Desktop 3D printer

[purple]

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.

[Broithe]

Digitisers appearing now - http://store.makerbot.com/digitizer.html ..

[Broithe]

This little device was running on Castlefinn last Sunday at Abbeyleix. Straight out of the box and with a Kato chassis clicked into place. The finish was truly excellent - I thought that it would be a year or two before it got this good..

 

 

 

 

[Broithe]

Leaps and bounds - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24329296 .

[WRENNEIRE]

Leaps and bounds - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24329296 .

 

Betcha that makes all the spacers here feel a lot more comfortable

[Weshty]

Betcha that makes all the spacers here feel a lot more comfortable

 

 

"In 1970, Apollo 13 astronauts had to cobble together a home-made carbon dioxide filter using a plastic bag, a manual cover and gaffer tape.

A 3D printer might have solved the problem in minutes and helped them reach the Moon"

 

 

Ahhh no. One of the fuel tanks blew out and they had to use the lunar lander's engine to limp back home.

This is the quality of journalistic rigour in the BBC? God help us.

[Glenderg]

I love the thought of them sanding the printed object down to get it to fit in a hurry. lol, no wet n' dry in space.

[Broithe]

"In 1970, Apollo 13 astronauts had to cobble together a home-made carbon dioxide filter using a plastic bag, a manual cover and gaffer tape.

A 3D printer might have solved the problem in minutes and helped them reach the Moon"

 

 

Ahhh no. One of the fuel tanks blew out and they had to use the lunar lander's engine to limp back home.

This is the quality of journalistic rigour in the BBC? God help us.

 

They could have printed a new tank - and then printed a load of oxygen to fill it with - surely?

[murrayec]

[quote=Weshty;36635

This is the quality of journalistic rigour in the BBC? God help us.

 

Weshty

 

You nailed it on the head

 

Brothe

 

Your pictures of the WARD printed loco;-

 

Yes its a lovely little loco, though it is laced with under coat paint and you can still see the printer resolution lines on the model. I look at the loco at the show and reckoned it is a great system for small items, but imagine a DART- with its expanse of flat surface on its sides, it would require a lot of filling and clean up before painting.

 

I'm going to buy one of the locos though

 

 

murrayec

[Broithe]

Brothe

 

Your pictures of the WARD printed loco;-

 

Yes its a lovely little loco, though it is laced with under coat paint and you can still see the printer resolution lines on the model. I look at the loco at the show and reckoned it is a great system for small items, but imagine a DART- with its expanse of flat surface on its sides, it would require a lot of filling and clean up before painting.

 

I'm going to buy one of the locos though

 

 

murrayec

I thought the finish looked fairly good enough for something that was likely to be old and fairly grubby, with minimal rubbing down - not up to doing a shiny thing yet, though, I do agree.

[Mayner]

Not quite desktop 3D printing but a good indication of the probable direction of the hobby.

 

Finished and work in progress.

 

A local designer is using a bureau to produce wagons, the bodies and roof are basically printed in one piece with a separate floor and chassis, the only metal parts are wheels bearings, couplings and brake levers.

 

Finished sheep wagon complete with sheep!

 

The models are printed in a nylon material which is very strong and flexible (Shapeways WSF) the slightly pitted surface finish of this material does not seem to have been too much of an issue in the slightly larger scale.

 

 

Fully detailed underframe featuring airbrake triple valve, piping and linkages.

 

Costwise its a bit scary around $4-500 for the parts to produce the sheep wagon(incl sheep), but would result in a major saving in time over scratchbuiding or a conventional kitbuilding once the 3D modelling was complete.

[David Holman]

While I have hopes that such devices may have the same impact as photo-etching & lost wax casting, I'm still happy making my own stuff, however tempting the idea of 'off the shelf' is from time to time.

Just remember - you are never alone with a clone! And if you can, check out Orphan black on BBC 3 and be very afraid...

[Garfield]

Interesting article here about a new sub-$100 3D printer which uses lasers guided by audio signals from the computer to form the design from a resin block...

 

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/ideas/2013/10/is-a-100-3d-printer-too-good-to-be-true/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=20131015&utm_content=innovations3dprinter2

[Broithe]

Print your own scenery -

- one day....?

[Noel]

Its interesting four years later reading this interesting old thread. IMHO, 3D for 00 locos and rolling stock is still not at the races, but good enough for some buildings perhaps. The surface texture is no where near smooth enough yet. I'm sure it may in time, but I guess the future for modellers will remain bureau service providers as low cost home 3D printers good enough for 00 seems doesn't seem likely for the foreseeable future. It feels like 3D is where ink jet printers were back in 1992, but they have come a long way in the past 25 years.