Hi All,
I have a 3D printed part that has ripples running across its width. I’m told some primers will “fill in “ these imperfections.
Any ideas on which primer to use. I have Badger Stynlriz and Vallejo primers, plus Tamiya.
TIA
I use various Rustoleum primers. I believe some of them say self leveling or something to that effect right on the can.
Thanks for that. Happy to shell out c$50 for this but I was also wondering if any of the hobby primers would work.
I have heard that Mr. Surfacer can be used as primer and filler for these kind of small imperfections, but I do not have direct experience.
I have Tamiya primer. I use it for priming my locomotives as they usually have many different colored components. It seems very fine - I dont know how well it fills. Plus one can is 100ml.
A can of Rustoleum is 340g and costs about the same, and I know the Rustoleum works.
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@ 18bravo. Which Rust-Oleum Primer? Can you be more specific?
—mike
Through my experince, an automotive filler primer will be your best choice. However, it may leave the surface gritting feeling and can only level the surface to a point.
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Not sure of cost, but Ive seen a you-tube dude use plain ordinary Talc with UV curing resin
This.I’ve finished numerous printed planes using nothing fancier than primer plus talc.
My go-to-fix uneven 3D print surface is Mr. Surfacer 1000 or 1200. Good stuff.
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I have been asked to paint a 3D printed Yoda Child figure and a 3D Politician Bust and have used the 600 grit Surfacer for filling up those ripples. It took me some 3 layers (apply - dry - sanding as a process on all) to get near to a smooth finish. The last layer was 1200 grit Surfacer.
However the hair was so nicely designed that I had to be very careful not to overdo the above process.
As I know the lower the Surfacer grit is, the better to fill-up the deeper ripples. The higher Surfacers can only fill up light scratches caused by unintentional X-acto knife scratches or light hits with the knife tip.
I think I saw that same guy, was going to say check the youtubes. Daverig “hide layer lines on 3d prints” and " Hide 3D print layer lines with Baby Powder and UV resin".
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Thanks everyone for the feedback. I blew 2 coats of Vallejo primer over it (the second was yesterday). I’ll see how that turned out this morning. 
Didnt work, so either sanding (grade?) or primer/filler.
Any suggestions?
You probalby know this, but when sanding, use something semi rigid, like a foam sanding stick. Otherwise your sanding medium may flex down into the grooves and make it very difficult to achieve the smoothness you want.
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Got it thanks.