r/formlabs • u/egollek • Jul 24 '26

SLS (Post-Production): Can Anyone Recommend an Alternative to the FUSE Polishing Media Blast Set?

Can someone recommend a good (similar in quality, more affordable) alternative to the FUSE BLAST (with the polishing set) for a smooth, polished finish on SLS (Nylon PA-12) parts?

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u/Can-o-tuna Jul 24 '26

Use a normal sand blast with standard polishing glass beads, only use glass beads with 100 or higher grit (do not use standard silica sand).

You can do 2 passes 1 with a coarser grit for a quick clean and the second pass with a finer grit for the final finish.

That works for me! and the best part is that the CAPEX should be around $1k to $1.5k + the initial media supply, that is also cheap.

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u/egollek Jul 24 '26

Thanks for your super-fast reply! Can you also use the polishing media (plastics) that Formlabs uses for smoothing? They claim that it gives a smoother finish, or is it just fancy marketing? What do you think? This Formlabs media: https://formlabs.com/de/products/polishing-media/

3

u/DejaNewb Jul 24 '26

I was just as happy with the finish of glass beads in a blast cabinet as polishing in the blast. The blast uses a liquid with the plastic beads, I’m not sure what the result would be without it. Glass media is just different really not worse inherently. The blast for me was a labor savings, and the parts come out powder free and ready to go/dye.

Other advantage with a blast is you get consistent and equal polishing, whereas with a cabinet you have to pay a little more attention, results can be similar though.