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Finishing and Post Processing

unfinished vs automated post processed
Laser Sintering Finishes

Process

Description

Natural

Matte, white finish.

Tumbled

The surface is smoothed with a media for an eggshell finish. 

Smoothed & Sealed

Bead-blasted and vapor smoothed for a sealed, satin watertight finish.

Dyed

Dyed, please specify the color.

Smoothed, Sealed, & Dyed

Vapor-sealed and dyed (specify color) for a satin, watertight finish.

Primed Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are smoothed and coated in grey primer.

Painted

Parts are smoothed, primed, and painted (provide drawing with paint specifications).

Custom

Custom finish. Let us know if your project requires special finishing. Please fill out our engineer-assisted quote form.

Multi Jet Fusion Finishes

Process

Description

Natural

Matte, grey finish.

Standard

Matte finish dyed black.

Tumbled

The surface is smoothed with a media for an eggshell finish. 

Smoothed & Sealed

Bead-blasted and vapor smoothed for a sealed, satin watertight finish.

Smoothed, Sealed, & Dyed

Vapor-sealed and dyed black for a satin, watertight finish.

Primed Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are smoothed and coated in grey primer.

Painted

Parts are smoothed, primed, and painted (provide drawing with paint specifications).

Custom

Custom finish. Let us know if your project requires special finishing. Please fill out our engineer-assisted quote form.

Stereolithography Finishes

Process

Description

Natural

Support faces are sanded, and layer lines are visible.

Standard

Support faces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a matte/opaque finish with some layer lines visible (black will appear grey).

Improved Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a smooth matte finish.

Improved All

All accessible surfaces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a smooth matte finish.

Clear

Natural finish with clear coat. The layer lines are still visible.

Improved Clear

All accessible surfaces are sanded smooth with a clear coat for optimal clarity on transparent materials.

Primed Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, and primed grey.

Primed All

All accessible surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, and primed grey.

Painted

All accessible surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, primed, and painted (provide a drawing with your paint specifications).

Custom

Custom finish. Let us know if your project requires special finishing. Please fill out our engineer-assisted quote form.

Digital Light Processing

Process

Description

Natural

Support faces are sanded, and layer lines are visible.

Standard

Support faces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a matte/opaque finish with some layer lines visible (black will appear grey).

Improved Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a smooth matte finish.

Improved All

All accessible surfaces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a smooth matte finish.

Clear

Natural finish with clear coat. The layer lines are still visible.

Improved Clear

All accessible surfaces are sanded smooth with a clear coat for optimal clarity on transparent materials.

Primed Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, and primed grey.

Primed All

All accessible surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, and primed grey.

Painted

All accessible surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, primed, and painted (provide a drawing with your paint specifications).

Custom

Custom finish. Let us know if your project requires special finishing. Please fill out our engineer-assisted quote form.

Hybrid PhotoSynthesis

Process

Description

Natural

Support faces are sanded, and layer lines are visible.

Standard

Support faces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a matte/opaque finish with some layer lines visible (black will appear grey).

Improved Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a smooth matte finish.

Improved All

All accessible surfaces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a smooth matte finish.

Clear

Natural finish with clear coat. The layer lines are still visible.

Improved Clear

All accessible surfaces are sanded smooth with a clear coat for optimal clarity on transparent materials.

Primed Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, and primed grey.

Primed All

All accessible surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, and primed grey.

Painted

All accessible surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, primed, and painted (provide a drawing with your paint specifications).

Custom

Custom finish. Let us know if your project requires special finishing. Please fill out our engineer-assisted quote form.

Fused Filament Fabrication

Process

Description

Natural

Supports are removed. Parts will have visible layer lines.

Improved Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded to reduce layer lines.

Smoothed & Sealed

Vapor smoothed and sealed for a watertight finish. May modify the geometry slightly.

Primed Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are smoothed to reduce layer lines and coated in grey primer.

Painted

Parts are smoothed to reduce layer lines, primed, and painted (provide drawing with paint specifications).

Custom

Custom finish. Let us know if your project requires special finishing. Please fill out our engineer-assisted quote form.

Material Jetting

Process

Description

Natural

Support faces are sanded, and layer lines are visible.

Standard

Support faces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a matte/opaque finish with some layer lines visible (black will appear grey).

Improved Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a smooth matte finish.

Improved All

All accessible surfaces are sanded, and the entire part is bead-blasted for a smooth matte finish.

Clear

Natural finish with clear coat. The layer lines are still visible.

Improved Clear

All accessible surfaces are sanded smooth with a clear coat for optimal clarity on transparent materials.

Primed Exterior

Exterior (cosmetic) surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, and primed grey.

Primed All

All accessible surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, and primed grey.

Painted

All accessible surfaces are sanded, bead-blasted, primed, and painted (provide a drawing with your paint specifications).

Custom

Custom finish. Let us know if your project requires special finishing. Please fill out our engineer-assisted quote form.

Additional Finishes

Process

Technologies

Description

Soft Touch

All Technologies

Soft, rubberlike part coating.

Light Bleaching

Material Jetting

UV treatment is used to enhance the clarity of Vero Clear material.

Vacuum Plating

Laser Sintering
Other AM technologies upon consultation.

Aluminum

Electroplating

Laser Sintering
Other AM technologies upon consultation

Copper and nickel are available.

Electromagnetic (EMI) Shielding

All technologies

A conductive paint coating is applied to the part.

Are you ready to get a quote?

Automated Post-Processing

PostPro3D

Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) has developed the next step in the digital manufacturing world, an automated finishing solution.  The Postpro3D not only offers an ultra-smooth finish it boosts no loss to tensile strength, increased elongation at break, and less porosity.  Midwest Prototyping has found this technology so handy we have a whole fleet ready to speed up your post-processing and finishing needs.  We’ve found our clients are extremely happy with the results and the automation helps us build and finish more quality parts in a shorter timeframe.   

Postpro3D automated post-processing department

Process

AMT developed the BLAST (Boundary Layer Automated Smoothing Technology) process to smooth various thermoplastic polymers using a physio-chemical treatment.  Using condensation of chemicals onto the part’s surface, the polymer reacts to reflow, and irregularities and sealing occur.  During the curing phase, the substances evaporate, causing the surface to solidify.

Surface Quality

The BLAST process has been used on everything from glasses frames to medical applications and can be used for industries from automotive to aerospace.  The Postpro3D can create a surface finish with a Ra of less than 1 micron.

PostproDP Pro

Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) has bridged the gap between completed LS and MJF parts and their vapor smoothing PostPro3D with the PostproDP Pro.  This machine speeds up the de-powdering process by up to 60%, tremendously cutting down the cost and human error by automation.   We can process hundreds, even thousands of parts, with consistency.

postprodppro

What is a "recipe," and how does that help ensure more consistency?

A “recipe” is one or a combination of standard abrasives such as corundum, glass beads, ceramics, nutshells, plastic, and fine grain sizes of stainless steel and steel that can be used to de-powder your part. We can save the recipe and use them repeatedly to effectively create consistency between batches and serial runs, allowing us to move toward larger production runs.

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