Instructions

We are constantly updating and adding to our instruction pages, please bear with us. If you notice an issue let us know.

General Instructions

The techniques and tools described below can be used to prep, cleanup, repair, and remove blemishes on any of our 3D printed products.

Our items are made with thermoplastics. Thermoplastics are plastics which get soft when heated and harden when they cool. This allows us to easily fix minor blemishes with simple tools.

Materials

Glue - We recommend Loctite Super Glue but any glue with cyanoacrylate is ideal. Many hobby and model glues will work just fine as well.

Resin - All of our kits are designed to be coated with resin before sanding and painting. We recommend XTC-3D as it is formulated specifically for 3D printed items.

More info on the use of XTC-3D can be found here.

Other Resins

Other 2 part epoxy resins will work as well. We have used table top resin, fiberglass resin, ect. Check the manufacturers recommendations for the brand you use.
Many people have had success coating with UV resin. UV resin cures in the sunlight and so there is no need for messy mixing. The cure time is faster, however you may need more than one coat as UV resin is thinner than XTC. In addition you may need to wash the part after curing. We have not used UV resin, so please search the forums and groups for tips and tricks.

Tools

We recommend the following tools when working with any of our items.

Heatgun or Hairdryer (be very careful with the heatgun as it can melt the item very quickly)
Needle Nose Pliers
Utility Knife or Hobby Knife
Sand Paper
Wire Cutters
Pick
Tweezers
Clamps

Connectors and Joints

Textured Joints - Textured joints are not flush with each other due to print lines or excess material on the mating surface. For Textured joints we recommend that you tape a piece of sandpaper to a table and sand the part by sliding it over the sandpaper. This makes for a nice flat edge. Use a sanding block on areas you cannot table sand.

Curled or Warped Joints - Curled or warped joints are surfaces that are flush but the edges curl up so there is a gap at the joint. To fix these we recommend heating the part with a hair dryer or heatgun. -----> (!!! CAUTION: If you get it too hot it will melt!!!!) Slightly heat the joint by quickly moving the dryer back and fourth over the area. You want to soften the plastic but not melt it. Once the joint is soft press the parts edge firmly to a flat surface, and hold until cool. This will make the joint flat, and allow the glue to adhere.

Finishing

We recommend painting our kits after assembly!

To get a nice finish on any of our items you will need to take care of the print lines. This can be done in one of two ways.

Sanding - It is possible to finish the kit with several iterations of sanding, priming, and then sanding again. This is the fun way, but we don't recommend you have that much fun!
Resin Coating - The best way to finish our kits is to coat them with resin. This allows for smooth surfaces, adds a significant amount of strength to the prop, and can even add a little weight. We recommend XTC-3D. It is a resin specifically formulated to coat 3D printed parts and it makes for easy sanding. One box is enough for many projects. XTC-3D is our go to when finishing any 3D printed item! All of our kits were designed to be used with resin not sanded and primed!

After you resin coat the item you will want to sand any runs, drips, or excess. You will also need to scuff up any shiny parts of the resin to promote adhesion. This can be done with a scotch pad or sandpaper in the 400-1000 range depending on the paint you use. You can then prime and paint with your preferred paint.