The actual height of the fairing would scale out to .030" rather than the .040" I spec’d out. I had the .040 onhand when I figured out the needed pieces. I will have to look up how to log on to the afore site to get the file in question. Thank you very much.
Robert) With a little more specificity… what kind of input are you looking for?
-Douglas
I guess I have only one question, “Will this work?” These things are really small. They are literally about the size of a BB that has been sliced in half like a bagel; a half-BB with four little bitty sharp-faceted pimples and a hole in the center.
I designed them using AutoCAD. Acad is vector-driven and does not have a lower limit regarding units of resolution, so that was easy enough. But the slicing software has limits. And the 3D printers also have finite limitations.
I have a Qidi X-Max filament printer using Qidi-Print slicing software and an Anycubic Photon S resin printer using Chitubox64. Recently I’ve been printing some things on the Qidi, but the Photon S has been sitting idle for about a month. I printed the lamp post bases using the filament Qidi at 100%, 200%, and 300% and the results were a little less than so-so. Not bad, but just about as expected. The plan now is to fire up the Photon S and see how that goes. It will take a few trials and some fiddling with the settings and parameters, but I expect the results to be somewhat better than the Qidi. Exactly how much better, I dunno. I’m kinda hoping other 3D printer guys will take the design and set the settings on their machines to what their experience indicates and chime in with the results. That would be a big help.
Like I said, I don’t want to bog down the OP’s discussion with a lot of technical stuff, but this seems like a sensible way to proceed. I am an expert in CAD (and modest), but barely more than a rookie with 3D printers. If I was further along the learning curve I might have been more help. Sorry. But making progress.
Thanks.
Robert
I was looking at the thingiverse site and I couldn’t find the item in question. What do you have it named so that I can find it? Thank you for all your assistance.
If you’re still in need of these printed, I can do them as detailed as 0.05mm. Just let me know.
I signed up at Thingiverse yesterday. When I uploaded my first thing, there was a popup message that said something along the lines of . . . “the first thing uploaded by new users will be held up for 24 hours”. I have a pretty good idea what 24 hours means, but some websites seem to have different ideas what 24 hours means. Hopefully, something will be there sometime today.
I named the thing “Lamp Post Base” and put it in the category “Buildings and Structures”. I didn’t seen any other category that fit. The only tag I added was “Model Railroading”. A lot of Thingiversers seem to add dozens of tags to their things so that they (the things) will be visible and findable to more users, and as such, there’s no telling what you might find mixed in with a search for Model Railroading Things.
The actual filename is Lamp_Post_Base.STL There is no flashy glamor shot photo to make it stand out in
Typical resolution is .1mm. Professional stereo lithography, (resin) can get down to .01mm. There’s also a finishing stage which people soak the prints and then light sand to reduce banding.
But final quality is largely dependent upon the printer, if the plate is level, filement material used and if the nozzle/print bed is hot enough, the print profile used, and what the quality to speed setting is. It can also be dependent on if you properly set up “support legs” to support sub slice structures which have no z slice beneath them. (Imagine trying to print a roof and dropping some hot PLA with nothing beneath it)
In other words, it’s largely dependent on many variables.
Indeed, so many variables. Everything from room temperature, filament age / conditions, nozzle age / condition, plate leveling and even a bit of modeling finesse can impact the print quality. I tend to think any object scaled down (HO) that’s smaller than 6’ X 6’ X’ 6’ is best for resin. I mean, I do 3D print people FDM and they do come out OK with a bunch of setting manipulation, but a resin printer would produce a clean model more easily. Downfall with resin is you’re working with liquids, there’s spent materials. It’s nothing like popping a finished object off the baseplate with zero waste.
It’s interesting all the pro’s and con’s of digital fabrication techniques. Laser cutting is great for large flat expanses that can be engraved, cut and then assembled together. FDM can make complex structures with required details like buildings and bridges. Resin will allow you to populate a scene with entourage like street furniture, cars, signage and people.
What all have in common is after you get past the purchase cost of equipment, everything is really cheap to build. A fraction of the cost of kits and customized to fit your layout.
I so want to try resin. But the fumes, chemicals, cleanup, and making sure the imaging plate is defect free and spotless is worrying me a bit. But the Elegoo Mars/Saturn is so cheap.
Moving on to Plan B . . .
I was hoping to get some settings and whatnot to have someplace to start, but I went with what I had. Anyhow, I took the Photon S out of deep storage and made a resin print of the two lamp post bases, using exposure settings as best I remembered. Some fudging of the numbers went on. Here are the basic settings:
0.05mm layer height, 4 bottom layers, 40 second bottom layer exposure, 6 second upper layer exposure. I don’t recall off hand what the retract times and distances were.
The bottle of Elegoo Water-washable Resin was opened about 3 months ago, used at that time for a few prints, and it has been sitting tightly capped in a dark closet for over a month. It appears to work, but getting a brand new unopened bottle might be a good idea.
Here’re a couple of photos, partially cured in my uv light chamber and still on the build plate . . .
The model is printed at 100%, 125%, 150%, 175%, and 200%. The details show up in all versions to various degrees of sharpness, although a little fat and mushy in all. A particular problem is the significant elephant footing of the layers adhering to the base plate. That can be solved by fiddling with the numbers. The fattiness of the upper layers can also be minimized by adjusting the exposure numbers. Not sure what the end game is, but things can be tightened up a little. I’m still hoping someone else picks up the .ST
Robert) I dont wanna hijack anything either so i will try to be brief.
“Will it work?”
Yes, and IMO if the screen resolution is high enough, then a resin type printer should spit out the better print. Otherwise, an FDM will work equally as well.
At first, i thought this was going to be a detail part to be added to a model. Now that we know its just a lamp post… plus youve produced a purty good *.stl file judging by your prints, this shouldnt be that hard for a well dialed in printer.
Douglas
If you’re willing, I’ll take you up on the offer. I am interested in the one with the caps. As stated earlier, 25 would be the needed quantity.
The .STL file has been uploaded to my meager Thingiverse account. It can be found by searching for ‘Lamp Post Base’ in the ‘Buildings & Structures’ sub-section of the ‘Models’ category.
The first file has two bases: one with open ribs, and one with corner anchor bolt covers. This morning I added a second file with just the covered corners version to make it easy to assemble an array of 25 or 30 bases on the 3D printer build plate.
Progress.
Robert
Second attempt at printing. A 3-by-3 array of the selected base.
The elephant foot at the build plate adhesion zone is a little less, but not entirely eliminated, and the overall fattiness is lessened as well. Minimal clean-up and sanding would smooth out these issues. Lapping (polishing) the build plate with a 1200/3000 grit water stone might help, and a new bottle of resin wouldn’t go awry either. Still not great, but almost getting to the point where these wouldn’t be embarrassing to have on the layout.
Layer height 0.04mm, two base layers, 35-second base layer exposure, 5-second upper layer exposure, 63 degree ambient room temperature, relative humidity about 20% (I live in the high desert of Wyoming), print time of about 5 minutes.
Robert
Here is the latest (and last) iteration . . . a 5-by-6 array of 30 bases. Send me a PM and I’ll arrange to send them to you.
Robert
Hi Robert,
Those look really good!
Dave
Mr. Robert: As I can’t get the PM system to work on my devices, I’ll go this approach. Send it to: Removed by request, Miles City, MT 59301. Miles City is small enough that it will find me.
Thank you for all your assistance.
Okay. Got it. Now I suggest that you edit your previous post to remove any personal information.
Robert
@ ROBERT PETRICK
Parts received. Thank you for all your work and assistance with these parts.