Chrome Finish with No Sanding

My Goal

I'm was making an Iron Man mask and wanted to make it look like chrome metal. The proper way to get a smooth shiny finished 3D print is to prime and sand the part multiple times and then paint it. However, I don't have time do all this sanding, so I wanted to see if I could get a smooth/shiny/metalish finish with no sanding… just using slicer settings and spray paint. Would the result be good enough? After experimenting, I was able to get a smooth 3D printed part that did look close enough to metal for me. 

 

The Test Piece

The test part shown in the pictures is designed to have a curved surface both vertically and horizontally. The layer lines should be most visible at the top of the dome and least visible on the curved wall.

 

The Process

Here is the process I used to get a metal/chrome finish on my part:

 

1)  To minimize the effect of layer lines, print the part with the smallest layer height preset in the Bambu Studio Slicer. For my tests I used the 0.08mm Extra Fine setting. This will make the print take longer but this will help make the part smoother without sanding.

 

2)  Print the part so that most of the curved surfaces are printed horizontally instead of vertically.

3)  Spray the part with a filler primer. I used 3 coats.

4)  For a chrome finish, you need to have a black base coat, so I painted the part with 2 coats of black paint.

5)  Spray the part with 2 coats of clear coat to make it more shiny.

6)  Spray the part with silver/mirror paint. I used 3 coats.

7)  Spray the part with a final clear coat.

 

(Note, if you use “2K Clear Coat” you could get better results but 2K spray is expensive and can't be stored for a long time after you start using it. I just used generic spray paints that you can find at a hardware or automotive store.)

 

Summary

Spray paint the part in this order to get a metalish finish: 

• 3 coats of filler primer, 
• 2 coats of black paint, 
• 2 coats of clear coat,    (←part has a really nice smooth & shiny finish at this point)
• 3 coats of silver paint, 
• 1 coat of clear coat. 

 

The pictures show  how the test part looked after each coat, starting from white PLA and ending with a smooth metally finish.

 

If you know of other tips to make a 3D printed part smooth/shiny without doing a lot of manual work (like sanding), leave a comment with a picture of the dome test piece so everyone can compare the results.

 

If you want to copy exactly what I did, I've included Amazon links for the paints I used:

• Filler Primer: Amazon Link
• Black Paint: Amazon Link
• Clear Coat: Amazon Link
• Silver Paint: Amazon Link

 

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