3D printing enthusiasts struggle with layer lines
31 posts in the last 30 days, all from r/3Dprinting.
“Howdy everyone. I'm relatively new to 3D printing and decided to design a toy to give as a gift. Ended up in the ironing rabbit hole and here we are. I've done the ironing tests for each filament, used the best one I've found and still, every time, the top layer is bad. I've…”
“I can just sand it or shave it off of this model with a hobby knife but id like to avoid the problem all together in the future. I'm using a elegoo Neptune 3 pro and the ultimaker cura slicer with PLA and standard temps for the nozzle and heat bed.”
“I tried ironing I tried diffrent settings yet I cant get a smooth nice finish”
Multiple 3D printing hobbyists are frustrated by the appearance of layer lines on their prints. They've experimented with sanding, rotary tools, and software adjustments to mitigate this issue and improve surface finish.
SOURCES (60)
“Hello, This is the first time I've made such a big impression and as you can see the top of the helmet is not very clean because of the supports. Would you know what size of paper I should sand it with? And by sanding,…”
“Can see each individual line it laid down. Thought it was pretty cool. The second picture is the bottom side. it was printed on textured pei. I included a regular picture of it for reference. submitted by /u/TakingChances01 [link] [comments]”
“Guys I’ve bought this doom helmet but I need to sand, I started to sand it with a 240 paper and then with a 400 but why there are still lines ? Should I keep sanding or not ? submitted by /u/General-Reading-3122 [link] [comments]”
“Hi. This is my second 3d project. I sculpted the figure by myself and the friend of mine printed it out. I would love to have a similar look to the 3d model that I recreated it from (3d pic) but after I used acrylic (as many suggest) for painting it looks a bit weird. Any tipps are appreciated :3 submitted by /u/UnderstandingThin245 [link] [comments]”
“This model has been printing for about 3 hours and now I see top layer is like this. Please can this be solved? submitted by /u/Creepy_Challenge_966 [link] [comments]”
“Sanding down a prop I was hoping to finish for Halloween and this is really giving me trouble. It’s pretty detailed as you can add and I just have this micro sander (last pic) I was trying to use but it feels very frustrating. Should I just paint it as is? Any advice greatly appreciated. submitted by /u/Shaxx_sees_you [link] [comments]”
“Any tips on how i can hide these these seam lines , ive sanded prime and bando atleast 4 to 5 times , and recommendations? I will be using rub and buff , anyway I can hide them ? Maybe a black wash ? submitted by /u/AbbreviationsCommon1 [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone, I'm trying to improve the surface quality of the first layers printed directly above supports on my Creality K2 Plus using Creality Print. The supported surface comes out rough with very visible/uneven extrusion lines. I'm trying to get it as smooth and uniform as possible. I'm printing with Hyper PLA, 0.4 mm nozzle, and currently testing: Layer height: 0.16 mm Top Z distance: 0.16 mm Top interface layers: 5 Interface spacing: 0.15 mm Support interface speed: 30”
“Howdy everyone. I'm relatively new to 3D printing and decided to design a toy to give as a gift. Ended up in the ironing rabbit hole and here we are. I've done the ironing tests for each filament, used the best one I've found and still, every time, the top layer is bad. I've made sure the filament is dry and that the humidity in the AMS never goes above 20% (I swap filaments often). Can someone help me? Is this a geometry problem? Filament os PLA Matte from Bambu Labs, default se”
“I can just sand it or shave it off of this model with a hobby knife but id like to avoid the problem all together in the future. I'm using a elegoo Neptune 3 pro and the ultimaker cura slicer with PLA and standard temps for the nozzle and heat bed. submitted by /u/JDutch921 [link] [comments]”
“Hey guys, I just printed this, thought it turned out quite nice but after comparing it to the creators pictures and some reviews, I noticed that mine has way rougher lines. So one of my guesses is the different materials as the white filament is matte pla and the copper one is silk, which is right beneath. Could it also be the flow rate, if so, anything I can do there? Or as there anything else I am missing here? Thanks in advance. Printer is a X2D, filaments are all Sunlu Pla submitted by”
“I tried ironing I tried diffrent settings yet I cant get a smooth nice finish submitted by /u/ConversationTop7747 [link] [comments]”
“Hey! I'm new to 3D printing and was wondering if these small gaps between the lines are normal or if I need to dry the filament or maybe tweak some settings. Thanks! 🤙 submitted by /u/mariusuncool [link] [comments]”
“Standard layer is .2mm, so that's what I've been printing in for ages. I know it will be super slow to reduce that, as it basically has to double the number of layers. But I'd like to see what a .1mm layered object looks like. submitted by /u/Klutzy_Dog669 [link] [comments]”
“So, in continuation of "Dust" after applying primer, normal? : r/3Dprinting i am trying to sand, prime and then paint 3D printed toys. Well, i made some pieces from a model and printed it with 0.08mm of layer height. They came out fantastic. Than i sanded it twice and applied the primer. It looked great, even though it was not perfect i was happy with it. So i sprayed some white paint above the primer, and next day went to paint real colors. Problem came, somehow, paints dont "sti”
“Hey all! I'm new to 3d printing and whenever I try to print a fluted design, the first layer never comes out right. Either the shape is wrong or it comes up a little bit. I've been wiping down the plate with IPA after every print. What am I doing wrong? Printer: X2D Slicer: Bambu Studio Filament: PLA Nozzle/Bed Temp: 220 C/55 C Print Speed: Normal Retraction Settings: Default I haven't really messed with my settings for any of the above, I just everything on default. Thank you guys s”
“I printed this Hello Kitty face, but I'm getting these horizontal lines on the surface, specifically around the holes where the eyes and whiskers will be inserted later. Does anyone know what could be causing this issue and how I could fix it? Thanks in advance for your help! submitted by /u/Gold__Smith__ [link] [comments]”
“How is this first few layers? I had to adjust the z offset to make the infill adhere together well but as soon as I did that, I am seeing rough ridges around the edges of the print. I already lowered the the infill/wall overlap from 15 to 7.5 and that seemed to help a tiny bit. submitted by /u/vhsjayden [link] [comments]”
“Hey guys! , i wanna make things like this but i don't wanna buy a new filament roll for every single color , what is the best method to paint them with any color i want submitted by /u/aitchsnx [link] [comments]”
“I’ll have to reprint my cooling shroud to get some more clearance plus relocating the sensor before every print is annoying but it’s so cool to see it go 3 axis in one fluent motion! Hopefully my guitar neck will be stronger and prettier!! submitted by /u/Hes0101 [link] [comments]”
“First I'm new to 3D Printing and the Z-Seam is really annoying me , everything looks great overall but from the side where the Z-Seam is located it looks bad and i tried using the "random" seam option but that actually made it look worse 😅 Anyway what can i do to fix or hide this ? 🤔 submitted by /u/aitchsnx [link] [comments]”
“Hello, my friend and I are new into 3D printing and we found a problem of which the white part of our project looks dirty AND leaves out some raised edges so to speak. How does one mitigate this to look cleaner? submitted by /u/Ok-Ad9959 [link] [comments]”
“Creality PETG-CF. It’s on a 6- hour dry cycle now. Maybe that’ll help. submitted by /u/OldManGrimm [link] [comments]”
“I tried printing it tilted upwards so the flat areas like the hood or roof would not have visible layer lines and use tons of supports since they woule have to print midair. I still have tons of quality issues tho. I tried printing it again but this time slower to see if maybe the nozzle was just too fast and would move the parts but that did not fix the issues. No matter what way I orient the part I alwas see it going wrong somehow. How do I print this? Should I maybe even slice it in half? ”
“This is printed with PLA Silk. The steeper regions are very smooth. The relatively flat surface of the fin is quite rough to the touch. What’s the best way to improve here? Maybe thinner line spacing? Alternative infill? I used 0.2mm layer height and grid infill. submitted by /u/extreme-nap [link] [comments]”
“So I'm gonna get a sword printed and it's been sliced. If print has gaps along the slices, what should I use to fill the gaps? submitted by /u/Sammylilboi [link] [comments]”
“working and ive gotten a good 3d print going bit i cant figure out how to get the texture/color on the plastic in a batch of more than one (hand paint) submitted by /u/Big-Fuel978 [link] [comments]”
“Looking to 3D print some car screen mounts. I’m after a similar finish to OEM black plastic. How do I go about achieving this? The print on the left is too aggressive. I’m trying to hide layer lines but give a premium textured finish. Similar to the texture on my PEI build plate. Is there any advice on settings or materials that may help? Any advice is welcomed! Thanks in advance Bambu - P1S Material - Open to suggestions submitted by /u/NecessaryOpinion1533 [link] [comments]”
“Printed in Bambu Labs PETG on H2C. Used up black and white filament I had. Rustoleum Automotive Sandable Primer in Grey Rustoleum Painter's Touch in Satin Granite for the final coat. I almost liked the Grey of the Primer better. Without bright light the Satin Granite is really dark like a spray tan. Aves Apoxie Sculpt to fill in holes where supports failed. For the eyes I just masked off around them and used a little hobby air sprayer to paint them black. Just glad to be done lol. Made a ton”
“I feel like when I sand them they look very textured and the paint doesnt look good after. Any tips on post-processing? submitted by /u/vgirl21 [link] [comments]”
“Hi, i recently bought these 3d printed parts, but it has obvious printing lines.. my question is, can I salvage these parts by covering the lines using prime coat & paint coat on these parts? Or is there another way to minimize the printing lines visibility? submitted by /u/Past_Law7138 [link] [comments]”
“I made an end piece for my project, but I wanted to smooth off the left side. I can't fillet it because of the curves I guess. I'm fairly new. If I can send the 3mf on here (I couldn't find the saved project file from fusion), and a picture of the part, could anyone help me? I've been trying for a long time. I currently don't know how to add a picture on here either submitted by /u/Technical_Dirt4268 [link] [comments]”
“I mean these more noticeable lines when the printer moves to a different place. submitted by /u/No_Inspection4369 [link] [comments]”
“Got some pretty intense layer separation. One so bad I used a pen to fill it. Itll be fine when I sand and paint it, but any ideas what caused it? Bed is level. Normally it prints fine submitted by /u/Conscious-Article294 [link] [comments]”
“Anybody have any tips or advise on how to hide a seam on a fuzzy skin print that was multiple parts? I unfortunately couldn't hide the seam all the way around so there are spots where you can see the smooth seam between the fuzzy prints. I tried using a putty and making the texture by hand but when I try to clean it up it smoothes it back out and I usually over sand to smooth out the fuzzy skin. submitted by /u/LordzofTime [link] [comments]”
“Just had a quick question regarding the first layer of my print here. There are random spots where the first layer was just missed. It's truly a small issue, but I am just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction on how to fix it. submitted by /u/rzr640 [link] [comments]”
“So, I bought a markal paintstik after some (minimal) research on how to make the wording on the bottom of my 3D print show up more clearly. It worked great at filling in the letters, but it's also filled in the texture around the letters which is less than ideal. These photos are after extensive cleaning, then sanding of the surrounding area to try and remove the excess painstik. I stopped at this point as the sanding seems to be starting to remove the paint inside the lettering now as well!”
“Took a break from printing over the summer and can’t figure why my first layer looks so dookie. I’ll clean the plate tomorrow and do some more leveling and z offset once the print is done, but I feel like the issue might be deeper than that. Any ideas? Edit: This is a Prusa Mini+ which has auto mesh leveling. submitted by /u/iamconfusionamerica [link] [comments]”
“Printing at .9mm layer height, and I used ripple noise and turned it up to 30 ripples per layer. Slowed it down to 10mm/s so the outer walls would look sharp, I honestly didn’t expect it to turn out so close to the slicer preview. This is a lighter cover I just did because it’s simple geometry and fast to print. Ripple noise doesn’t seem to do as well on complex geometry but i’ll definitely be messing with it some more to see what else it looks good on. (also the seams/retraction are definitely”
“Why is it that the last few layers look so bad and not smooth? I know I can sand it obviously but is there a setting I can change to make it so the top layers blend together better? submitted by /u/Flyingdeathdog [link] [comments]”
“I’ve never seen layer shift like this before. Layer shift? Does this need to be dried more? submitted by /u/AdEcstatic8520 [link] [comments]”
“I’m pretty new to this. I feel the scale of those little sockets were clearly an issue. Why? Unclear. The larger portions of the print came out fine. Any and all hunches and preventative measures are appreciated submitted by /u/RrobablyPetarded [link] [comments]”
“I printed this headphone stand but there are some inconsistent lines on top. I'm new to 3d printing. I have a Bambu lab A1. How do i make the surface look better? submitted by /u/bas524 [link] [comments]”
“How do I fix these lines on the side? Besides that should I improve anything else submitted by /u/gloomy_dynamics [link] [comments]”
“I'm trying to get to a better finish on the top edges of each polygon. I have changed it to a gothic arch which helps. However I'm not getting good cooling fan at a few of the layers. I should have snapped a picture of the fan speed output on the slicer. submitted by /u/JMackDesign [link] [comments]”
“Hi, I love painting little keychains and anime figures but I can't figure out how to fill in the print lines and sand them? Ive heard of the methods like wood putty and stuff, and have even tried texturized spray paint lol, but well 1 I need a method for filling the lines, BUT I also need help with how I am supposed to sand such intricate and small delicate parts so they r smooth and ready to put spray paint primer on and hand paint. Hope this makes sense lol Edit: I mainly use PLA and stuff”