3D Printing

[nkp746]

Hello all- brand new member here, and I can see I will learn A LOT from this forum. I am modeling the Reading RR in HO scale, and have come across some unique RDG items that I cannot find commercially. One is an Ellis bumper- used like the common Hayes bumper but the Ellis style is basically a set of concrete and wood support parts and a cast iron part used to secure the two rails. I think I can create the concrete and wood parts from wood and plastic- they are basically just rectangular shapes. The cast iron part is a different story...

Reading the recent threads on 3D printing has amazed me- what a wonderful technology to be available to us! Got me thinking that I might just be able to get this cast iron part this way. I want to understand if I have the concept correct- I think I do, but want to be sure I understand this:

1. Need a 3D drawing in a certain file format
2. This file is sent to the vendor
3. The vendor prints the parts and mails them to you

If this is the process, seems the hardest part is getting the 3D drawing. I have the 2D drawings- the parts I need are in a book of Reading RR Maintenance of Way items, they are official Engineering drawings from the RDG's archives. So, is "all" I need to do is get these in 3D and I am pretty much ready to go?

My mind is racing with possible parts for this process. I have several already, and am about to hop on a plane for a three hour flight and will be thinking of others...wow, this is exciting.

Thanks, and I am looking forward to reading over the various posts- tons of good stuff here!

Rob Bennett

[W.P. Rayner]

That's it in a nutshell Rob and welcome to the forum. Creating the 3D drawing is of course the primary task which requires specialized software. There are 3D software applications available to suit every budget and computer system, from free applications such as Google Sketchup to professional level applications such as SolidWorks, 3dsMax, Cobalt and many others. There are many informative threads here where you can see examples of work produced with a range of applications. If you have experience with 2D CAD work on computer, it's not too difficult, using one of the basic free programs, to create simple 3D objects. In order to be printed in 3D though, the software needs to be able to generate an STL file of the drawing which runs the printer. Naturally, it's never quite as simple as it sounds, there are many, many other issues that have to be taken into account while doing the drawing in order to achieve the quality of result you are after. To draw a parallel with sculpture, a sculptor was once asked how to sculpt an elephant in marble. He replied, "Oh that's easy. Start with a large block of marble and remove all the bits that don't look like an elephant." While basically true, it's a little more complicated than that...  

Paul

[marc_reusser]

Welcome Rob,

Since you have original plans/drawings, you can easily re-create them in 2D CAD, and then import that drawing into one of the free (or low cost) 3D programs, and there-in simply extrude or form it into a 3D drawing/item. You will need to take into account how you do your 3D drawing objects, insofar as making sure you create the right blocks/components so that you can easily convert them to individual parts or parts on a sprue...that will then easily be assembled once printed....not at all hard to do just takes some thinking ahead.


Marc

[eTraxx]

Yeah. I know .. this thread is old .. but .. what the heck. Unlike successful people like W.P. and Marc, I'm retired Army. That means I have to do it 'on the cheap'. I'm in the middle of kitbashing an On30 bridge from a HO Central Valley bridge kit. I need four bridge shoes so I found a drawing of a shoe via Google Books and .. modeled one in Sketuchp. I just uploaded the file to CadSpan so they can fix any problems and created a .stl file. Just for 'grins' I ordered four copies from Shapeways.com. I know .. their products are crude. Hey .. for $25, I got four bridge shoes in their 'fine detail' and then three flat belt pulleys, an oven door frame and four 'feet' for my coal breaker all of these in Shapeways "White, strong and flexible" (whatever that means). I just wanted to see how 'crude' these parts are. Worth it to me (I blame the beer).

Anyhoo. I use the free version of Sketchup .. and with the CadSpan plugin .. is fine.

Bridge Shoe



Just saying. If you got the cash .. go for the good stuff. W.P. does some crazy good 3D .. if not .. the free Sketchup works pretty darn good .. for free.

[marc_reusser]

Ed, Nice drawing. look forward to seeing the rusults of your endeavour.

BTW., "Successful" is a very relative and potentially elusive term....especially in this economy

Marc

[W.P. Rayner]

Agreed, nicely done Ed. The tools you use aren't nearly as important as what you do with the tools at your disposal and within a short time period you've developed the skills to produce clean, concise, well-thought-out drawings of your parts and structure projects. Excellent work...

BTW., "Successful" is a very relative and potentially elusive term....especially in this economy
Marc

Ain't that the truth, though I suppose managing to cling tenaciously to the brink does imply a certain level of success in this lemming economy...  

Paul

[eTraxx]

The printing on the bridge shoe got canceled .. I missed a bit that was too small for Shapeways to print. I shrugged and forgot about it. Just got this lnik via email ..

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/812-Introducing-new-smooth-high-detail-material.html

They now have a "Frosted Ultra Detail" ..

Minimum wall thickness - 0.7 mm
Minimum detail thickness - 0.3 mm
Price $4.39/cm3

They say that they are "offering Frosted Detail materials on a trial basis for 8 weeks. If the community response is positive, we will keep this material permanent"

Since we have been avoiding Shapeways because of the lack of resolution in the 3d prints this might be worth looking into.

Here's the material's page
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/frosted_detail

[eTraxx]

Got my first prints in from Shapeways using their Frosted Ultra Detail material.

I had two items printed .. a frame for my coke oven and a bridge shoe. (all O scale)

Coke Oven Frame

This iron frame was used around the opening to the oven to keep from damaging the brickwork. I originally had a print from PAP last year. Here's a pic from back then. Have got a better camera for taking close-up photos since but this gives an idea of the size



Much better photo ..



.. and here's the same file as printed by Shapeways in FUD.



Both of them side-by-side. They have both warped a bit from lacking any structure that would give support. What I see .. is that the Shapeways print matches the PAP print in resolution.



I'm not concerned with that since they will be constrained within brickwork

[eTraxx]

Bridge Shoe

The bridge shoe was a modification of a design I found of a Boller and Hodge shoe for #454 bridge.



I was playing "catch up" as I screwed up and was designing a shoe for a bridge seat height that was already cast. Oops.



.. and here are the results .....









In the past we discussed Shapeways and their prints didn't have the resolution that we wanted. That's changed ..

I only had the two files uploaded so I just had enough printed to fill the $25 minimum from Shapeways. That includes shipping. I got 9 ea of the shoes and 20 ea of the oven frames (I need 16). Pretty happy.

Of course .. once I apply paint I can see how well they turned out. Luckily .. I have xtra pieces to play with.

[finescalerr]

So these are 1:48 parts? The photos suggest they require virtually no cleanup. Would you agree or will that only be evident after you paint them? Finally, how durable do they seem? -- Russ

[eTraxx]

Other then the color it appears much like the blue acrylic that PAP printed in. Here's the Properties sheet link ..

http://www.shapeways.com/topics/udesign/materials/frosted_detail/material_specs_frosteddetails.pdf

Edit: another pic



Here's a link to a thread in their forum. Guy had two 1:144 tanks printed and then painted w/Tamiya. One in FD and one in FUD

http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=5236&start=0&

Left is FUD and right is FD. The FD shows layering.


FD = Frosted Detail ... 0.5mm minimum wall thickness and 0.2mm minimum detail thickness
FUD - Frosted Ultra Detail ... 0.3mm minimum wall thickness and 0.1mm minimum detail thickness

[marc_reusser]

Great info. Thanks.

Marc

[eTraxx]

This is sooooo Cool!

Refer back to the 6" Gate Valves I made by hand ..


I uploaded the original Sketchup drawing I had done as a .stl file to Shapeways. This is their rendering on the website


.. and this is them printed. I didn't try to model the bolt heads as the 'plan' was to use NBW glued on. Thinking I may go back and see if I can add them to the next print. Still .. all I need is a #000-120 threaded screw and a handwheel and .. I may be prejudiced but the WOW factor is something else. IMO.


In this extreme close-up the layering is visible. It's exaggerated somewhat as I sharpened the photo but I image a coat of primer/paint will go a long way to smooth that out.

[finescalerr]

Satisfactory. Thanks for that post. -- Russ

[eTraxx]

I also got this in today. It's for a Coke Oven bank I am building.
-----
Got in most of the prints for the Coke Oven. One is due in tomorrow (shrug .. best I can tell they are shipping ONE part).

The left column .. some light banding on the face of the brick. A light sanding with 600 grit sandpaper should fix that. Looks terrible but you gotta look at the scale .. those mortar joints are .010" .. I figure that banding might be at most .002" deep.


The large brick arch. Again some banding that should clean up.


Small brick arch. Not much to say .. except .. I ordered two of these. One in FUD (Frosted Ultra Detail) and one in a White, Flexible and Strong. I *think* this is a FUD print.
http://images49.fotki.com/v1458/photos/2/1709102/9721938/shpSmallArch-vi.jpg

Assembled them loosely including the iron frame.




and used Dude to give some perspective as to the size of these. Oh .. and the penny too.


If forget .. what was used to clean the acetate from PAP? Lacquer thinner was is?