Support removal, by hand

A printer cannot lay plastic in mid-air. Any part of a model that overhangs needs support material printed underneath it — a disposable scaffold that gets broken away once the print is done.

Why we do not snap it off

Snapping supports off is fast and leaves torn surfaces where the support touched the model. On a figurine the size of a thumb, that torn patch is often right on the chin, the tail or the edge of a wing. We cut supports with flush cutters instead, working down to the contact points one at a time.

What happens after cutting

• Contact points are sanded with 400-grit, then 800-grit, until nothing catches a fingertip.
• The piece is checked under a bright light at an angle, which is the only way to see a leftover nub.
• Anything that needs more than light sanding gets reprinted rather than sold.

The printer makes the duck. The hand tools decide whether it is worth selling.

A gorilla duck takes about four minutes of cleanup. A full order of forty takes most of an afternoon. It is the reason our turnaround is measured in days rather than hours, and it is the reason a piece arrives with no rough spots to catch a sleeve.