noob question

hello

i have a question about the reprap. ive never seen a reprap, but i've seen videos on youtube. i have noticed that the models you create have these lines going across. i was wondering if you can smooth it out so that you have a smooth model. i'm interested in using reprap to create moulds for plastic casting.

thanks in advance.

With a really low layer height those lines become really faint, and you can acetone dip or steam parts to smooth out the surface

No. The layers are inherent in the printing method.

You can post-process the part in any number of ways for making molds

1. Wax Dip.
2. Acetone vapor for 30 - 60 seconds.
3. Sand Paper
4. Auto Body Filler.

I've seen gap-filling primer do a good job of smoothing the surface of printed parts as well.

thanks for the quick response.

it's a shame you cant get those lines completely out during printing, but im glad there is a solution.

The lines become more visible the taller the height of the individual layers. 0.3mm layers means 3.3 per mm, which will be quite visible. 0.1mm layer height is 10 per mm, which is much smoother. 0.075mm or 0.05mm layer heights are smoother still, and on a well-calibrated machine, will look very, very good. That brings me to my next point, which is the importance of sound mechanics. At the low layer heights, you need a machine capable of very accurate positioning in order for all those very tiny layers to line up perfectly and actually look like a straight wall rather than a mess. It's possible with any machine that's designed and built well enough, but you can find some really amazing pictures prints done on the Ultimaker--an example of a very well-designed machine. But again, any RepRap is theoretically capable of it as long as it's put together right and not run harder or faster than the limits of its hardware.