Garden Railway Forum

That does look impressive and sounds it with 1.3kg of filament. Wow!
I hadn't realised that PLA is biodegradable until recently, whereas ABS isn't. Are you intending to leave the footbridge outside all the time?

Rik

ge_rik wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2020 1:10 pm
I hadn't realised that PLA is biodegradable until recently, whereas ABS isn't. Are you intending to leave the footbridge outside all the time?

PLA is allegedly biodegradable, which is why I switched to ABS after initial prints, but then I changed back to PLA subsequently, and I've had no problems with my PLA prints that have been outside continuously for 3years. I did have a door warp, but it is in the full glare of the afternoon summer sun and wasn't glued to the structure all the way round. I think the problem was more heat warping than biodegrading.

Yes I am planning to leave it outside all the time. I have some space indoors for winter storage, and perhaps in the future will have more. However there is a limit to how many large structures you can find room for.

The engineering workshop is a wooden model so that will have to go indoors in the winter. The durability of ABS is part of my thought process. I do hope to leave the ABS buildings outside all of the time.

I have just started to print the water tank, and I have prepared the CAD files for the wooden fencing. and am about to design a model of the original station masters house (which is still there).

More on those to follow.

Trevor

Here is the CAD drawing for the water tower and tank. The plinth is a stone plinth - which seems solid from the photos. I have based on photographs of the one at Tan-y Bwilch prior to preservation:
And the tank printed out. Each side took 3 hours to print, and the bottom 4 hours. It is watertight:

The plinth is printing out - and each side takes 4 hours. It will be tomorrow evening before it is completed. I am planning to add the stone detail using one of those stencils, and grey floor tile grout.

Trevor

That tank looks very nice Trevor. I've been thinking I ought to provide watering facilities on mine but never seem to get around to it. Perhaps you've inspired me!

Trevor Thompson wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:28 pm The plinth is printing out - and each side takes 4 hours. It will be tomorrow evening before it is completed. I am planning to add the stone detail using one of those stencils, and grey floor tile grout.

One of the first things I ever drew and printed was stone platform facing ( see https://gardenrails.org/viewtopic.php?f ... ng#p126127 ). The bright orange PLA came with the printer but was tamed by a couple of coats of 'Cotswold stone" effect dollshouse paint.
This is what it looked like when it first went outside:
...and this morning after a couple of years permanently outside and 24 hours continuous rain:

Looks great - presumably a coat of paint helps with durability.
A couple of questions. Did you need supports for the picket fencing or were the spaces between palings spanned OK by the printer? Are the parts on Thingiverse, by any chance?

Rik

Rik,
I printed the fence modules 2 together and face down without support. The posts are actually halved so they that just glue side by side subsequently.

In Cura, from the top:
In Cura, from the bottom:
No, none of them are on Thingiverse but if you want them I'll ping them over, no problem.
As well as the plain fence panels there are also angled ramp panels but they would probably be different angles to what you would need, and there are also individual posts so that a panel can be cut to fit a small space.
I suppose I could put them up, but back then I wasn't confident enough to expose myself(!!) and just never got into the habit.

EDITED to add: You've prodded me into now putting the fence panels and individual posts onto Thingiverse!!

Just catching up on this thread. So much inspiration here, having seen some of Trevor's models close up I was already eying a 3D printer as something to learn for a winter project (as if I need an additional one!) No doubt about it, I'm going to have to do it!

4415 looks fantastic Trevor, I love it.

The bridge is extraordinarily impressive - 1.3kg, how long did that take to print? It looks just the part, the modifications to take pedestrians up higher than the Tan-y-Bwlch prototype are very much of a piece!

philipy wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 2:31 pm ... You've prodded me into now putting the fence panels and individual posts onto Thingiverse!!

Thanks Philip. It'll be a great addition. I'm sure it wouldn't take me long to draw them in TinkerCAD, but ..... well you know

Rik
PS. Liking the look of the water tower BTW. And that platform edging looks superb. So many ideas for printing.
PPS. I bought a battery operated working-light for the caravan - and have just drawn and printed a bracket so I can attach it to the ceiling. Amazing the uses a 3D printer can be put to!!

Rik, Phil

If you want the files for the water tank you are welcome to the original Sketchip file or the stl files.

Rik, our motorhome habitation door catch broke and while it was under warranty I printed a replacement. I added a stainless plate to take the rotational stresses of pulling as you open the door. I never bothered with the warranty replacement because I think my part overcame the design fault in th eoriginal. As you say really useful bit of kit!

Trevor

SimonWood wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:17 pm Just catching up on this thread. So much inspiration here, having seen some of Trevor's models close up I was already eying a 3D printer as something to learn for a winter project (as if I need an additional one!) No doubt about it, I'm going to have to do it!

4415 looks fantastic Trevor, I love it.

The bridge is extraordinarily impressive - 1.3kg, how long did that take to print? It looks just the part, the modifications to take pedestrians up higher than the Tan-y-Bwlch prototype are very much of a piece!

Thanks Simon, How long to print? - about a week almost non stop. Each of the floor sections took just over 4 hours, and most of the side pieces 3 and a bit hours. The stair cases were quicker as the sides were printed as separate lengths and the treads as individual treads. The sides incorporate slots to locate the treads.

I have just finished priming the water tower. This is it so far:
Quite a bit of painting to go!

Trevor

Not as ambitious as other posts on the thread, but I'm feeling pleased with the outcome. I decided some of my through stations needed another running-in board as, at the moment they have only one in the middle of the platform rather than one at each end. So, a quick bit of fiddling with TinkerCAD and here's the result:

Two yet to be printed . .
..... and one done so far.... .
The stations with island platforms have double-sided nameboards.

Got plenty of other 3D projects in the pipeline

Rik

Those name boards look vert crisp and clean. Very Nice.

Such an easy way to get the letter spacing correct - and the typeface constant! Well it is when you have worked out how to do it!

Trevor

Very nice Rik.
What are the dimensions of the BULKELEY board?

An update on the bridge and the water tower. Both are now painted.

Firstly details on the water tower. The water supply pipe is fitted, a length of 3mm copper pipe with 0.8mm brass wire supports. In the same place and arranged in the same way as on the prototype:
I have yet to make a water outlet pipe. Not quite sure how to do it yet, but its likely to be a working brass valve turned up on the lathe. It might as well actually function. The tank in place:
And finally the bridge in place:
Trevor

philipy wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:37 pm Very nice Rik.
What are the dimensions of the BULKELEY board?

Hi Philip
The Bulkeley nameboards are 116mm x 24mm x 3.5mm

The above is the third attempt as the first two started to bend upwards at the ends. I tried increasing the width of the brim to improve adhesion but in the end I discovered the bed needed re-levelling (yet again!!). This is an issue with my cheapo printer. The bed seems to require re-levelling at regular intervals. Sometimes it can be a couple of weeks before it needs re-adjustment but this week it's needed to be done after each print. Not sure why, might be the vibration from the stepper motors or the plywood frame flexing (or both). However, for £80 I expected it would be far from perfect.

I'm considering the Creality CR-6 for my next acquisition. I was going for the Ender 3 Pro, but the CR-6 has auto bed levelling as standard and a few other enhancements. Having served my apprenticeship on a cheapo printer, I think I deserve a bit of a treat for Christmas.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 12:29 pm The bed seems to require re-levelling at regular intervals. Sometimes it can be a couple of weeks before it needs re-adjustment but this week it's needed to be done after each print.

I think thats pretty much par for the course across most, if not all, makes. Of course it's more obvious if you are printing something tall. I find that keeping an eye on the first layer and seeing how much it is either squashed onto the bed or sitting on top almost loose, is a pretty good indicator before wasting too much time and filamemt.
I think the leverage sometimes required to get the print off the bed can certainly affect the levelling.

All that about levelling is very interesting.

I don't have to level the bed on my printer. Whether it does it automatically or not I have no idea.

The only issue I have ( and I have gone through probably 8kg of filament now ) is the adhesive cover on the print bed wearing out. Cleaning the bed with acetone certainly helps as does sanding it if it is that bad. I have also tried the self adhesive pads form eBay, but they cost almost as much as the correct replacement part.

I have just ordered the third flexible bed top plate, which comes with the adhesive cover already attached, for £15 direct from China. In fact I have ordered 2 so I have a spare.

My QidiTech One has a blue plastic sheet glued ( with 3M double side tape) to the heated aluminium bed. The bed is leveled by adjusting three spring loaded screws under the plate and manually moving the extruder around and tweaking the screws with a supplied plastic sheet between the headand bed. It can be a bit of a 'mare sometimes if I tweak the screws too much at a time and get things out of whack, but generally it isn't more than a few mins work. However most of the time I just switch on and set it printing, it's rarely far enough out to bother about levelling.

When I first got the m/c it took me a while to get the bed temp and print temp worked out but since then I haven't needed to change them even when changing filament suppliers ( I go for the cheapest at the time on Amazon, using my wife's Prime account!).

At first I found I need to use a raft to get things to stick and sometimes even that was no good. Then I tried glue stick on the bed, as recommended by the manufacturers and various 'experts'. That worked but I ended up with a rough/cratered layer of dried glue that I couldn't get off. I also tried blue painters tape, with some limited success.

Eventually I decided to change the blue plastic cover sheet ( a spare was supplied with the machine) and after that I found that without adding anything, the prints stick to the bed every time with no glue or tape and no rafts, skirts or brims.

I guess in total I've used about 6 x 1Kg reels (that's 0.75Kg of actual filament each, of course).