Both 3D printing and CNC machines have revolutionized the manufacture of plastic and metal parts in small quantities. If you have an early 1900's firearm, automobile or model train parts can now be made on a one only basis. I am waiting for the prices for 3D laser printers that can do both plastic and metal parts to come down and for the software to be simplified. We are not far from this point.
I don't think small companies need worry very much. Ever really count the number of parts that go into a building kit? Companies like Arista are much, much more that just modeling people. The family paints each piece with great skill. This is a picture I posted from another thread. Just look at the detail of these workers. I could never do that. Don
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"I am waiting for the prices for 3D laser printers that can do both plastic and metal parts to come down"
Me, too! but I think we have long wait for a 3D metal printer. https://markforged.com/products/
As extremely high temperatures are needed for metal 3D printing, you cannot use a regular FDM 3D printer for it. Simply put: There’s no way you’ll going to 3D print pure metal at home this decade. And you probably won’t have a dedicated metal 3D printer standing in your home until 2020.
Even if you can’t 3D print metal objects at home, you can still resort to plastic filament with added metal powders. ColorFabb, ProtoPasta or TreeD Filaments offer interesting composite metal-PLA filaments.
sinclair posted:Can you post a photo of an object with support material? I'm used to the 3D printers at work that have a separate support material that washes away in a chemical bath.
Here is a half printed barrel you can see the support structure inside to hold up the lid when printed. 
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tackindy posted:sinclair posted:Can you post a photo of an object with support material? I'm used to the 3D printers at work that have a separate support material that washes away in a chemical bath.
Here is a half printed barrel you can see the support structure inside to hold up the lid when printed.
Thanks for this. But I guess I should of clarified. I want to see exterior support, like if a person was holding their hand out pointing and would have support you'd need to cut off.
sinclair posted:tackindy posted:sinclair posted:Can you post a photo of an object with support material? I'm used to the 3D printers at work that have a separate support material that washes away in a chemical bath.
Here is a half printed barrel you can see the support structure inside to hold up the lid when printed.
Thanks for this. But I guess I should of clarified. I want to see exterior support, like if a person was holding their hand out pointing and would have support you'd need to cut off.
Ok, I haven't printed anything that requires much support material as I tend to shy away from that to make things easier. But here is a picture I found that shows what I am talking about. In this picture you see a bunch of support material used to hold up the printed model. If the support material was not there the plastic PLA would just inject into thin air and fall/drop to the base.
The program "builds" the support structure into the model for you. It's formed in such a way that it is fairly easy to detach with your fingers or using an exacto knife (my preferred method). But like I said, I've done very little to warrant support material. I'm sure I'll be trying things out soon as my skills improve and I learn more uses for this.
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Remember that old saying with New Technology, " The second mouse gets the cheese".
Charlie
Charlie, I was always the first mouse. Home Beta, Quad sound, all four systems. Reel to reel, CD-4, SQ,QS.Laserdisc, you name it I bought it first. Don
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Cool, thanks.
This would definitely be a great idea for small simple part production. For larger and more complex designs I farm out to a professional printer. I print using shapeways and have found them to be fair and rather good quality. I had this printed out last year.
This is my next project I hope to have printed this summer.
And this project I'm just waiting on the final print in stainless steel right now.
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Tom M posted:This would definitely be a great idea for small simple part production. For larger and more complex designs I farm out to a professional printer. I print using shapeways and have found them to be fair and rather good quality. I had this printed out last year.
This is my next project I hope to have printed this summer.
And this project I'm just waiting on the final print in stainless steel right now.
Where did you get these design files from? Did you make them? Heck I would take a shot at printing that caboose if I had the files.
I saw this post and brought the printer. I printed a couple of things with great results and when I went to print them a second time the printer stopped halfway. Do sites limit the amount of times you can print, by stopping the print job it in the middle of a second run? Thingverse.com is where I found the items I was printing.
tackindy posted:Tom M posted:
And this project I'm just waiting on the final print in stainless steel right now.
Where did you get these design files from? Did you make them? Heck I would take a shot at printing that caboose if I had the files.
The shovelnose diesel file was given to me by an acquaintance. The caboose model was created by me after months of trial and error and a few restarts. I used SketchUp which is free for download. The switch signal was made using the free 3d modeling program included with Windows 10.
The caboose is sized to fit on a postwar caboose frame. The print cost is going to be around $60 but I'm excited to get this White Pass rotary caboose in service.
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If you're interested in printing the caboose model, shoot me an email.
jim, did you loose power for a second or two? If you loose power the printer will stop and not restart. Here in Hawaii we loose power more than most. I got a back-up power battery that will keep the printer going for a long time. It's frustrating to pint something for a hour and just before it's done, the power goes off. Don
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AlanRail posted:"I am waiting for the prices for 3D laser printers that can do both plastic and metal parts to come down"
Me, too! but I think we have long wait for a 3D metal printer. https://markforged.com/products/
As extremely high temperatures are needed for metal 3D printing, you cannot use a regular FDM 3D printer for it. Simply put: There’s no way you’ll going to 3D print pure metal at home this decade. And you probably won’t have a dedicated metal 3D printer standing in your home until 2020.
Even if you can’t 3D print metal objects at home, you can still resort to plastic filament with added metal powders. ColorFabb, ProtoPasta or TreeD Filaments offer interesting composite metal-PLA filaments.
2020 is 2 and half years from now.....that isn't all that long to wait, slightly shorter than a Lionel 2017 catalog pre-order.
rboatertoo posted:I saw this post and brought the printer. I printed a couple of things with great results and when I went to print them a second time the printer stopped halfway. Do sites limit the amount of times you can print, by stopping the print job it in the middle of a second run? Thingverse.com is where I found the items I was printing.
No they do not. When it "stopped" what exactly did it do? Run out of PLA? Give any message on the screen?
metal infused resin is not that far off so 2020 is the predicted time.
the idea is that after the print, the object is heated to melt away the resin and fuse the remaining metal.
The modern traffic barrels are cool. How about old round top mail boxes?? Or phone booth?? Parking meter heads designed to fit on brass rod??Single and double head?? Cigar store Indian? Newspaper box? Barbour pole? Should keep you busy!!
AMCDave posted:The modern traffic barrels are cool. How about old round top mail boxes?? Or phone booth?? Parking meter heads designed to fit on brass rod??Single and double head?? Cigar store Indian? Newspaper box? Barbour pole? Should keep you busy!!
All of those should be pretty easy. The fire hydrants I sent you are pretty good, I hope you like them. I'll let you know if I do some of your ideas.
Old school safety cones and barricades too. 
AMCDave posted:Old school safety cones and barricades too.
I'm putting some in the for sale section now as a matter of fact. The old school cones that is. Plus the traffic barrels and some other things.
Ok... an update on what I've been creating and printing.
Old Coke machine.... smaller Pepsi one.... fire hydrant.... pot belly stove.... traffic barrels..... dented or new 55 gallon drums...... traffic cones.... mailbox.....
M1A1 Abrams tanks! I had to break them out into 7 parts and it took 24hrs to print each one.... but they look good! Not quite scale in order to fit the Lionel flats... but nice I think.
I'm still learning but some good stuff is coming out!
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Tackindy: A question, the answer to which may be above buty I missed it. Does the $199 printer you mention use the Makerbot programs, or are these designed for use on only one brand of machine?
RJR posted:Tackindy: A question, the answer to which may be above buty I missed it. Does the $199 printer you mention use the Makerbot programs, or are these designed for use on only one brand of machine?
The printers, including this one, can use just about any program. You can download, create, modify any *.obj or *.stl file among others. The file is not any limitation on the printer. This cheap printer can do any file really. You just have to convert the file to something called Gcode when you are ready to print it. This is done with the free software included or many other free design softwares can do it. Just "Save As" gcode.
Thanks.
I'm curious. I understand you can't print over air, but can a layer stick out a bit from the one below it, so that an arch could be created?
Being a gadget lover, I'm trying to think of an excuse to get one.
absolutely
"You can download, create, modify any *.obj or *.stl file among others." NOT TRUE.
Unless you are very good with programs that can manipulate meshes an .obj or an .STL model is not easily alterable.
AlanRail posted:"You can download, create, modify any *.obj or *.stl file among others." NOT TRUE.
Unless you are very good with programs that can manipulate meshes an .obj or an .STL model is not easily alterable.
Well...... I import them into the free Tinkercad online program and can add or delete things...etc..... so..... maybe it's not EASILY alterable but with a little playing around it's not hard if you are good at that sort of thing.
I too am a fan of 3d printing. Will keep my eye on the $200 printers as Christmas approaches! I designed these gondola containers with a friend who has a 3D printer and then got another friend who has an outdoor vinyl lettering business to print some labels and hand apply them. It takes about 90 mins per gondola box and I had to use fine sand paper to make them smooth. It was neat designing the box down to the millimeter. I just used a standard drill bit to put holes in the tabs and got elastic bead necklace cord from Michaels or AC Moore to make the rope. The glow in the dark filament works really well too.
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" I import them into the free Tinkercad online program and can add or delete things.." not really true!
While it is true that you can add objects to a mesh, unless you are good with MESHLAB (another free program) you cannot use Tinkercad to SUBTRACT from an existing .STL or .OBJ mesh.
AlanRail posted:" I import them into the free Tinkercad online program and can add or delete things.." not really true!
While it is true that you can add objects to a mesh, unless you are good with MESHLAB (another free program) you cannot use Tinkercad to SUBTRACT from an existing .STL or .OBJ mesh.
You can if you use the "hole" shapes effectively. You can import an OBJ and place a void shape over what you want to remove.
Someone sent me a message to my email address on here requesting some information on the tanks.... I accidentally deleted it before I got to respond and I cannot find it. Please send me another email and I'll answer all your questions.
Sorry about that!
Any recommendations on a good cheap 3D printer - shopping for one is like walking through a land mine!
Also - who out there is doing 3D modelling for hire. Anyone got a model of the back end of the Milwaukee Skytop observations (either type - they had two different cars)
Jim
Jim Waterman posted:Any recommendations on a good cheap 3D printer - shopping for one is like walking through a land mine!
Also - who out there is doing 3D modelling for hire. Anyone got a model of the back end of the Milwaukee Skytop observations (either type - they had two different cars)
Jim
My recommendation is the Monoprice Mini I reviewed. It'd pretty easy to set up and run!
Lot's of people are doing modeling for hire, but they are expensive if you want super high detail! I do some work on designing if you want to send me a picture of what you want. Also, exact measurements in MM would help.
