I'm envious - you're having the kind of fun I'd LIKE to be having (I'm an n-scaler) It looks like they'll have the printers I can use by end of summer or next year though so for now it's Shapeways. All of these projects of yours have turned out excellent. I especially like the brick coloring of your bridge and well - very nice. Best Regards, -Mike
Mike, being a Frisco fan, are you attending the MoPac and Frisco joint convention this fall in Joplin? Kent in KC nvrr49@yahoo.com Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Afraid not. My annual travel budget was blown last month so I'll be limited to checking it out vicariously through those that post their experiences. Hopefully there will be several reports - I'll be looking! -Mike
I decided to play around and try to 3d print some glass blocks. I found a prototype building front in Memphis, and gave it a try. Design and construction details can be seen at: http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/08/memphis-store-front-3d-printed-glass.html Here is a shot of the finished building front.
My model of the Chilhowee State Bank, Chilhowee, MO. 3d printed in HO scale. Details on design and construction can be seen at: http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/08/chilhowee-state-bank-3d-printed-in-ho.html
Very nice. Having had some experience with 3D printing model railroad structures and details, I can well appreciate the time and planning you've put into this structure in order to produce it without support material. The design solution you used is ingenious. Having used a Stratasys machine with support material (not mine, unfortunately), I'm considering buying a machine eventually and I have to ask- How do you like the Afinia?
This structure was based on an early Gulf Oil filling station. The basic structure was done on a home Afinia printer, and the windows and doors were done at shapeways.com. Design and construction details can be seen at: http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/09/hexagon-gulf-gas-station-3d-printed.html
Based on the Cassville and Exeter depot in Cassville, MO. The main part of the structure was printed in one piece and took over 17 hours to print. Design and construction details can be seen at: http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/10/cassville-and-exeter-depot-3d-printed.html
That turned out great. I saw on the other thread you have an SLA printer on order - which one did you decide on? Your work here has convinced me I definitely need to get a 3D printer. I know I'd have a lot of fun with it! Due to limited funds though I'm pretty much decided to go with a Printrbot Metal. I like that it's "hackable" and some of the prints I've seen come off that thing look amazing (res down to .1mm) I do CNC milling for fun so I'm up to the challenge of calibration and testing and all the other things that go into making good prints from lower cost printers. Adding an SLA printer would definitely be a dream. Mike
Thank you for looking. I ordered a Titan 1 SLA printer from Kudo 3d, kudo3d.com. Now, they are about $3000, but I got in on the ground floor when it was a Kickstarter.com project. I believe I bought machine number 26, which at that time was $2000.
Nice! I think that's about the only consumer SLA out there with a generous enough build area to be suitable for railroading models. The print quality on it is incredible - presumably most of the gallery shots were 50 micron prints, some of the best prints I've seen on the consumer models. Hands down beats Shapeways quality. I've been keeping my eye on these guys lately, trying to do make an SLA printer without the projector, but by using an LCD screen instead. Part of me wonders if they're selling snake oil, but the other part of me is hopeful this really is coming. They were supposed to launch a Kickstarter at the end of this month but so far nada, and I can't find much else on them on the web which is surprising. Anyway, can't wait to see what you crank out when your Titan arrives!
Every once in a while, I take on a project just to see if I can figure out if I can 3d print it on my home printer. These projects fall in to that category. Here is a link to the designs and several failures. nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/11/just-giggles-6-auto-transmission-in-o.html?m=1
I don't think there would be a patent infringement however there could be an infringement if the prototype manufacturer trademarked the "shape" of the train car - I suppose. I think most of the auto manufacturers do this, thus are able to collect fees from model manufacturers that sell scale models. At the very least, a licensing agreement would be made if the manufacturer doesn't intend to collect money from sales. Train cars however, unless it was some really fancy, artistic train car it probably would not have a trademarked shape. I'm not a lawyer so I could be totally wrong. Cheers -Mike
Howdy. I have posted here before, but it's been a long time On my previous job, one of the few perks was access to a 3D printer (fused deposition type) but since then, I've been using Shapeways. Their selection of materials and processes makes for much better results and the availability of a store also makes it worthwhile. I've been using Autodesk Fusion 360 which isn't bad for the price. Having previously used AutoCAD and SolidWorks, I found Fusion 360 to be an easier transition than learning Sketchup. (Probably not the case for most folks.) Recently, I've been doing 1/87th vehicle stuff, but I've got a lot of older files (machine tools and other details that need to be upgraded to the finer detail now available). A few samples are shown below. (Please excuse the incomplete scenery.) I found a '58 ford farm truck on a farm equipment auction site, liked it, so "borrowed" the grain body w/folding livestock racks and designed it to fit on a CMW '60 Ford flatbed. Also shown is a simpler version (no livestock racks) on a '54 Ford kitbashed from CMW parts. Lower right is a replacement cab for the SP version on Roundhouse's old Harriman consolidation. This is the first step in converting the engine to a Grand Trunk Western 2600 series engine.
I've been working on 3D for a while and there is no end of what you can do! I found only one problem with the light weight plastic on some cars, and adding weight. there are a few people here working on 3D printed car using weight to control the running of cars. If you good at designing in 3D then this is a really fun and interesting thing to do. I don't have a 3D printer but use Shapeways because theyhave the better printer in doing fine details and many different types of material to print in. Here is one of my buildings photo attached also check out these models I have done since I started. the building photo has all models in the photo is 3D printed in Z scale 1:220 https://beta.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/z_scale/photos/photostream
The smaller scales (N & Z) work out well with Shapeways as the cost is more in line with what most people are willing to pay. Very nice modeling.