Hi-Res 3D Printing

[finescalerr]

A longtime reader, Elsworth Gray, sent me this link to a very high quality stereolithography outfit in North Carolina: http://www.finelineprototyping.com. Els does 3D CAD and design prototyping for a small model railroad manufacturer.

It would seem that Fineline's output may be up to the standard we require. Has anyone heard of them? Does anyone have experience with them? Any learned comments?

I doubt their prices are appropriate for a typical hobbyist and their site offers no indication. Maybe one of you guys who tried Print-A-Part might send the same file to them for a quote and we will find out. Some of us (including me, someday) might be willing to pay for top quality output if the project warrants it.

Russ

[SandiaPaul]

I have had them price some stuff. In their "green" material, which is the best resolution they have, an n scale window for a caboose was $100 for one part or for 6 parts.  The person I corresponded with seemed to think I could get what I wanted in one of the "lessor" materials but I have not yet had a part made.

I think it only makes sense as a way to make masters for casting.

People there were quick to respond and helpful.

Paul

[Chuck Doan]

They were Print A Part. Excellent customer service and an easy auto quoter. I have not yet had anything made there.

[Mobilgas]

For a N scale window 100.00 bucks  I had a person on this forum years ago do a Gas Pump i wanted done in 1/25 scale took this person over a YEAR to do the drawing or CAD work...finally when the quote for a price was sent in ...the quote came back just for 3 major parts on the pump was around 250.00 to do the whole pump was over 700.00 Dollars   What A JOKE.....That been my experence with 3D printing

[SandiaPaul]

Craig...well I can do the CAD work faster than that anyway!

Paul

[lab-dad]

I will stick to paper, calculator & counting handwheel turns.
Mj

[JohnP]

Hi, I haven't been on in a while but I was poking around tonight and saw this thread. I used FineLines for the prototyping on my 1:48 Cimarron bridge model kit. It is a mix of castings, laser cut and etch. I embossed all the rivets on my first all-resin bridge and decided to have them made via 3-D on my second kit. That way I could include complex shapes with rivets in any plane.

I used the Renshape SL 7820 in a high-resolution build. That gives .002" layers. The layers are visible in high magnification, but in even a close-up photo they are not noticeable. The special green material and build is for special cases only, or if you have a way of dividing the cost.




The rivets are .030" diameter, the flange is .060" high. The lines are the layers of the build, which are visible due to the sloping side of the beam and the hemispherical rivet. They are also caused by my somewhat course segment resolution I needed to use in my old computer.




In the assembly they look fine.

FineLines took care of me very nicely- I had problems with my .stl files that they fixed for me (one was inside-out?!). The high-resolution is not cheap. The trick is to make multiple copies and sell them to friends, or on e-bay or somewhere. The set-up costs money and the subsequent parts are a small fraction of the original 1-up charge. I chose the natural finish which saved money too. It is worth doing once at least to try because of the fun experience in sending in a 3-D drawing and getting parts in the mail that match the CAD perfectly.

There are other services out there if less resolution is needed. The high resolution we generally need comes at a cost.

John