Final Project: Sanding and Spray Painting

Some great news to share: all six pieces of the base of the stand printed successfully, and they look exactly how I had hoped they would! Not only that, but the six discs meant for vinyl logos have been printed as well. Take a look!

In this picture, the two pieces on the ends are straight off the printer, with no changes being made. However, the four in the middle had been sanded completely at this point, so the surfaces are much smoother than they would be otherwise. Sanding these pieces was a lot of work, but it wasn't difficult by any means. It just took a long time - we're talking Tuesday through Friday here, with hours of sanding per day. That's a lot of sanding!

You can also see some light smudges on some of the pieces, especially directly underneath the "amiibo" logo. This is because I went in and filled in some of the gaps or cracks in the piece with epoxy, since the pieces just naturally cracked a bit on the printer due to their size.

After sanding the remaining two pieces of the base, and having sanded the discs as well, it was time for perhaps what has been one of my favorite parts of the process thus far - spray painting! I picked up an absolutely gorgeous shade of pink from the hardware store, and though it's not too different from the original color of the plastic, it covers up those epoxy smudges especially well.

The discs, which honestly looked super edible after their coat of spray paint.

The main pieces set out to dry.

Unfortunately, from spray painting, a few blemishes on the discs made themselves visible, so it's likely I'll either need to epoxy, sand and spray paint those discs again, or just straight up print some new ones.  Luckily, four of the six look great without need for any further sanding or repair work. The curved surfaces of the main stands may get another round of sanding as well, if time allows - but the flat edges look fantastic after having been sanded down.

With all that said and done, here's a checklist of what's left for me to do:

• Repair any discs that need repairing, be it by sanding the old pieces or reprinting and painting two new ones
• Possibly one more round of sanding on the curved surfaces of the base, if I think I've got the time to do it (right now I'm not so sure, but we'll see)
• A clear coat of paint on everything that will dry hard and hopefully prevent the pink paint from chipping away
• Prepare, print, and apply vinyl designs to the six discs
• Add threading to both the holes in the plastic and the ends of the metal rods which will hold the discs and the base together
• Add magnets to the bases so they can stick together with ease

That's still a long to-do list, but I believe it will be worth it in the end to make for a really fantastic piece. Wish me luck!

Paige Ruka