I was kind of disappointed at the article this month about 3d printing. It gives the impression that 3d printing is a good way to make a master for casting resin. It doesn’t even mention Shapeways.com. The technology is right at the tipping point where “one at a time” production is practical. It will not displace ready to run units that come painted and detailed in the foreseeable future, nor craftsman kits, but it will make a change that will be felt.
I re-entered the hobby after a long absence. In building a 4 foot module to be used in a club set-up I started looking for a reasonable source for interior details. I found some exquisite cast metal parts, but at an exquisite price. I was looking for items that would be seen at a one to two foot range through an HO scale window in a lit interior, and couldn’t see spending $100 per room…
Since I couldn’t find what I wanted, I turned to 3D printing. So far I have made interior chairs, tables and booths for my bar and restaurant:
Excellent examples of what is available to model railroaders right now as we speak!
Thanks for sharing. Perhaps if you could, how about providing us with some detailed insight into the actual steps involved in the process, what CAD program you are using, etc.
Thanks
Dave
OH, and by the way, exactly where does that lady have her hand?!!?[}:)][swg][(-D][:-^]
Good thread! I just received my Model Railroader and haven’t read the article yet. I’ve been following 3D printing for a while. I highly recommend checking out Shapeways website, lots of neat items to see. I ordered several cowl vents for a scale RC ship build. I hear that now there’s a scanner available, so instead of programming the printer, you just scan an ob ject and the printer prints the object. Yeasterdays science fiction is today’s science.
I must be miss-informed! I assume 3D printers are out of sight, price wise! Of course what is out of sight for me is literally penny cheap for many others. I’m also more into the old low tech way of doing things and find that enjoyable as opposed to spending head-scratching time reading/re-reading a manual on a new 3D printer. What I found very interesting in this article is a new look at the thinking on the contour of the RP-25 wheel tread. That a simple fillet in the corner between the wheel tread and flange will do wonders for how the wheel will behave!
3D printing also know as rapid prototyping has been around for several decades. Designed for industrial prototyping of new products. Originally prototypes were built by toolmakers and pattern makers, manually. With the advent of CNC machining and CAD-CAM drawings, they were produced by cnc machines. The next step was rapid prototyping, where the development was performed in a machine roughly the size of a large office copier. These cost tens of thousands of dollars. 3D printer prices have dropped dramatically. I have heard of some very good units available for a few thousand dollars. There are cheaper units on the market, but you sacrifice speed and part detail. Granted not for the modler that considers a $40.00 RTR freight car a major purchase.
I wonder if there will come a time that we can take our memory stick with our design on it down to the local Staple’s or craft store, plug it in to the 3-D printer in the corner, pop in our $10.00 and have it made while we wait.
Even better, just E-mail it in and pick it up the next time you’re going by.
You gotta relize too that Shapeways is not the only game nor do they necessarily have the latest machine on which the detail put out is amazing. I want to buy some HO pigeons made from a scan of a real one, anyone want to start a business???
DCYale,
I really enjoyed your examples, & you are correct, those are hard to find gems, we would all like to have more of!!!
Kudo’s to you!
I also agree (i do not have the Mag yet) that these are not Cast Masters… The CAD is the cast master!!!
Why double investment in casting supplies & Labor/Time when duplicates can be massproduced?
I believe this is a Major misunderstanding in this technology.
Once the CAD is finalized, everything is good, the options are the compounds used & the finish quality…
This tech should & does let us create parts that we cannot cast, & don’t want to try casting.
As said, I do not have the Magazine yet, so I cannot begin to realize where they may have been coming from with that suggestion, so my apologies if I am out of turn…
Sorry, just my thoughts…
Would you be willing to share what a couple of those items cost and how long it took to get them produced? For instance the bedroom set and the building foundation.
I just got 2 dry bulk trailers from shapways for a cement dealer to be on my n scale layout. Granted not painted, needed some minor final assembly,(makeing wire axels, attaching wheels) the cost for them was very good compare to a cost of a rtr or mass produced box trailer in n scale. If I had the experience to make up the info they needed to print what I wanted I’d be in heaven. I enjoy making things myself but If I had tried to make those drybulk trailers would of consumed to much time and my patience.
Hey, a quick question here,…
How do we folk, go about getting, or ordering these from someone, (as said ShapeWays), etc?
Do we go through the Designer, or to the company directly?
I saw some very interesting things here & I would consider those as future purchases!
You know, I never noticed her hand. I looked at the figure with the a magnifier- it’s OK. The figures were made by a European Company- they are more relaxed, but not quite that relaxed…
To try and answer a bunch of questions:
I use Sketchup, netfab, the netfab cloud service, Meshlab and then finalize in Blender. They are all free, and although there is a learning curve (that I’m still climbing), I am getting starting to get the hang of it.
Generally I design full size in sketchup, then use netfab to scale the item (multiply real world by .0115 to get to HO), then meshlab centers the object (which I don’t really understand- I just know I have to do it). Blender is a very capable 3D CAD program but I only use about 5% of it’s capabilities. I use it to add some details that I designed in separate parts, and to duplicate when I want multiple copies of a particular item, and make the sprues that I connect the different pieces together with. If it sounds kinda complicated, it was, but it is getting second nature at this point. There may be better ways to do things than my way, but I found a way that works.
As to using Sketchup, which is a fairly simple program overall, there are many online tutorials. And Shapeways.com has a wealth of good tutorials, too. I have customized sketchup with add ons- there are many that add extra functions not found in the base program, and quite a community online devoted to the program. There are also many, many models designed by others online. I spent quite awhile looking at other’s work and trying to see how they did things, When you design for 3d printing there are differences, however. For one thing you want models that are hollow whenever possible, becasue printing is based upon volume of material used. A hollow model generally costs a lot less than a solid one.
The cheaper plastic is limited to a wall thickness minimum of 3 scale
I have no experience with Shapeways, but for the last few years at the Toronto RPM meet, there has been either a clinic or models displayed using 3D printing. From what I understand, some of the products/models can be purchased directly from Shapeways. Other designers are selling them through dealers.
Very interesting post, I just watched a video on the net about 3D printing the other night (sorry I dont remember where I found it). The detail thet can be achieved now is amazing especially when you consider that it only just became (affordable) available to the public in the last few years.
the show I was watching said that within the next few years that the prices on 3D printers will likely come down even lower as time passes.
The unit that they had on display was said to cost around a thousand dollars. Actually pretty cheap when you consider that standard printers cost about that much when they first hit the consumer market.
What I thought was amazing is they said that there are printers that can print with liquid metal!
My purchasing experience with Shapeways could not have been better. I believe they have a min. order amount of $25 . Ill try to post a pic of the vents I ordered.
I just ordered a oil bunker for the Bachmann 4-6-0 from Shapeways and the total cost was $16. Are there any other companies besides Shapeways that sell Model Railroad models?
A bit different item I 3d printed arrived today. I am putting a DPM Pam’s Pets (although it’s going to be Kora’s Cafe). It’s going to be close to the edge and have some interior details and be lit. I was painting the stock windows and realized the stock windows had interior trim about 8 scale inches thick. I decided to try a set of replacment windows- including a bay window for the back, and I am pretty happy with the results. Here are the stock windows next to the printed ones. (And yes, I noticed right away the upper section should be 2x3, not 3x2- I’m still trying to figure out how I didn’t notice that one).
I really like this bay window.
Here’s an interior shot (I had to tape the stock window in).
It took a little filing to get a good fit, but not too much.
Now it’s time to clean up the new windows and paint them.
I also decided to take more pictures of my work to review it becasue man, does it show flaws better than the naked eye!
