3D printing - copyright violations? specifically relating to dwarf signals

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
41

Suit yourself. your money and time, your non typical yard appearance when you are done.

Just bear in mind what the professional railroader told you in your other thread on the topic:

Emphasis added

42

alco_fan:

Just to clarify, the other thread was specifically talking about dwarf signals in a service yard, not a switching yard. I said in the other thread that I agreed with Dave H’s opinion that there would be minimal dwarf signals in a service yard so I only plan on using two there. However, I am seriously considering putting dwarf signals on each turnout in my switching yard. Although the practise might not have been common it was definately done in many yards.

Also, I deliberately posted two different threads. The original topic of this thread was not so much dwarf signals but copyright infringement when using 3D printing. Dwarf signals just happened to be what I was considering having printed. They seem to have hijacked the thread all on their own[swg].

Anyhow, thank you for your concerns about the realism on my layout but, like you said, I will suit myself.

Take care.

Here is the other thread if anyone is interested:

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/t/228083.aspx

(To get it to work, highlight it, right click on it, and choose the appropriate command in the box that appears)

Dave

43

I’m going to leave it with this comment.

If you decide to install 30 to 45 dwarfs, and you want them to be operating, then the most cost-efficient approach would be to set up an assembly line process and build them yourself.

Rich

44

“Engine service yard” is primarily a modeler term. I do not believe that real railroaders use it.

Just to clarify, I am pretty certain he was talking about yards in general. I will not bother you further.

45

Hi Rich:

I am kind of headed in that direction. The street lights that I did recently were made assembly line style and it worked out well, and the video you posted gave me some pretty good ideas of how to build the dwarfs. Thanks again for that.

I thought 3D printing might be worth exploring for a project like this but the more I learn about it the less I want to get involved. I’m too much of a dinosaur to risk getting something wrong and ending up with a whole lot of expensive junk.

By the way, if it is of any comfort to anyone, I have the number of dwarf signals down to 37 or so.

Dave

46

alco_fan:

I went back and reread Dave H’s post in the other thread and indeed you are right. He was referring to yards in general. I initially read his answer with service facilities in my mind only, which was the question that I asked.

Oh well, apparently I am going to be offending some people if I put dwarf signals in my yard. Hope they don’t lose any sleep.

Dave

47

Dave, I am like you. It goes back to my days as a kid with my American Flyer trains. I love lighting, especially red and green. My layout is littered with searchlight signals and dwarf signals and control panel LEDs.

If I were you, I would figure out a way to get back to 45 - - - LOL

Rich

48

Hey Rich!

Great minds think alike eh!! I love lighting too. I had some wiring done last year and one of the things they did for me was to run a 20 amp circuit into the garage specifically for the train room. By the way I am going with lighting I may need to run a second 20 amp circuit![(-D]

Thanks for your encouragement!

Dave

49

HI Dave,

Just my take on how to make a signal… you will have to copy and paste the link as digitalzones does not like hot links directly from other sites

http://xdford.digitalzones.com/modelrr11.htm

I probably built my LED ground signals for much less than a dollar each.

Or use some other templates from the other page using the signal heads

http://xdford.digitalzones.com/modelrr21.htm

or contact me off line as there is another method using stickers on plastic or brass

Cheers from Australia

Trevor

Hope this helps and good luck

50

Trevor:

Thank you for the idea of using Kadee coupler boxes as a start for dwarf signals. That is a really good idea and one which saves a lot of fussy work trying to make the lense hoods. I have a large surplus of Kadee parts which I deliberately kept “just in case”. Well whatta ya know - here is the ‘just in case’!

Dave

51

Dave,

You are welcome!

Regards from Oz

Trevor

52

After all this go round I have to confess that there was a much simpler solution right under my nose had I bothered to think about it. Thanks to input from Mike L, Ed, Brakie and dhuseman and others on my thread in the Prototype Discussion I realized that what I really wanted was illuminated switch stands on my yard turnouts, not dwarfs. To do dwarfs on 15 turnouts would have required 40 or more signals (generally 3 per turnout with a couple left out for the RIP track etc.). However, to do illuminated switch stands only requires 15 stands. I still get indication from both directions and I won’t be overdoing the light thing as badly as some had expressed concern about.

I will still need a few dwarfs for controlling access to the mainline but not nearly as many as I had originally thought.

This of course negates any possible savings from 3D printing which was where the discussion started, but I at least have learned how to scratch build the dwarfs I need. I have a Tomar illuminated switch stand on order so I can see if I can figure out how to build those myself too.

Thanks to all for your input, including those who rode me a little hard over the number of dwarfs I was contemplating.

Dave

53

Hey, I had no problem with 45 dwarfs !!! [(-D]

Rich

54

Gee! ‘‘Snow White’’ only had seven dwarfs! [:-^]

Striped [swg]