Why are circular areas not? Ok maybe overly critical but why can't they be right. I have sand paper, and did sand the areas to eliminate the notched curves. But I thought it could print round?
Carl I think you’re spending a bit too much time behind the keyboard, never would have thought you’d be complaining about print quality
What program are you using? SketchUp tends to have visible facets where Fusion 360 has smooth curves.
Probably not a software issue as much as a settings issue during export. Should be easy to re-export with finer settings and re-print to fix it.
I use sketchup which I think is notorious for terrible curves. I use this stuff to help smooth everything out: View: https://www.amazon.com/Smooth-XTC-3D-Performance-Print-Coating/dp/B00PFXK4JY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JGU1U54TC60H&keywords=xtc+3d&qid=1552927556&s=gateway&sprefix=XTC%2Caps%2C1134&sr=8-1 It also adds a protective coating to my PLA prints since PLA doesn't like being in the sun too much. Here is a picture of a barbette I made. It isn't as smooth as a piece of PVC but I probably could have taken more time to sand before and after I applied the XTC-3D.
Unfortunately at some point in history someone decided that STL files were the best way to convey object information for printing. STL files are essentially a long list of coordinates of how to form the faces of an object tessellated in to triangles. So from whatever nice smooth curve you model in, the resulting output gets turned into line segments as part of a bunch of triangular faces. Making matters worse, most slicers and 3d print controllers don't support arc moves, so even if you had a nicely described curve passed to the slicer, the print would still be done in line segments. Most decent modelling software can output a pretty high number of faces, which, if you enable it, helps to smooth out the geometry significantly. However, even a nicely curved piece of line segments will take on a chunky shit look if you have to scale it significantly. For an example of curves that came out looking curved and not so chunky look at the parts printed for the Deutschland kits ( https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/superstructure-assembly-information.445286/ )
Can you post a pic? It kind of depends on how the model was designed and how it was exported into a format that the 3d printer could use. None of the commonly available 3d printers can print true circles but, one can usually get close enough.
In fusion 360 you have a refinement section under 3d print tab it allows you to change quality. STL's are built with only straight lines with no circular interpolation.
What everyone else has said so far. It's a mixture of the program being used, the slicer being used, the fact that .stl's only work in line segments, etc. I've made barbettes and such that are pretty round, but at the end of the day it's still a polygon vs a true circle.
In SketchUp you can change how many sides the circle you create has. Default is 27 sides if i remember correctly. For future reference for guys doing their own designs...Before you click where you want the circle you can change how many sides it has. Just type in a number (100 seems to be good enough) then click you center point to place the circle. [before you click to place the circle the number of sides is displayed in the bottom right corner.]
