Attention: all car and locomotive scratchbuilders!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

OK maybe I am the last person on earth to know about this website but this last weekend an avid trolley modeler I know informed me of a website I never heard of

http://www.pacificlocomotive.com/index.html

It is hard to describe what this outfit does but basically they use modern computer technolog to create castings made to order.
Here is their description in their own words, minus the photos which are mostly of steam locomotive drivers.

Pacific Locomotive Works can custom make you any kind of casting for your model train, plane, boat or automobile. We produce them on the lost-wax process by building them on a wax-based 3-D printer. First, you must have some idea of what you want, in this case, an O-Scale model train wheel of the 80" Baldwin Disk…
We then build the model in the computer using a 3-D modeler such as SolidWorks, Mechanical Desktop or Pro/E. The model is exported as an .STL file…
We load the model onto the 3-D printer, and adjust the resolution of the slices it builds with, in this case, 0.0005". Yes, that is five ten-thousanths of an inch per layer. WHat we get is this…
Finally, the wax models are sent to one of our foundries for casting, in this case it is cast of brass…
Forgive the surface texture, the digital camera is unforgiving!

Here is an inside view of our SolidScape T-66 3-D printer. This machine was originally designed for the custom jewelry market. The machine uses different types of wax to build the models layer by layer. The red wax is used just to support the model, the green wax is what the model is actually made of. The machine has a resolution of 0.0005", which is pretty fine. You will need a resolution of less than 0.001" for jewelry or any scale models.
Final castings for 80" PRR K-4s spokes wheels. Notice how fine the castings are, and they are also scale. The surface of the hub and counterweights are slightly rough, as they are the firs

2

[quote]
QUOTE: Originally posted by dknelson

OK maybe I am the last person on earth to know about this website but this last weekend an avid trolley modeler I know informed me of a website I never heard of

http://www.pacificlocomotive.com/index.html

It is hard to describe what this outfit does but basically they use modern computer technolog to create castings made to order.
Here is their description in their own words, minus the photos which are mostly of steam locomotive drivers.

Pacific Locomotive Works can custom make you any kind of casting for your model train, plane, boat or automobile. We produce them on the lost-wax process by building them on a wax-based 3-D printer. First, you must have some idea of what you want, in this case, an O-Scale model train wheel of the 80" Baldwin Disk…
We then build the model in the computer using a 3-D modeler such as SolidWorks, Mechanical Desktop or Pro/E. The model is exported as an .STL file…
We load the model onto the 3-D printer, and adjust the resolution of the slices it builds with, in this case, 0.0005". Yes, that is five ten-thousanths of an inch per layer. WHat we get is this…
Finally, the wax models are sent to one of our foundries for casting, in this case it is cast of brass…
Forgive the surface texture, the digital camera is unforgiving!

Here is an inside view of our SolidScape T-66 3-D printer. This machine was originally designed for the custom jewelry market. The machine uses different types of wax to build the models layer by layer. The red wax is used just to support the model, the green wax is what the model is actually made of. The machine has a resolution of 0.0005", which is pretty fine. You will need a resolution of less than 0.001" for jewelry or any scale models.
Final castings for 80" PRR K-4s spokes wheels. Notice how fine the castings are, and they are also scale. The surface of the

3

This is a technology which is available from a large number of suppliers, commonly called rapid prototyping. There are also a number of different methods to produce your final part.

As far as the quote “Forgive the surface texture, the digital camera is unforgiving.” That part is an O scale, 80" driver center. That part’s actual diameter is about 1.67 inches. So any surface irregularities you see in that digital photo are readily apparent in the actual part. In this particular case, a slightly irregular surface is okay, but look carefully at the raised lettering around the edge. It’s pretty muddy looking. Although it IS there. Very few modelers, if any, would even try to do that. But remember, you have to do all that work.

What they conveniently leave out of their sales pitch is the considerable effort that you would have to put in to generate the data file for that driver center, with the raised lettering around the edges.

To my mind, if I’m going to put in a lot of effort to produce a 3-D numerical model of a driver that large, with cast letters around the edges, it should look better than what they’ve produced there, especially for what they’re probably charging for it.

And if you’re working in smaller scales, the irregularities will not be smaller, they’ll be the same size, and so proportionally, much bigger. Those irregularities are inherent in the digital nature of the technology, and the resolution of which their 3-D printer is capable. In order to do better work, they’ll have to buy a better machine, at an outrageous outlay of money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I’m going to wait, or contact another rapid prototyper, who does have that capability. These guys, in my opinion, aren’t there. Not yet, anyway.

-Ed

4

interesting . i wonder what prices are like . i sent a link to my wife who does custom jewelery , although she carves her waxes by hand

5

from what I have seen
some from $1000

it’s no power gonkulator

6

I went to the site of the manufacturer of the 3-D printer that they’re using, Solidscape. The minimum surface feature that you can produce is 0.010 inches, which is considerably larger than the resolution of the printer’s positioning, 0.0005 inches, which is the number that they were talking about. The minimum feature size is so large (talking about relative to scale model dimensions, here) because the size of the droplet used to form the feature is itself 0.003 inches.

Well, a feature that’s 0.010 inches wide is about 1/2 inch in O scale, or 1 inch in HO scale. No wonder those drivers had a bumpy surface.

-Ed

7

thanks for the site

8

After reading all the posts they may not be exactly the best way to go for extremely detailed HO parts but I emailed them about what the cost might be for some driving rods I need. I made some rods from brass sheet that work but don’t look as good as the original (but broken) castings. I’ll just have to see what the costs are. Bruce