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As I said before I am more than happy to help people here with 3D printing or 3D modelling. I'm working on some 3D models at the moment of cement wagons and experimenting with maybe an ICR or MK4 DVT. My 3D printer is currently out of action as it needs a new print head after having an accident. I'll hopefully have it back up and running after christmas and I am more than happy to help people prototype stuff. Do learn about the limits of 3D printing before you think it will solve all your modelling problems. I wouldn't recommend attempting to print a whole model in one pass.

IIRC coreless motors do not play nice with DCC.

There is a smoothing technique you can use with ABS prints which works very well. The problem we have found is pure acetone is hard to get in small quantities here. Covering fine parts with masking tape stop those becoming too smooth: [video=youtube_share;Xj53P2YzYGM] A heated bed will probably improve things - I've the parts I need to install the heated bed, there is however a slight engineering challenge with mounting it. I might experiment a bit more with the settings and see what I can do, a slower extrusion rate might help. The picture is very close up too - so the layer deposition lines look a lot worse than they really are. You can hardly see the vertical ones.

They can be very fickle machines alright, you also need the think about what you are printing. You get less failure when it is calibrated properly and using a heated bed. I've found the Ultimaker to fail a lot less than the other 3D printers I've used. Here is an image of the print. It is so small taking good pictures was hard.The layer height is 0.06 mm and the horizontal width is about 0.35mm.

The reason I make the point of using ABS is because it will glue easily to styrene with normal poly cement. PLA requires much more unsafe and nasty solvents. You can make the base for the Mendel 90 easily out of MDF or plywood. You don't need plastic or metal. The plastic parts can be printed on another 3D printer - The electronics and motors are the only things you really need to get from robotics or 3D printing specialsts.

@Broithe - A Mendel 90 kit is cheaper ~€600.00 and will print in ABS as it has a built in heated bed. Also can print in much higher detail. The Maplin one looks like a crude Prusa Mendel clone.

Apologies for not being on here for a while. Real life got in the way of trains and 3D printers . @Train Model - Will look into the cement bubbles for you. Will try and work on a 3D Model of the cement bubbles over the next few weeks. Printing a second attempt at the test print. Will let you know how it turns out. Looking good so far .

Looks like a commercial version of Rostok: http://reprap.org/wiki/Rostock

I'm told 3D printing is currently were home computers were in the late 1970's. It is constantly improving and just starting to take off, but has a long way to go yet. If you are looking for a desktop 3D printer accurate enough for modelling work you should take a look at the Ultimaker. I've recently built an Ultimaker from kit and was seriously impressed with the accuracy. No affordable 3D printers available at the moment are "plug and play" either. There is a lot of tweaking and learning involved in getting it up and running - It took me about 14 hours of solid work (no pun intended) to get the machine built and running, more to get it running well. I am primarily looking into using it for modelling work, but with a view to making positives for sillicone moulds for resin like Mayner does. I'm working on building a heated bed for the machine right now. On problem I had was I blocked the print head with ABS and had to drill it out and re cut the threads in the heater block with a tap and die set. Turns out the newly cut threads are better than the ones it came with. Was terrified I'd break the heater block. 3D Modelling work costs money - there is no way around that one. However, some the 3D printing companies in Ireland are charging for time while the model is printing as well (eg please pay my wages while I sit here watching for six hours), which I think is a foolish business model. I haven't found file format conversion to be a serious issue. I use MeshLab to convert files - they need to be in STL format for most printers. Printing a CAD model is not as simple as loading it in and pressing "print" either. Sometimes it needs to be split or widened or a support structure added. Example - An 1/76 071 loco would need to be split into three to print well. If anyone has a small CAD model (say a truck or something) they would like me to try and print for them as an experiment more than happy to. Here are some images of the build and some basic test prints if ye are interested: http://imgur.com/a/Wwv4n

What is the E class I always see at junction 16 (I think) on the M6? Is that Dunsandle?

Government wasting money again. Perfectly usable stock being ripped up - should have been refurbished. No logic at all as usual.

The German ebay store is great for LEDs: http://stores.ebay.ie/kt-elektronic

Eyesight isn't really an issue for me. I may try a new design for an OO shelf layout. Just getting frustrated with not having the space.

Not quite what I meant . I mean is switching from OO to N a sane thing to do. I've heaps of OO but I live in a small town house and even an OO shelf layout is pushing it in the space available to me.

I've recently been experiementing with some British N gauge. I was wondering if anyone isstill modelling Irish railways in N gauge? Is it a sane thing to do? I'm considering switching because of space restrictions.

It is very easy to build something like that out of acrylic sheets. Just cut to size and glue.

Heard a rumour weed sprayer is working Waterford to Rosslare and back tomorrow first thing in the morning.

Swap with StevieB was successful .

Having a bit of a clear out, some of this is from a job lot I brought some of which I didn't want. Will add more later. Though I would offer here before putting on adverts or eBay. May add some Irish stuff later too. Open to haggling Track: Hornby R8072 Left Hand Points 3 pieces - €15.00 Hornby R8073 Right Hand Points 3 pieces - €15.00 2 x PECO Streamline SL-E95 - Boxed as new, unused - €12.00 each Coaches: Hornby R4478 - Pullman 1st Class Parlour Car - "Leona" - (no box) missing tension lock couplers - €30.00 Hornby R4164 - Pullman 1st Class Kitchen "Argus" (no box) - €35.00 Locos: Hornby R2486 BR Class 50 Diesel, 50013 -'Agincourt' in BR Blue (no box) - €75.00 Hornby R.2235G Class 56 Diesel Electric Locomotive - Ellington Colliery (no box) - €60.00 Hornby R.2098E Class 61XX Prairie Locomotive (6199) (no box) - €60.00 Hornby R.2381 Class 14XX Locomotive (1419) (no box) - €35.00

It is grand, just this is the first time I've done a swap so I was freaking out a bit when the thread dissappeared. No worries though.

I hate sound in models. The chips are also horrendously expensive for what they are. If you build your own analogue PWM controller you can tweak the waveform to make the diesel locos have some pretty realistic engine sounds without adding any fancy stuff.

There was a lot of people insisting that a steam loco must be run if the line was restored. I think some didn't even realise it was a different gauge to Britain. I remember suggesting to them they rent a diesel to reduce maintenance or even build one from scrap tractors as project to give people experience and employment (So many excellent unemployed engineers in New Ross, several friends are out of work there. Main reason I live in Galway).

It doesn't matter really what happens as long as it is of some use to the public. Just saw this posted to the Facebook group: [video=youtube_share;kmhPaHsu3_o]

Just for the record as the original thread has disappeared I agreed to swap my 181 with StevieB for his 192. I've posted it to him today. Not happy that the original thread has gone missing - swapping requires trust.

Here you go: