Getting a Gloss Finish

Hi! I designed a model that is relatively simple and has two halves, and I would like the top half to have a white gloss finish, and the bottom to have a colored satin finish. What is the best way to achieve this?

If I was to paint the model, would it require any surface finishing on my part, or is the WSF polished enough that a coat of paint would go on smooth?

Is there any kind of coating we could apply to make the top glossy, and the bottom have a satin finish texture?

Thank you.

Hello avasassi

Congrats on you first post

There is a section called 'post-production' in the topics list. Have a little search in there. Im sure you'll find something helpful.

Piers

Thank you!

I saw a lot of mixed feedback however, and I'm not sure who to listen to. I've read that:

1) WSF is made from fused grain particles, and if I were to sand it, it would only remove material, and not smooth it.

2) Sanding helps...but my model is so thin, I don't know how well it would hold up under that kind of pressure and friction.

3) Coat it with a filler primer to smooth it out...but I saw the image of the two trumpets, one of which was coated with 2 layers of primer and 2 layers of paint, and the imperfections are still very obvious.

It seems that I need to find some type of material to coat the models with. Something preferably that can be sprayed through a paint gun so I can get a smooth, even coating. I didn't see anything posted about this. Have you used anything like this?

Thanks again,
Ava

Is it possible to upload an image of the design?

I commonly use cellulose paint . Depending on your design spraying celulose and building up layers, sanding back, spraying, sanding, u get the picture. can product a flat surface. This wont work for designs that will constantly be flexed. As the paint will just crack.
For that i guess you would have to spray some sort of elastomeric paint.
This would flex but i doubt you could achieve a glossy finish. Although i have had no experience with this.

2pack paint is also an option. it dries hard and can be sprayed quite thick. Plus it polishes very well. But again has very little flex (if any)

I havent heard of any industry standards for gloss finishing fragile WSF, but I mainly use SLA (called FineDetail on Shapeways)

I have pondered on doing tests with Ultrasonic baths filled with sand or dipping in chemicals like chloroform (this would hopefully melt the surface slightly). But still to try them out.

Hope something in there helps.

Hmm, 2pack might be an option. I want to stay away from sanding because we are doing a run of 100. That would be a lot of extra time and effort.

Unfortunately I cannot upload an image of the model. It is basically square, 65mm x 65mm, and 10 mm high. It has some sharp edge details that I don't want to dull by applying a layer of paint too thick.

Thanks for you help.

Ava

Haha agreed...sanding a 100 of anything is a nightmare.

If you find a process/material that applies a gloss finish over a rough surface, on fragile parts, without hand finishing. let me know

Kind regards

Will do