What are the possible surface finishing of SLA 3D printing?

SLA is an abbreviation for stereolithography. Kings SLA 3D printing technology uses lasers of specific wavelengths to cure photosensitive resin layer by layer, thereby finally completing the construction of 3D entities.

After the SLA printed part is removed from the build platform, it needs to do post-processing such as cleaning, UV curing, and support removal. These are the most basic steps. However, customers often have more requirements, such as detailed polishing, painting, electroplating, silk screening, water transferring, etc.

Fine sanding and polishing are the detailed grinding of parts on top of the basic post-processing steps. For parts that are not complicated in structure and relatively large in size, they will be sandblasted first, and then a gray primer on the part. The purpose is to allow people to see the rough parts of the surface more clearly and polish them in a targeted manner. The sandpaper used for grinding is coarse to fine, and it is repeatedly sanded on the dust-sprayed 3D print until the surface of the part becomes very smooth. The purpose is to present better effects for coloring, electroplating, silk screening, water transfer printing, etc.

After the model is finely sanded and sprayed with primer, it can be painted. Coloring can be done by hand or spray-painted, depending on the color and complexity of the painted surface. Coloring can make your design more intuitive. The colored products can be used as exhibits and so on.

Water transfer printing (Water Transfer/Hydro dipping) is a technology that transfers 2D flat-printed patterns to the surface of objects of different materials through water. By using water transfer printing technology, various patterns of different colors can be added to the model printed by the 3D printer. For patterns with strong repeatability, water transfer printing can greatly save time.

Electroplating is also one of the commonly used processes for 3D printing surface treatment. The surface of the model after electroplating is smooth, with high gloss and a mirror effect. Common plating colors are silver and gold.

In short, SLA 3D printing combined with different surface treatments can meet the different needs of customers and is widely used in various industries like consumer goods, art, architecture, etc.

Author:  Grace / Lili Lu  / Seazon