Finishes: what you actually buy when you order sanded or painted
What each finish does, how much it changes the part, which materials it works on, and when the raw finish is already enough.
A printed part comes off the machine with visible layer lines. On a functional part living inside a box, that matters not at all. On a part a client is going to hold, it is the difference between "this is a test" and "this is the product". Finish is what decides which of the two it lands in.
The four levels
| Finish | What it includes | What for |
|---|---|---|
| As printed | Nothing. Off the bed and into the box. | Functional parts, fixtures, internal prototypes. |
| Cleanup | Supports removed, burrs trimmed, base cleaned up. | The sensible minimum for anything visible. |
| Sanded | Progressive sanding of visible faces until layers disappear. | Parts that get handled: handles, cases, merch. |
| Painted | Sanded, primed and painted in the colour you specify. | Client presentation, exact brand colour, outdoors. |
What finishing cannot fix
Sanding removes layer lines from a flat or gently curved surface. It does not fix badly oriented geometry: if a face came out with deep support marks or heavy stepping across a shallow curve, sanding it away removes material and moves the dimension. And it does not fix fine detail that printed badly — it rounds it off.
By material
- PLA: sands well and takes acrylic paint without trouble. The best finish for the least work.
- PETG: softer and a little gummy under abrasive. Doable, but slower and the result is not as good.
- ABS: the best to paint. It also takes chemical smoothing, which gives it an injection-moulded gloss.
- Carbon fibre PLA: already comes out matte and non-reflective, which is what a lot of people are sanding towards. Often the best finish is to do nothing.
- Resin: layers are nearly invisible from the start. It sands and paints beautifully, but rarely needs to.
Finish is chosen in the configurator alongside the material, so you see what it adds before paying. If in doubt, order one as printed and one sanded: the difference reads far better in the hand than in a table.