New Shapeways material

[tom mann]

Interesting. So there is no waxy support and no need for Bestine?

[bbussey]

Interesting. So there is no waxy support and no need for Bestine?

Correct. But the material is similar in consistency to delrin, so I don't know how well it would take paint or CA+.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Bryan could you hit the side-frames with dulcote and reshoot? The drivers seem good to me but that melted soap look on the trucks has me worried.

Is the price comparable to XFD?

[sirenwerks]

...but that melted soap look on the trucks has me worried.

Almost seems like Bryan's was the first run of the day and they didn't let the machine fully warm up or something, he said in an overly uninformed tone.

[bbussey]

If looking at the truck frames from the front end, all of the faces that face left have the soft detail and shiny finish.  That includes the inside faces.  All the faces that face right are crisp and have a satin finish.  Dullcoate will not solve the issue.

The end results are not horrible, and I probably can use them as is.  But the FXD remains more crisp for now.  There are remnants of the support structure still present, so they have to be removed.  And I still have to test to see if they are properly scaled and will fit on the Kato GG1 truck assembly.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Do you think the material would be good at making handrails comparable to those on Atlas and LL engines?

[bbussey]

No, not rigid enough at that thinness.

[wcfn100]

I drew up 1/4 of my 19,000 tank car (just the top half of the tank with a half dome) to see how bad the banding might be.  Threw in a NE6 caboose file.  Doesn't look like this will much better overall for small details parts, but maybe these larger items, who knows.


Jason

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Jason, tank cars may be it's wheelhouse. Intricate detail isn't really a big issue and they are usually black so that would work well. I wonder how it would render a Leblats truck.

[wcfn100]

Jason, tank cars may be it's wheelhouse. Intricate detail isn't really a big issue and they are usually black so that would work well. I wonder how it would render a Leblats truck.

Tank cars also allow for thicker shells to help the warping.  The first sort of issue is that I don't think it can be printed as a full cylinder due to the support material but I'm not at worrying about that yet.

Jason

[Lemosteam]

OK Where to start...

Received my roof today and here are the obligatory pics and there are flaws that are not related to the removal of the supports:

Bottom view bow (maybe some ribs across would have eliminated this):


Side view bow (thankfully the snaps eliminate most of that, more on this later):


End views of support removal, I have filed a complaint with Shapeways regarding the chipped end:



Printed surface flaws- Hey did someone bump the dang machine?


This flaw is more sutble, but still there:


Roof end looks pretty decent, sanding test on this end later:


Small snap detail printed great and assembles great (more later)


I'm Kinda glad they printed in the direction I think they did as will be explained later.
End as designed.


Printing method and the orientation that I think they printed it in.  This printing method uses a table that is pulled up out of the fluid and the printing occurs at the bottom or near the bottom of the vat (like a Form 1 video).  @bbussey , it is unfortunate they chose the side of your truck as the support side- had they chosen the top or bottom of the trucks, the sideframes would have been perfect.  The process basically starts as the initial smooth surface, like a pool, and that is what is at end of my roof and the sideframe on Bryan's truck.



I have a design idea that could resolve the orientation and support removal issues, at least for my part. I think by adding a strong sacrificial sprue-like design component with a flat, the Shapeways team could identify the intended support end (in my design).  I will pursue this as a design requirement for this material with them.


Except for the bowing, the design is dimensionally stable, within 0.1mm of my cad model.  Here is the design installed.  Sorry for the over exposure, but the normal pics were not showing the interface well:






The material is much more flexible then I had thought it would be, I can squeeze the bow out easily, and this may actually come in handy for snaps and the like.

I have sanded the end, seems to sand well, however, I would not recommend anything more coars that 320grit.  220 left some scratches that i was unable to polish out, but would still likely be filled by primer or topcoat.


Here I have tested various paints as shown in the background- some have first brush stroke coverage and others (typically the acrylics did not).  the Tamiya primer went on nicely.


Various glues will be tested in another post after they dry.

[up1950s]

Thanks for all that trouble you went through John .

[Chris333]

Is it possible to get the items with the supports still attached? I mean we would all do a much better job on our own models.

[Lemosteam]

Is it possible to get the items with the supports still attached? I mean we would all do a much better job on our own models.

 @wcfn100 is discussing that with them, but if that does not fly, then maybe my solution will work.  Problem is, on my models there were support remains on the overhanging roof edge not just on the flat plane.  This is why I think the part was damaged. There are little nubs all along that fine edge, that will appear on the finished model, even after the best of cleaning.  Also the material appears to snap rather than cut.

@up1950s sure man.  This is the basis for my response on the step model thread.

[wcfn100]

wcfn100 stopped discussing that when all his drawings failed the new specs. 

However, we, as train modelers, are not alone in this 3D world and I expect Shapeways to offer something along those lines as some point.

Even my caboose got rejected because of the door window muntins.   


Jason