I went to ebay and saw about 700 different 3d printers. I did notice the biggest dimension was 250mm or 2". That means the biggest thing you could print would have to fit in a 2" cube. Not very good for producing much but detail parts in ho. Need to be enlightened and educated about expectations, differences in machines and other 3d parameters. Thank you
Don’t know how you came up with 2”, 250mm = 9¾”. That is still a bit on the small side for HO, but the cost of a 3D printer goes up quickly with size.
I was kicking around getting a 3D printer but even with my 30 years of CAD experience I’m not sure this old dog could get over the learning curve.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Ah, a topic I know something about. In 3d printers, the saying “you get what you pay for” hold especially true in most cases. The cheap 3d printers that cost $200 or less and come from China are to be avoided. They are more of a children’s toy. The more expensive 3d printers will give you varying results of quality, depending on brand and extruder diameter, as well as what the filament you want to use is made of. Past $1500-$2000, you generally won’t be paying more money to keep on increasing the print quality, but to get a bigger (or namebrand) 3d printer. And the big names in 3d printers are not always the best. I know this because the place that allows me to use their 3d printer has quite a few, and the name brand printers have a specific filament you have to buy, which can cost at least $40. The lesser known brand (the printer I have been using) can accept filament from different manufacturers, which can be as low as $15 a roll, so long as you make sure you buy the correct diameter filament which, for many printers, is a standard 1.75mm. This printer actually prints better than the name brands, so those are not always your best bet.
In terms of filament, the two most common materials are ABS and PLA. The main advantage of ABS is that you can smooth your print out with acetone. Because the place that allows me to use their printer has set theirs up for PLA, I had to buy PLA filament. However, both materials sand nicely, so it isn’t too much of a problem.
There are two kinds of 3d printers. Traditional stereolithography printers with an extruder that melts plastic, and resin 3d printers, which use UV light to cure resin into the desired model. For the average modeler, the only real use traditional 3d printers have is bigger print bed size, or printing models with simple structure and little detail. The Anycubic Photon resin 3d printer is around $250, and is one of the exceptions to the rule “you get what you pay for”. A bottle of resin costs $20,and the print b
I use an open-source chinese prusa clone, with a 250x250mm bed. It has been quite useful for printing model railroad stuff, and other things. I bought it 2nd hand, but I think the new price was about $400 a couple years ago.
But yes, in general, you get what you pay for, of course.
For an engineer I had a pretty bad brain cramp regarding the 25.4 mm to the inch conversion. How does one program a 3d printer?
programming is pretty straight forward … you start out with a STL file, from various source, and use your slicer [in my case, Cura] to generate the gcode file… basically a x/y file, a z means ‘print there’ … in some cases you will need supports, but the origional file may sometimes tell you …
Thanks for the excellent link BNSF UP!!
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
You’re welcome Mel.[swg]
To answer the OP’s second post, you don’t really program a printer, unless you were making your own from scratch and needed software to run it. What wvg_ca said is spot on. You give the printer the file just as if you were using a normal paper printer, and click print. Some printers have a USB port that you plug a flash drive with the file into, and others plug into a computer and you do everything from there. It all depends on the printer.
Something here that I don’t understand. There must be some format/language/something that you draw your desired object in, unless you work from a library of files and pick one.
If I want a printed letter, I don’t program the printer, but I must type the letter, and then tell the computer to have the printer do the printing.
Is not 3D printing much the same?
Dave
Yes, you use a software to create your content, and then send it to the printer. There are several programs out there, some of them free. Some with high learning curve.
I use a free version, called Sketchup 2016 to draw my objects, and save as an stl file. Then I open up the file in my printer interface, which in my case is Cura.
You can also download ready-made objects from sites such as thingiverse, load them up in Cura (or similar interface), and print it out.
Simply put the 3D format is much like 2D CAD programs. Most track layout design programs are 2D drawing programs, x & y axis, width and depth. 3D has the third axis, z height. The output file to the printer has x,y & z. There is a learning curve from 2D to 3D drawings.
There are several other types of programs, one being a special camera and program. For making 3D figures a model is put on a turning pedestal and the camera is fixed and captures the image in 360° rotation. Once the drawing is a CAD drawing the program can adjust the size to any scale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRP3fwSSiQk
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield
Yup, that pretty much sums it up. Also, I can cast my vote for sketchup because that is what I use to design my HO scale models. Even though the smallest increment sketchup will round to when measuring dimensions is 1/64",you can type in dimensions even more precise and it will do it to exactly that length, even if the measurement is a bit different. Pretty good for being free. Also, here is a screenshot of a BN/BNSF well car I recently finished desinging:
So a person did a file for an N gauge Baldwin Rt624 diesel on Shapeways. Can it or can’t it be scaled up for HO scale? Thank you
I mean, you could just size up a drawing, but it really should be re-done to adjust things like coupler pockets and truck mountings, thin down walls and other details that might have had to have been made slightly oversize to print in the smaller scale, generally improve detail fidelity/resolution, etc.
Likewise simply scaling a larger scale drawing down might result in body wall and other freestanding details too thin to either print properly or be too fragrile as a result, and coupler pockets or draft gear that won’t actually accomodate standard equipment.
Well sorta.
In your example, you use a word processing program to format and lay out your letters and use it’s print option to print it on paper. But it’s up to you to use the program in order to achieve how you want your letters located and formatted and what combination of letters to turn into meaningful words etc.
3D printing is sorta similar; you use the drawing program to lay out your 3D model (but it’s up to you to figure out how to design and draw it using that program). Your finished drawing may or may not have to be run through another program to convert it to a file the printer uses, and then you tell the printer to print that file.
The only thing is the 3-D drawing part is a bit more complicated than typing a letter in a word processor!
The answer is yes and if you send me the link (not sure if shapeways gives away files for free like thingyverse does), I can resize the model to HO scale and send it back to you.
There are numerous programs (generally free for hobbyists) for doing the design work, whether CAD tools like Sketchup, Tinkercad, Fusion 360, OnShape, etc. or sculpting tools like Meshmixer. Most work with solid modeling, where you’re combining primitive shapes together, extruding, revolving, subtracting, etc. to make more sophisticated objects. Sketchup is more of a traditional 2D drawing software but has the means to build up solid objects. I’ve used Sketchup for generating 3D prints but Trimble has phased out the free desktop version, and I found the free web-based app pretty limited. Your mileage may vary.
Each of those programs has the ability (either built-in or by adding a plug-in) to export your finished solid model as an .STL file, in which the object is reinterpreted as a closed hollow shell of interconnected triangles. The white models in BNSF UP’s post are the STL output.
The slicer software takes that .STL file and, based on the type of 3D printer it’s targeting and other factors (how many copies you want, whether scaled up or down in size, orientation on the print bed, support material) generates a gcode file, which is a sequence of commands controlling that printer to generate the physical print. So, while the gcode file is different for each printer, the STL file you generate from your drawing can be used with any of them.
+1
Robert
All of the posts in this thread contain excellent information. I’m actually surprised by how many model railroaders on the forum know how to do 3d design and printing.
Hopefully the OP’s questions have been answered by this point.
Yes thank you. The file on shapeways is not available. I did some work with solidworks before I retired so I understand what is involved in producing a file. The big question of course is how much time and is it the best use with all the other things in life requiring time also.