3 D Printing 16mm models

[ge_rik]

Wow! That level of detail is really impressive. I don't think it's achievable with TinkerCAD and my £80 printer somehow ......

Rik

[Trevor Thompson]

My latest project for the printer is a model of the original station building at Tan y bwlch.

I haven't been able to get there to take measurements for obvious reasons, so it has all had to be based on photographs from the internet. I managed to find views of each face of the building.

This is the sketch model I have created:

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Because I am limited to 150 x 150 x 150 mm on the printer it had to be printed in sections. I created a solid floor to build the model around. That is in 5 pieces:

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and the other side with the first three sections of wall erected:

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and the current state of progress:

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More as it develops!

[ge_rik]

Interesting. Are you using ABS?

Rik

[Trevor Thompson]

Yes it is ABS.

I have persevered with that roll of white ABS which I was having problems using. A new bed surface and setting the extruder zero position closer to the bed seems to have done the trick. In fact bed adhesion is now so strong that I am having problems separating the finished section from the bed - but that is better than making scrap when the section lets go of the bed!

It is taking a while to print of course. Some sections which include doors are taking 8 hours.

Trevor

[ge_rik]

My latest effort....

Drawn in TinkerCAD and printed off.

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The roof (and floor) are plasticard as it seemed daft to 3D print large expanses of undetailed sheet plastic. The wheels are Lilliput metal spoked as I'm not entirely sure about the efficacy of 3D printing wheels (waddyafink?). There's still a bit of tidying-up to do and, of course, it needs painting, but I think it gives a feel for the early Southwold Railway van on which it is based.

Rik

[Peter Butler]

That looks really good Rik, not too much cleaning up required according to the pictures.... the camera never lies; does it?
I certainly agree about not printing plain, flat areas, it s easier and quicker to cut HIP for that.

[philipy]

That is very nice Rik, well done.

I have printed wheels once, in ABS. They look fine but I've never actually incorporated them in a model because I had ( have?) the same reservations. Also of course they have no weight in adhesion terms.

[Trevor Thompson]

Ah wheels!

I have gone over entirely to printing wheels - apart for those for live steam models.

I have complete control over the diameter, spoke arrangement and profile. I can even experiment with non standard wheel profiles knowing I can just throw them away if they don't work out.

The only issue is to ensure that they run true on the axles. I have plenty ( a large pile ) of wheels which didn't run true because I didn't draw them the correct way. I am fairly confident that I can now get 85% of the wheels to run true, but I still get some that wobble on the axle and I don't know why. I make them all the same way from the same files, and ream them in the lathe, as well as pressing the axles on in the lathe.

I don't see why plastic wheels commercially made should be acceptable and the ones I print at home shouldn't be. If they run true and are round that is!

I am also printing chopper couplings and they seem fine. Even the hooks work - although I am quite prepared to make them from brass if the plastic ones break (which seems quite likely).

4415, the wren, the coaches and the wagons I have described are all running on printed wheels. They work fine as far as I can see so far!

Floors and roofs? I have been printing those as well. I agree that it might be just as easy to use plastic sheet. I would have to buy that though. If the floor incorporates the framework then the complete wagon base can be printed in one go. The printed roof also has the correct profile - and actually the roof is the easy bit. On its end it prints really well. All those models mentioned in the last paragraph have printed roofs.

Trevor

Oh I also think that wagon is pretty good Rick.

[Trevor Thompson]

Latest printing progress.

The couplings for Linda ( see thread in the live steam section):

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I am sure those hooks will fail eventually - but lets see how long they last! The BIG advantage is that every coupling is the same. They will all engage accurately. I am standardising on these for locos and coaches. They also connect to wagons with the correct wagon couplings.

And the station building has all its walls assembled:

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It is amazing how large a scale model of something real actually is! Internal walls and ceilings are to be added not for appearance but to impart rigidity to the model.

Trevor

[ge_rik]

Those choppers look well engineered. Are they sprung to return to centre?

Rik

[Trevor Thompson]

No they just lie where they want to. Doesn't seem a problem.

Trevor

[Trevor Thompson]

I have fitted skeleton internal walls and skeleton ceilings into the station building to stiffen it.

I am now in the process of printing and fitting roof trusses into position:

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and I have started to detail the roof sections prior to printing:

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Trevor

[Trevor Thompson]

The roof trusses are all finished and installed:

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and I have updated the slate profile to agree with the photos:

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First roof section is now printing. It will take 9 hours.

As an aside I have just started to use a new supply of ABS filament. It is from a different supplier and it seems to be printing at a lower temperature and more reliably. Perhaps I should stick to this supplier in future!

Trevor

[Tropic Blunder]

That van looks the bees knees Rik very clean printing on the planks with little stiration im very impressed. Trevor your buildings fantastic! what temp are you printing that ABS at?

[Trevor Thompson]

That van looks the bees knees Rik very clean printing on the planks with little stiration im very impressed. Trevor your buildings fantastic! what temp are you printing that ABS at?

I am printing it with the extruder at 225 degrees, and the bed at 100 degrees. That is dependent on the source of the filament. I was having problems printing the previous reel of white ABS with the extruder at 235 degrees.

I also think Riks van looks very crisply printed - is that the new printer Rik?

Trevor

[ge_rik]

...... - is that the new printer Rik?

Hi Trevor
Yes. The body was done on the new printer and the chassis on the old one. I'm trying something called 'ironing' in Cura which is supposed to give a smooth final layer. The van was done before I started playing with ironing. I'm not sure I've got the settings right for ironing as the finish is sometimes worse than without it.

Rik

[philipy]

I'm trying something called 'ironing' in Cura which is supposed to give a smooth final layer. The van was done before I started playing with ironing. I'm not sure I've got the settings right for ironing as the finish is sometimes worse than without it.

I always leave 'ironing' on and I think it does give a better finish where there are largish flat top surfaces, but if the top is a small area it doesn't seem to be noticeable. It doesn't do anything for angles or vertical surfaces, or for intermediate flat areas. I've been playing with an open wagon body recently but even with ironing on, the wagon floor is still showing print striations.
As I'm sure you know, it works by running a second pass over the final layer with the nozzle heat on but no filament being ejected. This just lightly re-fuses the final layer and evens out the striations. I think it works best with an increased number of top layers and/or higher infill %. If the number of layers is low then some of the heat of that ironing pass gets to heat up the trapped air inside and with the surface hot, 'pillowing' occurs.

[Trevor Thompson]

I am making good progress with the station building. The roof panels are printing well so far. The triangular profile of the lower edge of the slates is (as far as I can tell from photos) pretty close to the shape of the original slates.

So three views of the roof so far:

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There will be ridge tiles to go over the ridges of the roof - so I am ignoring the slight gaps along the ridge.

I am particularly pleased with the roof on the porch.

Trevor

[philipy]

An FR-ish Tipper because I drew it up from photos not actual drawings and I know some bits aren't quite right.
However, first the kit of 3D printed parts:

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The real thing:

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[Trevor Thompson]

That is VERY nice!

Trevor