More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by markoteal » Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:16 am

Phillip - thanks for sharing your journey in 3D printing - I'm really enjoying it - I've downloaded Sketch Up for my Mac - are there any good tutorials own youtube you'd recommend with the model maker (rather than architect) in mind??

Love the fences and as you said, aside from the costs, the key advantage is getting something that you exactly need
Where did I put that uncoupler?

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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Mon Jul 03, 2017 11:46 am

Mark,

To be honest I can't really answer that question. There certainly are Youtube video's aimed at specific topics like "How do I mirror an object", etc, but I've never looked for modeller aimed ones specifically. All I didf was to go through the 4 basic introductory videos on the Sketchup site and then look for info on a particular topic if I get stuck - sometimes thats on the SU help site and sometimes Youtube.

BTW, the biggest problem that I've found is in making a 3D drawing "solid", just because it looks solid doesn't mean it is! There is a plugin for SU called Solid Inspector 2 which helps to some extent and sometimes can automatically fix things, although sometimes it does that by just deleting the offending bits - don't despair, just go to Edit and undelete the change, but you are still left with trying to identify the problem and correct it manually. I've got into the habit of running the Inspector fairly frequently, that way you can pick up problems before they get too embedded to be easily correctable.
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by markoteal » Mon Jul 03, 2017 3:53 pm

Cheers Phil for the feedback - I'll have a scout around
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:00 pm

Whilst waiting for some paint to dry ( literally) I thought I'd have a go at a subject that always bugs me when making a building - Rainwater Goods. It's such a basic item on a building and yet the trade offerings are pretty much non-existent as far as I know, apart from some undersized stuff from one of the German plastic kit manufacturers.

I'm fairly pleased with my first attempt, although it does need more work on the drawings to get the bits to mate more neatly, and obviously need to draw up the downpipe, swan necks and brackets.
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by Peter Butler » Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:19 pm

When you have perfected those put my name on your list of potential customers..... as you say, difficult to source and fiddly to make.
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?

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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Wed Jul 05, 2017 5:57 pm

Peter Butler wrote: Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:19 pm When you have perfected those put my name on your list of potential customers..... as you say, difficult to source and fiddly to make.
Will do, but don't hold your breath. :)
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Thu Jul 06, 2017 4:19 pm

Spurred on by Peter's kind comment, I've had a go at the swan-neck and downpipe brackets. I think the ribbed collars at the ends look a bit too hefty?

The downpipe itself is a length of Plastruct 4.8mm OD tube or rod ( actually its a cheap Chinese lookalike!), I can't see any point in trying to make a basic item like that. So on that basis, I've adopted that as a standard when it comes to sizing components. I started at 5mm diam. for the gutter yesterday, so its pretty close anyway.
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by tom_tom_go » Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:00 pm

Post away Phil, it is very interesting.

If my day job did not involve computers I would be buying a 3D printer right now :thumbup:

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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by ge_rik » Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:45 am

Get thee behind me! This thread is really tempting me - though I'd have to sell something to fund it.

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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:53 am

ge_rik wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:45 am though I'd have to sell something to fund it.

Rik
The wife?
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by ge_rik » Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:26 pm

philipy wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:53 am
ge_rik wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:45 am though I'd have to sell something to fund it.

Rik
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Are you sure you don't have horns and a pointy tail?

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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:41 pm

ge_rik wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:26 pm
Are you sure you don't have horns and a pointy tail?

Rik
Nah, but I HAVE got a 3d printer! :twisted:
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by markoteal » Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:00 pm

Loving the pipes! Looking good - I also would happy to be a customer - until I can sort out myself a printer out
Where did I put that uncoupler?

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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Mon Jul 10, 2017 10:04 am

Ok, have had a weekend drawing and also experimenting with machine settings, most of which just proved the old adage...If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I'm sorting out what I want for the station building, to go with all the platform bits and pieces. Have got the doors and windows drawn up, but did have some print problems, mainly down to errors in my 3D drawing abilities - more of that later.

Wondering what else I could sensibly 3D print, yesterday afternoon, I suddenly thought "Ah, chimney pots". Went searching t'web and came across a site full of them http://www.chimneypot.com/catalogAll.cfm
Although its a US company, many of the actual pots look generically familiar to my eye and many reference UK towns, so I assume that's where the designs originated.

So some drawing hours later to translate a photo into a reasonably representative drawing, followed by 30minutes or so on the printer, and I have this ( alongside the original picture - I bet you can't tell which is which! :roll: )

My plan is to print the production models ( I need 5) in brown filament, and I think I need a couple of tweaks to the drawing to improve the proportions slightly..
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by markoteal » Mon Jul 10, 2017 11:51 am

Again look good - certainly the top two thirds of that one look like the pots around my house
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by Peter Butler » Mon Jul 10, 2017 5:56 pm

Nice work again Philip.... please add chimney pots to my 'wish list'.
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by tom_tom_go » Mon Jul 10, 2017 6:00 pm

You could always sell it as a chess piece...

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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Mon Jul 10, 2017 8:46 pm

tom_tom_go wrote: Mon Jul 10, 2017 6:00 pm You could always sell it as a chess piece...
Funnily enough, that thought crossed my mind as well. :thumbright:
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by philipy » Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:06 am

There has been a posting gap on this thread this week, but I haven't been idle. I've been doing a building to go with all of the printed platform components. The building itself is Foamboard, so nothing new to talk about there, but doors, windows etc are to be 3D printed.
I'll be honest and admit that the sash windows have given me problems that I wasn't expecting, mainly I suspect due to my inexperience and lack of knowledge. Anything that has an 'overhang' requires a removable printed support - you can't extrude a filament onto thin air. I have two sorts of support material, a snap-off one and water soluble one, but I found neither satisfactory. They were either too firmly attached to remove easily or somehow mixed with the print material to give a jumbled birds nest that was useless. I suspect I haven't got the various temperature settings correct, its bad enough doing it with one material, but for two at the same time,its a 'mare.

Anyway, having produced loads of completely useless complete sash windows, I decided to revert to Plan B and produce a small 3-part kit, consisting of a frame and two separate sashes. Since these can all be printed flat on the bed, there are no overhangs to worry about!

In the following pic, the two on the left show two windows as they come off the printer, the next one is one window separated from it's support rafts, followed by two windows cleaned up and partly assembled, and lastly, 4 completed windows ready to install in the building (apart from adding glazing material).
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What has become apparent to me is that this is where the machine comes into its own, producing 9 identical windows. Ignoring my drawing and learning curve time, they actually take about 1hr 40 minutes each to print, plus maybe 15mins each to clean up and assemble, so say 2 hours total, per window. However, for most of that time I can be doing other things whilst the printer buzzes away by itself, so effectively it takes less than half an hour of my time to make a complete sash window. Plus, now that I have the drawing, I can print more at any time in the future.
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Re: More on 3D Printing for a complete beginner

Post by Peter Butler » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:03 am

Beautifully done and a great addition to your rapidly expanding range.
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