Quote Originally Posted by gadget_greg View Post
Solder the plastic pieces? With what?

I've heard people talk about ABS glue and also something to smooth out the striations. Do you know what they're talking about?
Both PLA and ABS can easily be glued with cyanoacrylate glue (CA / superglue). Also, ABS is easily dissolved in acetone, so that can be used to glue pieces together. Just put some on a flat surface and press together. It seems to work for PLA too, but I guess it's not as strong (acetone does _something_ to PLA, but it does not dissolve). It's even easier if you prepare an "ABS juice" solution, just dissolve some leftover bits of ABS in acetone. Works even better for gluing stuff together, and can also be used for making tricky pieces (large flat bottom surfaces that warp easily) stick to the print bed better.

Also, basically any thermoplastic can be "soldered" together with heat. I sometimes use a soldering iron (on relatively low heat) to repair or smooth out things gone wrong during printing, and also tried bending pieces after warming them up with a heat gun.

It's hard to describe exactly how it's done, just print some test pieces (or use failed prints) and experiment with.