Polished polyamide

#1

I’m looking to get a plastic case done in polyamide and was hoping to use the polished finish.
It’s in two parts that fit together but one of the parts showed up as being too thin (only 7mm deep).

The entire thing is basically a box about 17 x 43 x 110mm, mostly hollow inside with 2.5mm walls. The other part (which is 10mm deep) has the polished finish available but I’m wondering if these parts would be suitable for polishing at all, and if so could I still request the polished finish ignoring the minimum dimensions (9 x 9 x 9mm)

#2

Dear Anthony,

Thank you for your message on our forum! There are some factors you need to take into account about polished finishing: This info is stated on our webstie which you can find here:

https://i.materialise.com/3d-printing-materials/polyamide/design-guide

Several factors make it hard to fully predict the outcome of the polishing process. One of them is the geometry of your model, which can act differently each time it is put in the tumbling machine. In general, you should have wall thicknesses of at least 1 mm throughout your model. Although we carefully place and orientate your models in our printers to minimize “weak points” created by the layered buildup of your model, certain elements of your design may be more sensitive to the impacts of the polishing stones than others. Therefore, we suggest adding some extra wall thickness if your design can allow for it. Polishing is not advised when your model has tiny details like pins because they will break off during the polishing process.

We hope this information will help you further.
Kind regards,
Annick Vandezande,
Customer Supporr Officer.