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Sanding 3D Carves?
Are there any tricks to sanding the tool marks in 3D designs like this? It came off the machine reasonably smooth but there are some areas that could use some finishing.
It depends on the material and the topography of the area you're trying to sand. I've had decent success with a sanding sponge for larger areas with less dynamic surfaces. For more dynamic surfaces, I usually reach for my dremel. Be careful with the dremel though because sometimes it can be a little too good at removing material.
You could also use a smaller stepover value for the finishing pass if you're willing to spend more time carving.
Does anyone know the difference between the "Carved" status and the "Finished" status? I noticed this one is in the "Finished category but I'm not sure what that means.
They are meant to convey the status. If the project has successful carves it's automatically put in the "Carved" state upon publishing. I manually updated it to "Finished" since I considered it finished. We don't really have any mechanism right now to encourage users to update project state.
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Comments
Sanding 3D Carves? Are there any tricks to sanding the tool marks in 3D designs like this? It came off the machine reasonably smooth but there are some areas that could use some finishing.
John McWhirterPro · March 24, 2026
It depends on the material and the topography of the area you're trying to sand. I've had decent success with a sanding sponge for larger areas with less dynamic surfaces. For more dynamic surfaces, I usually reach for my dremel. Be careful with the dremel though because sometimes it can be a little too good at removing material. You could also use a smaller stepover value for the finishing pass if you're willing to spend more time carving.
Natalie SturdyPro · March 24, 2026
Super cool design btw!
Natalie SturdyPro · March 24, 2026
Oh I hadn't even considered a dremel, that's a good idea.
John McWhirterPro · March 25, 2026
I would also recommend a Dremel. It's my go-to any time that I need to sand in finer spaces and feel that sanding by hand will take a while.
CJPro · March 25, 2026
A sanding sponge like this might fit to the contours of the surface youtube.com/shorts/6zUtfGWgVd0
Zach KaplanPro · March 26, 2026
Does anyone know the difference between the "Carved" status and the "Finished" status? I noticed this one is in the "Finished category but I'm not sure what that means.
Zach KaplanPro · May 21, 2026
They are meant to convey the status. If the project has successful carves it's automatically put in the "Carved" state upon publishing. I manually updated it to "Finished" since I considered it finished. We don't really have any mechanism right now to encourage users to update project state.
John McWhirterPro · May 21, 2026
So finished is currently a personal choice indicating you John aren't doing more work on it?
Zach KaplanPro · May 21, 2026
That's what I took it to mean 😅
John McWhirterPro · May 21, 2026
Want to see if your email looks better now for chat notifications
Brian AdlePro · May 27, 2026
We refined it and made the subject ownership aware.
Brian AdlePro · May 28, 2026
You can now filter community posts to make it easier to keep up with the conversations that are more relevant to you. If you set the filter to "Unread" you have the option to mark all as read.
John McWhirterPro · July 01, 2026