Using Google SketchUp and printapart.com

[marc_reusser]

Fred,

Those finished drawings look good. Look forward to your printed parts.


Marc

[marc_reusser]

The package from PAP arrived yesterday, so of course I started messing with the parts last night.

I feel the parts are great, they could be better...but that is due to things I did in their creation and not due to PAP.
What I would correct, is the number of segments in the circle, on the shade and the short tank, when creating the part in SU. I was trying to keep the file and number of triangles in the STL file to a reasonable size....so I reduced the number of segments in the circle......next time I would up them by 50%.  The segments do show in the final printing, and were easily sanded away on the exterior of the tank, and pretty much on the exterior of the shade (despite it being only .0075 thick)....however the interior of the shade and the interior face/surface of the raised tank rim, presented a much more daunting task, and I was not able to (or gave up) trying to eliminate them completely.


As for the parts themselves:

They were exactly what I drew. I was thrilled with the tollerances and material thicknesses achieved (something one would be unlikely to get in most standard resin castings and injection kit parts, without a lot more work and cost)

Other than the surface texture (see next note), they were sharp and crisp.

As Chuck noted, the surfaces need some sanding, but I felt it was not nuch more than I need to sand/prep some of the typical cast or resin kit parts. I recommend that you wet-sand....it will cut much faster, and keep any dust down.

The resin they use has a slight amount of give/flex to it....which I found really great on the thin parts sich as the lamp shade, the pressed ties, and the welding tank cap, because despite some fat-fingered manhandling during sanding, the parts did not crack, or break as a normal resin or plastic part might.

Deformation on thin parts varried depending on shape and size. The lampshade at .0075" had no deformation, whereas the ties at .0075" did end up having some bend to their overall shape...which is probably easily corrected/bent back....though I left mine the way they were, as this type of deformation regularly occurs on the real thing.

The three images below show the parts right out of the box. The pressed ties must have become detached from the sprue during shipping or handling....no big deal).

Marc

[marc_reusser]

These then are some of the parts after sanding and assembly. To clean, sand, and assemble these parts and get them ready for primer took about 60-90 mins.....about the same amount of time it would take me to prep regular resin or injection molded parts.

The more solid bluish areas in the ties are where the underside was cast as a solid block, to allow for spiking of the rail. On the next go around I would change this and create two versions of ties....one that has no blocking, so that it can be used for clutter, or for piles of stacked rail segments; and a version where the solid block dontinues across the center section, to allow for more varied rack gauge spiking, and some additional ridgidity and gluing surface (for attaching to the sub-roadbed). BTW. The ties are a scale 3-1/2" wide x 1" deep.....direct from the O&K catalog.

[marc_reusser]

OK...here are the parts after a coat of 'Chaos Black' primer.

The shade could still use some sanding inside, because as mentioned earlier, the facets still show a bit....but I think I will leave this shade as is, and just use it as a scrap/junk piece, and print a new one with less facets. The short tank has sanded out nice and smooth, and the tall tank is a lso nice and smooth with good detail clarity. It does have a small sink at the top seam (where the part meets the styrene), and could use some very mnor putty fill (though this might disappear in weathering and chipping without filling).

The bottom two images show the track pieces after primer and a really fast sponged on rust finish with Life-Color paints, and dusted on MIG & Bragdons pigments.

[finescalerr]

Most satisfactory. I love it when a plan comes together. -- Russ

[Chuck Doan]

Alright! I'm glad to see the thinner parts came out OK. So, do you feel like the star child from 2001 with the world at your feet?

[marc_reusser]

So, do you feel like the star child from 2001 with the world at your feet?

Funny you should say that.....it really feels like a kid in a candy store with all the possibilities it opens.  ....All thanks to you!

Interestingly the whole process sounded/appeared far more daunting than it was....it's amazing how easy and simply it all came off. It was also great to get these parts, because once I saw them, I could now really adjust my thinking and approach to how I can use the process in my modeling, and what type of parts it is best used for (primarily in regards to material thickness possibilities, feel of the material, surface quality, drawing resolution and so forth).....without actually trying it and seeing for oneself, there are too many open questions.

MR

[marc_reusser]

This is not really using SU...but I figured it might be of interest because it involves #D modeling and printing.

Over on the MIG forum, there is a fellow named Joppo that is working on sculpting a Figure of a 1930's Swedish policeman using Maya and Mudbox.....then planning on having him printed in 3D in 1/35 and possibly 1/16 scale.



One of his reference photos:




So here we already see the potential expansion of use for 3D printing...from parts and pieces to figures.

Marc

[eTraxx]

You guys may be interested in a thread on Railroad Line Forums. Theres a fellow using printapart.com to make the deck of his wholestick cane trucks.

Link to thread

Note: Fixed link

[marc_reusser]

eT,

Your link doesn't seem to work....at least not for me


Marc

[Malachi Constant]

There was a punctuation error in the embedded link.  Try this:
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=29677

The fellow made printed body to make an HOn30 cane wagon on a Roco HOe chassis ... and apparently done at printapart ... also showing another example of Shay stack most recently.

cheers,
Dallas

[marc_reusser]

Thanks Dallas.

Interesting....on one hand it's really great to see the procees being used and furthered, but on the other a bit dissapointing to see a great opportunity missed....in regards to the fact that if you are already going to use the technology, why not go all the way, and model/print the true prototypes...when using this type of technology it does not take much more time and effort to do so....that's part of what makes it so cool!


Marc

[Malachi Constant]

Well, in that regard ... it's always something ... if it's not one thing, it's another.

Now, another curiosity thing ... using the version of the technology that builds up the part by depositing material and supporting the work with liquid/other substance ... is it possible to "print" a working hinge with the hinge pin already in place simply by drafting the hinge pin in its place with the desired clearances?

And, from the chronosynclastic infundibulum chamber ... since we're depositing material to build up parts ... how long will it be before the process includes depositing pigments so the part is "printed" with the desired paint color, level of weathering and so forth?

[Hauk]

Well, in that regard ... it's always something ... if it's not one thing, it's another.

Now, another curiosity thing ... using the version of the technology that builds up the part by depositing material and supporting the work with liquid/other substance ... is it possible to "print" a working hinge with the hinge pin already in place simply by drafting the hinge pin in its place with the desired clearances?

And, from the chronosynclastic infundibulum chamber ... since we're depositing material to build up parts ... how long will it be before the process includes depositing pigments so the part is "printed" with the desired paint color, level of weathering and so forth?

I dont really know, but my guess is that you might be able to make a working hinge on some printers.
Regarding colors, there are already machines on the market that can print parts in multiple colors. I dont think the at present will make very convincing weathering jobs, so dont throw avay the airbrush and pigment-bottles just yet.

But the really mindboggeling thing is the research on 3D printers that can print multiple material parts. For instance, a printer that can print layers in conductive, semiconductive and isolating material will one day be able to print things like DCC-decoders, working lightbulbs etc.

So some day you might just be printing parts, but complete, working engines.

-Hovard

[SandiaPaul]

Yes you can make "working" parts. Back when I was first exposed to this technology about 10 years ago the vendors loved to show "impossible" things like working parts and especially, hollow parts. I guess the hollow thing was to impress engineers as you can't really make hollow things by traditional ways.

This company was one that had a working hinge, though their system is less applicable to model needs:
http://www.zcorp.com/en/home.aspx