Layer lines
go in.
A mirror
comes out.
Three Layeraser glass files at #12000 take the layer lines off. That is the product, and on most parts it is the whole job. Wheels, compound and a rotary tool are there if you want the mirror, and only if you do not already own them.
- 373 sold
- 4.9/5 from 175 reviews of these files
$49CAD
Free shipping to 38 countries · about a week · 30-day returns
MSF-13 · SF-15 · SF-16 · the three that ship
Three files.
That is the thing you buy.
Layeraser glass files, #12000. Tempered glass, not paper on a stick, so they cut clean and do not shed grit into the surface. Three shapes because a printed part is not one shape: a long flat, a shorter flat for the awkward reach, and a narrow one that gets into a corner without rounding the two faces beside it.
- 373 sold
- 4.9/5 from 175 reviews of these files
- Tempered glass at #12000, MSF-13, SF-15 and SF-16, each in its own case
Left by verified buyers of these files.
MSF-13
The short flat
90 × 13 × 3 mm · 8.3 g
Small faces and anywhere a long file cannot lie flat. The one that lives in a hand.
SF-15
The long flat
110 × 13 × 3 mm · 9.6 g
Panels and long straight faces. Rounded tip, so it will not dig in at the end of a stroke.
SF-16
The narrow one
110 × 13 × 3 mm · 9.4 g
Stepped tip for inside corners, slots and detail, without touching the faces either side.
Three of them, in their own cases, for $49.
Everything else
is an add-on.
The files get you to a clean, even, matte surface. If you want the mirror as well, that is a compound carried on a buffing wheel, spun by a rotary tool. Most people reading this already own the tool. Tick on whatever you are missing at checkout; skip all of it and the files still do their job.
01
Ten cotton buffing wheels on 1/8 inch shanks. These carry the compound
$12 CAD at checkout
02
Polishing compound, 30 ml. Made for cured resin and rigid plastics
$18 CAD at checkout
03
A cordless rotary tool, if you do not own one. Ships with felt polishing heads
$42 CAD at checkout
04
Sponge sanding discs, for knocking heavier layer lines down before the file
$19 CAD at checkout
Buy the files.
Add what you lack.
Forty-nine dollars puts three glass files in your hand, posted free almost everywhere. Wheels, compound, discs and a rotary tool are tick boxes on the next screen, priced one at a time, so nobody pays for a tool they already own.
Wheels, compound, discs and a rotary tool can be added at checkout · Free shipping to all 38 countries · 30-day returns on unused files · Arrives broken, we replace it and pay the postage back
Need one piece as well? See everything you can add: wheels, compound, sanding discs or a rotary tool, ticked on here.
Lines
Tempered glass, by hand, wet or dry. The layer lines come off here, and the part looks worse before it looks better. This is the step that decides whether anything after it is worth doing, and it is the one people quit on a minute early. Deep lines on a rough print, back a file with adhesive paper and take the height off first.
Mirror
Compound on a wheel, rotary tool running slow enough that the plastic never gets a chance to soften. Cotton wheels reach into printed geometry a flat car pad would never touch. Keep the head moving, and the haze lifts until you catch your own hand moving across the part.
The whole thing, in twenty-five seconds
Manual, hands-on work, the kind most people try to avoid, is where I do my best thinking. It clears space in my head for whatever I want to build next.
Three things that
decide the finish
Heat is the enemy
PLA starts going soft not far above a warm day. Park the wheel in one spot and you do not polish the part, you smear it. Keep the head moving, always, and let the part rest if it stops feeling cool.
Low speed wins
Every instinct says wind it up. Speed makes heat, and heat is the thing that ruins the surface. Start at the bottom of the range and only climb if nothing is happening.
Finish the cut first
The file has to fully remove the layer lines before the compound goes anywhere near the part. Compound over unfinished file work gives you a shiny surface with the lines still sitting in it.
Works on
- PLA
- Resin prints, once fully cured
- Other rigid printed plastics, which behave the same way. PLA and cured resin are the two run here
- Flat faces, gentle curves, chamfers, outer walls
Does not work on
- Internal channels and deep pockets no wheel reaches
- Gaps, layer separation and under-extrusion. Those are print problems, not finish problems, and no amount of polishing fixes them
- Anything that has to stay dimensionally exact. This removes material
The details
- What you buy
- Three Layeraser glass files at #12000 grit, each in its own case: MSF-13 at 90 mm, SF-15 at 110 mm with a rounded tip, SF-16 at 110 mm with a stepped tip for corners. All 13 mm wide and 3 mm thick. Wet or dry. Rinse and brush them clean and the cut comes back, so they keep going. Each doubles as a sanding stick if you back it with adhesive paper
- Buffing wheels
- Optional, $12 CAD at checkout. Ten cotton wheels on 1/8 inch shanks. Only needed for the polishing pass
- Compound
- Optional, $18 CAD at checkout. 30 ml, made for cured resin and rigid plastics. This is the medium the buffing wheels carry, and the part that actually produces the mirror
- Rotary tool
- Optional. Anything with a 1/8 inch or 3 mm collet runs the wheels, so a Dremel you already own will do. If you need one, ours is $42 CAD at checkout and ships with felt polishing heads of its own
- Materials
- PLA and cured resin, both tested. Other rigid filaments behave the same way.
- Not for
- Internal channels and deep pockets, or anything that has to stay dimensionally exact
- What wears out
- Nothing you buy here. Glass does not wear like paper: rinse the files, brush them, and the cut comes back. If you take up the polishing pass, the wheels and the compound are what get used up, and both can be added to an order whenever you need them: ten wheels for $12 CAD, a bottle of compound for $18 CAD.
- Shipping
- Free, with no surcharge anywhere, to all 38 countries the files reach: Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the EU including Germany and France, plus Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Israel, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. The files are light, which is the whole reason that list is as long as it is. Add-ons are the part that varies: the compound will not go to South Africa, and the rotary tool reaches 34 of the 38, so checkout only offers you what can actually be posted to your address. Allow about a week, and expect the pieces on different days when you order more than one.
- Returns
- 30 days if unused, you pay return postage. Anything broken or faulty is refunded or replaced and we pay the postage both ways
Everything you can add
Every one of these is added to an order at checkout, alongside the files.
Each piece still ships from its own place, so more than one thing means more than one parcel and
they can arrive on different days. Postage is the same either way, and it is one screen rather
than four.
The files ship to all 38 countries, the EU included,
Germany and France among them. The add-ons
are narrower: no courier will carry the polishing compound to South Africa,
and the rotary tool reaches 34 of the 38. Checkout offers you only what can
reach your address.
Fair questions
What does it work on?
Shipping and returns
Shipping is free, with no surcharge anywhere, and takes about a week, to all 38 countries the files reach: the EU included, Germany and France among them, and South Africa too. The add-ons are the narrower part: the polishing compound cannot go to South Africa, and the rotary tool reaches 34 of the 38. Checkout only offers what can actually reach your address, so you will not be sold something that cannot arrive.
Changed your mind. Send it back inside 30 days and we refund it in full. You cover the return postage, and it has to come back unused: files unused, compound unopened. Once it has been on a part it is yours.
Broken or faulty. That one is on us. Email a photo to [email protected] inside 30 days and we refund or replace it. We also pay the postage to get the faulty one back to us. It goes back up the chain, which is the only way a fault gets fixed at the source instead of shipping to the next person.
What runs out, and what does it cost to replace?
How long does a part take?
Will it melt my print?
Will it round my edges off?
Take one printed part
and finish it properly.
Free shipping almost everywhere. 30 days to send it back unused.
Tej builds and tests far more than reaches a shop. Leave an address and you will hear when the next one is ready. Nothing else, ever.