingdad]

@@DJDamageCT I do here is the link! discord.gg/pqh5DvQA

[@ObsequiousV4]

This is great. time to grab some filler primer and glazing putty

[@Darkwingdad]

Yes sir! Check out autozone for upol filler primer!

[@izethetic]

Hey, can I get in touch with you somehow? I just received a 3D-printed piece, but I'm not sure if I have to sand it or do something else with it. I've never dealt with 3D-printed props before, so I'm a bit lost on what I'm meant to do. Thanks for your time!

[@Darkwingdad]

You can join my discord

[@izethetic]

@@Darkwingdad The link unfortunately doesn't work 🥲

[@Darkwingdad]

@@izethetic discord.gg/u8Vjmcr3 here ya go

[@troy1190]

Thank you so much for your effort put into these videos, I just got into 3d printing and found your channel incredibly helpful! Sanding has been a pain in the ass for me, I do also tend to have OCD lol. One quick question, I'm gonna print some nylon parts soon, does these sanding process works on nylon as well? Or are there any other things I should pay attention to? Appreciate your help!

[@Darkwingdad]

The sanding and prep is the same for nylon. Often it’s more tough so you can use a lower grit but the steps & process doesn’t change, glad the channel is helping, good luck on all your printing adventures!

[@troy1190]

@@Darkwingdad Got it, just wanna make sure nylon can use the same type of fillers and primers. Thanks!

[@Darkwingdad]

@@troy1190 anytime!

[@air3lander]

Great video!

[@mrmurdock6994]

Do you really need to use putty if you are going to coat it with primer?

[@Darkwingdad]

@@mrmurdock6994 yes putty will do what 5 rounds of applying filler primer & sanding will do

[@neon_oni_7289]

coukd this potentially add thinkness to the item? as im printing a multi piece item and getting worried it wont fit all together

[@Darkwingdad]

Whenever you add putty or fillers primers it can yes. The best thing to do it using masking tape to cover those areas or fine sand then to prevent build up

[@Brog420]

I havent finished the video yet so, apologies if you answered this in it. But i was wondering, will i be ok using PLA for masks/stuff i want smooth? I saw another video where someone said that sanding/processing PLA is alot worse than ABS

[@Darkwingdad]

I’ve done hundreds of pieces in pla & never had any issues. Typically pla sands easier & faster. Those who say pla processing is worse is likely bc they are using a power sander incorrectly and they generate too much heat which warps the pla. In 3D print if you rush or try to do it too fast/lack of patience & skip steps, your results will always be mediocre. You can 100% finish pla flawlessly, all of my helmets in my video are pla. Follow those tutorials & you are golden!

[@Brog420]

@@Darkwingdad oh sweet thats good to hear cause im planning to use PLA, thanks man i like your videos! That Doom mask is fucking sweet

[@Darkwingdad]

@@Brog420 thanks man I’m going to do a chrome one! Might even give it away to a lucky subscriber!

[@Brog420]

@@Darkwingdad do you plan on doing a video on it? Once i really get my printer figured out id like to do a chrome Mandalorian helmet as well as this in chrome. Would love to see if/how you can get a nice shiny, metal looking finish

[@CocoBSU]

Seriously amazing stuff!! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge :) your helmets are crazy cool! I'm currently working on a Phase 1 Bomb Squad Clone Trooper but am having a little trouble getting into the really fine crevices and "vent" portions on the side - do you have any tips for that? Also, I'm looking to get a really nice glossy finish on the final paint job but I'm a bit worried as I only have up to 400 grit sandpaper. Should I consider getting something higher grit?

[@Darkwingdad]

Look into some files for vents, I also have some tips on my darth Vader build I can drop links if you need em. You’ll definitely want 1500-3000 grit for wetsanding I have videos on those too!

[@CocoBSU]

@@Darkwingdad That'd be great, thank you so much!! I really appreciate your help!

[@Darkwingdad]

@@CocoBSU amzn.to/3yJjFuo here’s the files I use

[@Darkwingdad]

@@CocoBSU kzbin.info/www/bejne/oH-8eKaDmdB6m9E Vader video I have a few more that explain fine sanding & wetsanding

[@CocoBSU]

@@Darkwingdad This is gold, thank you so much! That Vader helm is absolutely top notch :D

[@nithwct5226]

Any idea if using any of these things will change the weight much if I do it properly? I'm printing CF PLA and PETG parts for drones, but I don't want to find that putty increased the weight or screw it up and think I increased the weight when I just did it wrong.

[@Darkwingdad]

It’s going to add a few grams but nothing that should affect it, I would leave the propellers untouched though.

[@nithwct5226]

@@Darkwingdad Awesome, I'm happy to trade a few grams to make it look this good. Thanks for responding on an older video. I really appreciate it.

[@Darkwingdad]

@@nithwct5226 no worries man! You gotta think your sanding a few grams off too and the bondo putty is light. A few coats of filler primer won’t hurt it much either. Are these drones you’ve modeled?

[@nithwct5226]

@@Darkwingdad Nah, not me. It's an Aesir II. It's an open source set of drone parts, but I'm going to make a few modifications.

[@kspec2001]

primer sealer......thanks for that tip...just experienced what happens WITHOUT it using metallic paints today lol.

[@Darkwingdad]

That’s what I’m here for!

[@rqnger6003]

instead of a primer sealer could you use like xtc or an epoxy?

[@Darkwingdad]

No because those still should be sanded and primered after the fact. It’s easier to just use primer sealer and be done

[@beachcomberbob3496]

Sadly, Bondo spot putty is hard to get hold of outside of the USA (unless you want to pay more in shipping than the value of the stuff itself). Anyone know of an exact equivalent in the UK/Europe?

[@Darkwingdad]

Check out my latest video, you can get upol putty in the uk!

[@s13rr4buf3]

I imagine Bambu has changed the game for you. I normally print at 0.12mm layer height, but it goes at least down to 0.08mm.

[@Darkwingdad]

I have a k1 max & it’s definitely a game changer!

[@SCUD4LIFE]

What's the purpose of cleaning it with IPA vs water?

[@Darkwingdad]

Alcohol evaporates faster, helps break down & remove contaminantion, oil & dirt- all things that can effect top coats. Water just takes longer to evaporate & wont remove the above mentioned just simply spread it around & dilute it, not fully remove it. One of the key components to a clean surface is cleansing with a proper alcohol based prep cleaner.

[@scraphex]

Thank you! :D

[@jacobthomassen5261]

I made the the same MF DOOM print.. Printed with 0.6mm Nozzle, 0.32mm layerhight - for processing I used UV resin.. Two coats of resin, three step sanding and one coat of filler primer - ready for paint =)

[@Darkwingdad]

Not a fan of resin…toxic, expensive, you’re fighting gravity & risking not curing it which leads to headaches. Most often than not excessive use of resin makes prints look chunky & undefined. I prefer my method as it’s the same that’s been used in automotive restoration for decades & the results speak for themselves. But hey, to each there own.

[@xaicrown]

Your mask came out so smooth! How long did it take you to sand it down after you did the bondo putty? I attempted my first bondo, and it dried so quickly and went on so unevenly, even after sanding down with a dremel with the thick parts and 220, it's still bumpy.

[@Darkwingdad]

It sounds like you’re using bondo body filler which really is only for deep defects. Things like pla lines left after sanding can be filled in with bondo putty and a few coats/sanding of a good filler primer. The bondo putty should sand quick & easy with 220 or 320 in this mask it took no more than 20-30 minutes

[@deanverhoeven]

Thanks, excellent clear video. You should link the follow-up; KZbin will reward you, and it'll be easier for your followers to find.

[@Darkwingdad]

Thanks for watching! I’ll definitely do that, I appreciate the feedback!

[@demon__adrian393]

need a no filler method.

[@Darkwingdad]

Filler primer is essential & a much needed step. I do have new methods out in more recent videos that cut down the use of it

[@demon__adrian393]

i like the duck

[@TheScripflipNetwork]

PLAF DOOM

[@did3d523]

print in 0.15mm/layer .. use putty in spray is better

[@Darkwingdad]

Should always follow the magic number of 4 with creality so .12 or .16. Changing the layer height will drastically increase print time. I can get a print smooth in 1-2 hours even at a .24 layer height with my method, on a mask like this a hour. You still have to sand and smooth regardless of layer height. The extra 4 hours of wear & tear printing at finer layer height worth it? Not in this case.

[@Chipboykins]

Love the mf doom mask

[@IluvinortheIneffable]

How many aliases does this guy make media under? MF Doom, Viktor Vaughn, and now Darkwing Dad?

[@Darkwingdad]

@@IluvinortheIneffable lol I love it

[@MrExo_3D]

why not print at 0.1 or 0.15 and reduce the amount of sanding

[@Darkwingdad]

Creality machines you’d want to print at .12 or .16, regardless you’ll still have layer lines. Take even the finest print, spray some filler on it, the layer lines will come out. You can cut down on post processing a little bit but it’s wear & tear on a machine vs post processing time. to each there own.

[@doctordoubledakka3939]

How could you not spray some chrome on that mask!?!?!?!?!? Great info, but super let down at the end

[@Darkwingdad]

Because this is sanding pla 101 not painting, gotta watch all the videos to get the prize :)

[@hd2kill]

Very cool