finishing recommendations

[stiff palm]

Hey guys so I just finished printing my first helmet, and I just finished sanding down, it came out great so far, I just wanted to ask for a little assistance on a few things. One is I still have a bit of dust on the helmet after sanding it down and I wanna know what's the best recommendation for getting the access dust off it. And two is what primer would be better to use for painting over for a good coat? Regular primer or filler primer? Thank you and if theirs anymore recommendation on a few other things let me know, this is my first time painting a helmet. 👍🏼

[blissful copper]

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[limber tundra]

First, you should sand that down until you can’t feel the layer lines anymore and then sand some more. Use your fingernail to see if you can still feel the layer lines. Start with 60 grit to get most of it and work your way up to 100-200. And when it’s perfect smooth you can hit it with a coat of filler primer, and then make sure there’s no imperfections, then you can go ahead and start painting. As for the dust I’d say just wipe it off with a rag or with your dry hand

[stiff palm]

Cool sounds good thanks dude really appreciate it 🙏🏼

[limber tundra]

Np my man. Just make sure you really focus on those layer lines bc they will show in the final product. Good luck 👍🏻

[stiff palm]

Thanks I will 👍🏼

[tulip bolt]

A good product to have on hand just before you paint is “tack clothes” they pick up any leftover dust, hair etc. I gently wipe my part down before I prime/paint. The ones I use come individually packaged.

[stiff palm]

Thank you, will do that after I keep sanding it down 🙏🏼

[charred wasp]

Bro I have the same printer how did you get it to level?

I recommend wet sanding with high grit sand paper like 400 or 800 some people do 1000 grits

You wet sand after you primed your print

Makes it feel really smooth

[stiff palm]

Would these be good filler primers?

[stiff palm]

I watched Frank's video on leveling and it pretty muched helped moving the nobs to level each corner then once done hit the auto bed-level and you should be good

[worldly tiger]

I usually put my print over cold/room temperature water and that gets the dust right off

[worldly tiger]

good advice. I usually wet sand with like 1600 grit💀

[limber tundra]

That’s a pretty high

[worldly tiger]

What’s the highest u Reccomend wet sanding?

[solid apex]

Not more then 1600 max 800-1000 is recommended

[limber tundra]

Yeah you don’t wanna polish your primer cuz then it’s not gonna help the paint stick

Might as well not have primer

[void sinew]

@limber tundra jumping in out of curiousity, I did wet sand a piece I’m working on up to 2500. It’s extremely smooth now. Used bondo then filler primer and a small bit more bondo. It’s pretty much perfect. But now that it’s glass smooth would you say a primer layer before paint again? And if so would you sand that back down? I have he sandable filler primer for use.

The mask is what I’m referencing

[limber tundra]

Yeah so primer needs to be a rough surface so the paint has something to cling to. You really shouldn’t sand primer unless it’s got imperfections, and even then you should only be using 300-500 grit. So to answer your question, yeah I’d say put another coat of primer on there and then it’s ready for paint.

[void sinew]

no need to sand that printer after? Does the primer color and texture matter in this case. IE: I have sandable filler (the one most are using) should I be okay to use that pre gold or should I use a different primer thats black or metallic etc

this was my first print right after benchy boat so really just looking to obsorb information everywhere as I go (its a shelf piece thats intention was learning as i fck up xd)

Side Note: Could you not just locktite the servo gear into the gear bracket I mentioned when its in correct oriaentation?

[limber tundra]

For metallics you typically want to have a gloss base coat underneath your metallic paint. So In your case it should be primer, gloss black, gold

[limber tundra]

For this I’m not sure bc electronics and motorization isn’t really my specialty. Maybe try the guys in #chat-electronics-coding