Hello I just read a very interesting article about sandblasting:
http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Print-Finishing-Technique-for-Improved-Surface-/?ALLSTEPS
I think this could probably address a lot of issues I have right now with my prints, so I think I might give it a try.
Does anyone have experience with this (...Julia?)
thank you for your answers
best
Andreas
I've wanted to try this for ages, good article, thanks. There are so many different abrasive media available it's hard to know where to start but the results shown with regular garnet look good.
These parts after sanding looks worse than printed on M200 without any post-processing. 
However link is helpful, thanks for posting.
@Andreas, if you have issues with your prints please send me PM or mail at support@ with pictures, .stl and .zcode files (if possible), we will check what we can do to improve printing quality on your models.
I've been using for large non printed acrylic pieces.
Black, white and gray (like this one on my avatar).
Help to change the feeling of the material, to a "not plastic" feeling.
Also helps on surface control, get rid of scratches and so on. But, at least on acrylic, is heavy oil atractor. Fingerprints! I usually correct this spreading a tiny amount of furniture cleaning grease.
For what I've been printing I can't see how could it help. After testing polyurethane casting resin for 3D print finishing, I would stick with sprayed primer and paint.
Thank you Filip, i will certainly do this, though I think that most of my "issues" :) basically are limitations of the FDM printing process itself, I will contact you next week
have a nice WE
Andreas
These parts after sanding looks worse than printed on M200 without any post-processing. :) However link is helpful, thanks for posting.
@Andreas, if you have issues with your prints please send me PM or mail at support@ with pictures, .stl and .zcode files (if possible), we will check what we can do to improve printing quality on your models.
Interesting, however I think I would paint them later on anyway so the fingerprint problem might not be so relevant for me.
I was aiming on getting a more homogeneous surface structure on surfaces that are hard to sand by hand, especially horizontal floor areas in buildings and further smooth out the horizontal layer structure on vertical walls
best
Andreas
I've been using for large non printed acrylic pieces.
Black, white and gray (like this one on my avatar).
Help to change the feeling of the material, to a "not plastic" feeling.
Also helps on surface control, get rid of scratches and so on. But, at least on acrylic, is heavy oil atractor. Fingerprints! I usually correct this spreading a tiny amount of furniture cleaning grease.
For what I've been printing I can't see how could it help. After testing polyurethane casting resin for 3D print finishing, I would stick with sprayed primer and paint.
I have done this with soda blasting and have gotten great results using baking soda media just a pain though to take out and I no longer have a 11cfm compressor to run it.
This is very interesting,
do you maybe have a picture of the parts you sanded you can show me?
I don’t know if I understand you right, is it a pain to get the sanded part clean again? What kind of cabinet did you use? Can in be used inside or is it too messy?
Best regards
Andreas
I'll dig up some old photos on my old cell phone and see what I can find. Soda blasting is what I used not sand blasting which uses sodium bicarbonate aka baking soda. Soda blasting you don't generally have a cabinet as the media is more of a powder and visibility can be a little difficult in a cabinet and you can't necessarily recover the media like you can using a sand blaster with glass beads or sand. The pain point for me was that my soda blaster was not in a designated area and hooked up at all times so I would have to constantly move it or replace the nozzle and clean up the mess made after using it. You can build a cabinet for soda blasting if you really wanted to and some have but I didn't use the thing enough for 3d prints and I mostly used it for my machine shop for removing paint from items that wouldn't typically fit in a sand blasting cabinet.
Thanks for the info !
For a good number of years I did a lot of sand blasting and sand carving.
I one day am going to get things set back up with my sand carving booth and
incorporate the sand carving with my CW carving.
Many many ideas and not enought time in a day once one get home from a full day
of work.
Perharps Ill some time post some of the photos of the sand carving I have done.
I would be very interested in the results, I could imagine that this might be the post processing procedure of choice for complex models with high requirements concerning surface quality.
Hi Guys,
Anyone have luck with sandblasting with any media to get a smooth finish even in tight corners?
I know Julia had ordered a sandblaster, any luck with that Julia? (i dont know how to tag people =[)
Cheers
It arrived badly damaged (see photo in Shoutbox) so it's going back to the seller for replacement :(
It arrived badly damaged (see photo in Shoutbox) so it's going back to the seller for replacement :(
I just saw that =[ thanks for the info, im very curious for the outcome when you do get it
very curious here too :) good luck!
hello Julia,
any news yet?
best
Andreas
Just got the replacement machine and it is in good condition. Basically working and looking very promising, except that I think my small compressor has insufficient flow - the blaster wants 7 cfm - so I may have to bring my giant one back into the shop. I also need to buy some media, as the only stuff I have is 200-ish grit garnet powder and not very much of it. Cutting was surprisingly slow but maybe that's due to insufficient airflow (or insufficient media?). The machine is a really convenient size and not too shoddily made. Dust containment seems good so far. Bummer about the compressor because it's a super-quiet one and I love it.
now you owe us several before/after pics of blasted prints :p
thank you very much Julia for your first impressions, I am looking forward to your next steps...
The things you wrote cover a lot of information I was hoping to get, from what I heard doing my web search about sand blasting I already suspected that the "normal" airbrush compressor could not handle this kind of requirements... now i know for sure ...
I also observed that a lot of the sandblast cabinets seem to be of the same origin and are obviosly only differently labeled... I think your cabinet is more or less similar to this one:
I see that you have placed it inside your room, so I guess it is absolutely sealed and not emitting any dust?
Do you think that the room inside the cabinet is sufficient?
best
Andreas