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All of my completed prints come out with rough edges. What are some methods for removing rough edges from 3D prints? Also, are there any ways to reduce rough edges on prints? For reference, I use a FlashForge Adventurer 3 and PLA filament.

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3 Answers 3

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  1. To remove unwanted residual material:
  • You can scrape with a knife
  • Use sand paper
  • use files
  • Very fine sandpaper or files can smooth out the rough surfaces left from filing or sanding.
  • Dremel tools tend to be aggressive. They tend to melt the surface if too fast. Buffing wheels are probably the most useful on a Dremel. Dremel tools are good for cutting.

  1. A deburring tool can remove sharp edges such as parts of the brim that don't want to come loose. However, it's not unusually to need to scrape off flat surfaces as well.

  2. If you want to smooth out the surfaces left from layers, you can:

  • Carefully use a heat gun or heat from other soldering tools; not spending too long in one spot. The difficulty with using heat is most prints have fill rather than being solid; so, with only two or three outside layers, it's easy to get the surface to deform into the fill. Also the print material will tend to stick to solid surfaces hot enough to melt the material.
  • Use acetone on ABS. Don't breath the fumes or dissolve your print.
  • Paint the surface as the comment from user77232
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    $\begingroup$ 4. a deburring tool $\endgroup$
    – Lars Pötter
    Commented May 5, 2021 at 19:29
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    $\begingroup$ 5. a heat gun - carefully $\endgroup$
    – Davo
    Commented May 6, 2021 at 13:56
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    $\begingroup$ 6. Epoxy (XTC-3D High Performance 3D Print Coating) $\endgroup$
    – user77232
    Commented May 6, 2021 at 15:20
  • $\begingroup$ 7. Specific soldering tools for "editing" 3D prints, e.g. Modifi3d tools $\endgroup$
    – 0scar ♦
    Commented May 7, 2021 at 7:02
  • $\begingroup$ 8. Just fix your printer $\endgroup$
    – towe
    Commented May 10, 2021 at 6:17
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In some cases, you can remove sharp edges in the CAD model before printing. Outside corners can be rounded, inside corners can be filleted. This also can strengthen the part in some cases.

Older printers and software did not handle corners well, and so accidentally rounded corners. Newer printers that use controlled acceleration can make much sharper corners, so old or simple CAD models may not take that into account and may include unintended sharp edges.

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There are several different ways you can go about doing this

  1. You could calibrate your printer/software better that way so the slicer can make better gcode files that are best fit for you printer
  2. Take a lighter to the edge and scrape everything off, this really helps for if your print gets really stringy, this balls all of the strings up and you can scrape if off
  3. Use sandpaper, a file, or any type of abrasive tool to scrape the edge to get it smoother and flatter
  4. Some filaments melt with acetone, so if your printing with that, this would be a good solution for you as well.

Here is a good video for every type of filament: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiy0KWuu9bwAhXyKDQIHf6iDasQwqsBMAt6BAgIEAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DvSwumoSlZTo&usg=AOvVaw1L7WcqmbsJ5OBhzp5CT8lH

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