SL(Stereolithography) part is made by piling up thin layers which causes the stair stepping effect at the surface of SL parts. The effect brings about excessive surface roughness and cuts down the merits of using SL part. Hence, additional post-machining finishing such as traditional grinding is required. But the traditional post-machining is detrimental to part geometry and time consuming. In this study, therefore, a paraffin coating and grinding post-machining is newly proposed to improve the surface quality of SL part. The paraffin which has suitable properties for the proposed post-machining is coated all over the part surface. By grinding the only over-coated paraffin based on boundary of the SL part surface, the surface roughness can be improved without any damage on the part. Also, it is verified that SL part finished by the proposed post-machining process can be applied for rapid tooling as pattern through manufacturing silicon rubber molding and casting test.
