I got a new 3D design in the mail from UPS today. A few weeks ago I was playing around with my 3D design software, trying to learn how to do some things, and by the end of the day I had a donkey engine designed. It’s not perfect as to details, and some of the steam pipes are not connected, but I was relying on some less that clear internet photos. Since my MRR is sort of after steam, I figured I’d rust it up and hide it in some weeds. I’ll still rust it up, but I think I’ll use less weeds:
The smaller gear is less than 1/10 of an inch according to my micrometer, and it has pretty good teeth on it. This was not a $1000 dollar home 3D printer, it was printed commercially.
It needs a little clean up, but no more than a metal casting. And, it came this way out of the box- no assembly required.
Of course now I have to fiddle with it. For instance, the drive train from the cylinder doesn’t have any detail, and the brackets securing the winch are not right. I guess I have to do some more research on donkey engines!
Because I do sell some models, I am very careful about discussing pricing, etc. I don’t want anyone to think I am violating forum policies. When a business intersects with a hobby it makes lines blurry sometimes. Of course, I make about 25% off what I spend on 3D printing, so I’m not sure it’s really a business!
On Shapeways.com, the pricing for this material (Fine Ultra Detail, or FUD)is $5 per model plus $3.49 per cubic centimeter. Designers can add a mark up, a.k.a profit to their models. Other services price differently, but I have only used shapeways myself. There is also a flat $6.50 per order shipping.
A less expensive material, but with less detail (White Strong and Flexible, or WSF), is $1.50 per model plus $1.40 per CC.
Models of this size, and there are many on shapeways from many different designers, generally run under $20.
The good thing about shapeways is you can order products from many different designers and have the same flat $6.50 shipping. The bad thing is that you can order a model and get told that it is not printable. I have had models that have printed multiple times in the past with no problems in the past rejected. I guess that’s the price of playing with a new technology.
My next project, designed but waiting on a test print, is a bill board frame that you print the actual ad on a color printer and insert it into the frame. That way you can have custom messages, or change them as you go. Imagine a bill board that welcomes visitors by name on your layout.
My personal web page, with pictures of most of the models I have designed, is at www.dcyale.com/3d.html
Oh, I DO believe it is here to stay, and the items shown off are “neat”.
But, like PCs {and their clones} way back in, oh say, 1982-1990, Or giant screen TVs, when the price was pricey, they are not yet within the consumer’s hands at a reasonable price.
And, not everyone will have a need for one. I don’t quite think they will be like PCs, tablets or Smart phones, with nearly 90% of the population having one or the other for daily life… I could be wrong.
We did check with the local Staples {who advertsie as having 3D printing capabilities} and they did not have one {yet}.
And I am sure there will be PATENT issues, COPYWRITE issues, LICENSING issues over what can and cannot be printed. Say, like your furnace needs a new igniter, or a new “fjdjsf”, but the furnace Mnfg has the patent or license exclusively for themselves on the igniter or “fjdjsf” !! You can’t just “print one off”…
MAYBE someday the STAR TREK “Replicator” will be available to us all, but those issues mentioned above will surely rear thier ugly heads.
Had to make a stop at the Dentist yesterday for an adjustment on my partial. He said that “they” now use 3D “printing” to make partials and the fit is unbelievably accurate. I will let you all know in 5-10 years how that turns out…
I’m afraid my design skills are not there yet, but hopefully some day soon. The first problem is the research. Pictures are a hint, but drawings are much better. Accurate measurements are the hardest part of duplicating a real item.
I am going to do an Enesco water heater in HO for a Bachmann New Haven engine I have, along with some other details, but I am going for flavor more than complete accuracy. (It may have the wrong number of rivets, but at least it has rivets, darn it!). I know they are commercially available, but I have fun designing them myself.
N scale is more problematic- the minimum thickness and detail level means less detail. For instance, minimum wall thickness in HO for an unsupported wall is about 2", and at that thickness you can get warping anyway. N scale that means about 4". Piping also gets larger than scale in N. Having said that, there are some engine shells on Shapeways now- this one comes to mind: http://shpws.me/oEF6 (I have no connection to the designer). It’s a conversion for a Bachmann 2-8-0 to a Western Maryland prototype in N scale and I think it’s amazing. Be careful of any model that doesn’t have actual pictures of a printed product, but this one obviously works. There are too may designers that upload a computer render of a model that may not look nearly as good in real life.
In many ways this is the coming thing and it will impact our world like little else in the last generation.
In future, just imagine… all the MR locos are sold as a motorized mikado frame, a motorized Hudson frame, etc., with your choice of patterned bodies coming as software for you to print and bolt onto the frame after cleaning and painting and detailing to your desired level. It will happen.
Next the sharp detail level will approach 1mil or better
At first, you’ll purchase the various body printing software, then hundreds of loco boiler/cab bodies, F , SW and GP shells will be on line for free and for various popular running gear frames. The printers will plunge in price as demand increases geometrically and drops the average 6X6X6 printer to $180.00 but the rip off still comes in the continuous and varied media plastics, much like ink cartridges today. White metal and brass bodies will be for collectors and those materials will only be used as internal weights for the printed plastic bodies.
Structures, complex brick and concrete walls, abuttments, etc will also be a snap.
It is all just a matter of time assuming a stable world situation and the normal advance of technology driven by innovation and consumer demand.
Having already seen non-metallic parts for full-scale firearms fabricated by rapid prototyping, I concede that this is an up and coming technology. Various people have brought up durability and long-term deterioration, and I’ve heard squawks about less than flawless finish (mainly from people who have never met a metal casting in its raw, unfinished state.) Still, if the model (and the modeler) stay within the limits of the currently possible some of the possibilities are awesome.
That said, I am NOT waiting to see anyone print up a part that should be manufactured by drop-forging hot steel. At least, not one that would be a suitable substitute…
Chuck (Ex aircraft maintenance tech modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
The process is here to stay and will continue to be used until some better process is available. I have been waiting for the price to come down since I first saw the product about three or four years ago. In time, the 3d printers will be much lower in price. It might be five years or so before the price is reasonable, but they will get much cheaper.
The speed of the technology will astound us – I have just come to assume that, now that I know guys who own their own laser cut machines and did NOT pay a fortune for them. Some years ago I attended a talk at an NMRA regional convention by Neal Besougloff about future trends in the hobby and he predicted the growth of the 3-D printer and its potential impact. I had only a vague awareness of the technology before his talk, but the entire notion of a group of friends being able to, in essence, email models to each other was striking.
I’d wager in a few years versions of these things will be child’s toys - sort of like the old Vac-U-Forms that I recall, or perhaps also like the old Easy Bake Ovens that used to be popular.
I’m the guy that thought snowboarding was a fad, I also said that computers are far too expensive to ever be available to the public, BUT, I feel the 3D printer is the biggest invention since the home computer, and will get even more popular very soon, in the future a great volume of manufacturing will be done this way.
Remember on “Star Trek” the reports were always on a pad that was signed on by Capt. Kirk? Well we all know that item is now in common use. NASA has successfully used a 3-D printed igniter in one of their new rocket engines. No wonder Scotty always had spare parts on hand! Now I read that the food replicator has been successfully had its first try at making food. A 3-D printer was loaded up with food particle “ink”. Now with “Frankenmeat” being grown and eaten, I see fast food being faster yet. Ugh! Oh yes, don’t forget that they think beaming things around will be about 50 years off. That will most likely be a shortened time frame, sooner than later. What does the future hold for MRR’ing? Trains on Mars run from our homes on earth?
As to what software I use, rather than fill up the forum with a discussion about 3D modeling, that info is on my website: http://www.dcyale.com/3d.html
If you have specific questions, my regular email is on that page, too.
