Finishing a print
Read More
The Print
It's important to put some thought into your print. The cleaner the part is when it comes off the machine, the easier it will be to finish.
A 90 hour print is 90 hours of the robot doing the work. Speeding up the print usually means you are spending more of your own time on it.
Also consider your filament. Cheap PLA is cheap and easy, but has a low deform temperature... this is particularly relevant when sanding. Higher end PLAm PLA+, HTPLA and PETG all fare much better at that.
I generally use eSun black PLA. Their standard formula prints at up to 230C, and withstands electric sanding beautifully. I don't leave my stuff exposed to high heat, so I'm not worried about that.
I use Simplify3D. Your slicer may vary...
I started with manually generated supports under the bottom edge of the helmet and inside the T visor. There are no supports under the dome.
It uses 0.3mm layer height up to the brow, then 0.1mm for the dome curve, so that less sanding is needed.
I think this was around 80 hours.
