My printing progress (WAS: My first print attempt)

[bbussey]

BTW, I printed some Mack LJ circus canvas trucks before starting the circus flatcar print (17 hours!) with the cabs being parallel with no tilt.  With the .02mm layers, the stepping in the curvature of the roof and hood on the cabs are barely noticeable and can be sanded out easily.  It's less than what was on the first LJ cab that someone printed for me that I used for the RBB&B water truck, and that took little effort of sanding to remove the stepping on the cab roof, hood and fenders.  Also, the sides of the box payloads have no visible layering.  I have some extra horizontal supports inside to keep the walls straight.  So when I reprint the Erie boxcars, I'm going to print them level and see what happens.  I've added cross supports to keep the sides from warping, and I don't think the light stepping on the roof will be an issue.

[Chris333]

I tried the boxcar standing up like it was sent.




The roof lines are barely noticeable

[John]

It was tedious removing the supports from the reduction gear, but the end result was worth it. I just need to add a handful of supports at the back of the I beams and the crate corners to keep them from curling up. Other than that, they look great.

Looks very good .. who makes the flatcar?

[peteski]

Car is by Bryan too (well, ESM).  I own one and still have not picked up an appropriate load -- Bryan keeps making more loads, making it harder for me to make up my mind. 

Bryan, how did you arrive at this particular item? Did you find a ready-made 3D file?  Or did you designed it yourself basing it on some plans or photographs? 

The new load looks great, but I chuckle every time I look at that Caucasian flesh-colored resin.  Looks like some wicked evil sex toy. I know . . . dirty mind. 

[bbussey]

I tried the boxcar standing up like it was sent.

The roof lines are barely noticeable.

Yours came out much better than mine. The grab iron holes are just dimples on my attempts. Do the ends fit into the body seamlessly without having to modify?  It utilizes the Atlas USRA floor and detail parts. Everything should snap together.

I’m printing circus flatcars now. Vertically at .02mm slices, so they won’t be done until 7 tonight.

[bbussey]

Car is by Bryan too (well, ESM).  I own one and still have not picked up an appropriate load -- Bryan keeps making more loads, making it harder for me to make up my mind. 

Bryan, how did you arrive at this particular item? Did you find a ready-made 3D file?  Or did you designed it yourself basing it on some plans or photographs? 

The new load looks great, but I chuckle every time I look at that Caucasian flesh-colored resin.  Looks like some wicked evil sex toy. I know . . . dirty mind. 

I wish there was a file. I created it based on photographs, which took months to do. Couldn’t find specs so I worked from multiple photos of reduction gears mounted in GSC well cars as well as hoisted by cranes during installation in naval vessels. Seems that the GSC (PC/CR) was the choice of equipment to transport them in the 1970s and 1980s even though there were so few of them relatively speaking (only six I think). I’ve seen a pic or two of the payload in other wells (ex-PRR). But I’ve only seen them in wells painted for PC and CR.

I’ve found the flesh-colored resin to be more crisp in detail than the gray resin. But I came across resin that has the qualities of ABS plastic rather than the standard resin that is very brittle. I have a bottle arriving tomorrow and will try some prints over the weekend with it.

[bbussey]

@Chris333 Chris, in your layout thread there is a chart you posted, that’s where I got the 22.5 degrees. @GaryHinshaw states that the Photon Mono pixel size is .051mm, so I should set the layer height to .051mm which I will do for future prints. Maybe I will get something in tonight to test the new layer height after the flatcars finish.

[peteski]

I’ve found the flesh-colored resin to be more crisp in detail than the gray resin. But I came across resin that has the qualities of ABS plastic rather than the standard resin that is very brittle. I have a bottle arriving tomorrow and will try some prints over the weekend with it.

That is an interesting development. Hopefully it works out.

[Maletrain]

Reading this thread and the "ABS-like" resin thread, I am wondering if we yet have the type of material I would like to have used to make shells for steam engine mechanisms. 

I am thinking that I want those shells to be pretty robust, at least as good as the plastic shells made with ABS or whatever the OEM guy are using.  It would be a real pity and PITA to crack a steamer shell when handling it after having put the effort into detailing it out, painting and weathering it.

On the other hand, the shell itself is not that highly detailed.  Detailed parts that could be more easily replaced could be made with a different, somewhat more brittle resin and glued onto the shell.  Maybe even the cab and smoke box front could be done with a different resin than the shell.

Thoughts?

[Chris333]

lol just don't drop it. I've made tons of steam locomotive bodies out of 3D resin.

[Sokramiketes]

Loving the radial roof boxcar.  Nice work, gents.

[bbussey]

A couple of quickie sub-standard cellphone pics that don't tell the entire story.



The eight circus flatcar bodyshells (four Mt Vernon and four Thrall) finished printing after 20 hours on the machine.  The long run time was due to a number of factors, including my layer thickness being set to .02mm.  I also didn't realize that Chitubox had a specific configuration for the Photon Mono (I had manually changed the settings in the "default" printer), so there were a couple of settings that were different.  In spite of all that, the flatcars rendered perfectly, with no layering and rivet detail fully visible on the chord tops and sides.  I've since set the printer to the proper configuration, keyed in the resin specs and set the layer thickness back to .05mm (I tried to set to .051mm but the program doesn't recognize the third decimal position even though the entry mask allows for three decimal positions).  Chris also shared his Photon settings to make sure I had the configuration right.  I created a dozen slice files and the projected build times are much more reasonable.



The majority of the Mack LJ parts for circus equipment came out very well.  The canvas truck payloads didn't have supports on the front corners so they drooped, and there weren't enough supports on the large fuel tanks and one of the interiors so I lost them.  The other parts look great, even the payloads other than the drooping front corners have all their detail and no visible layer lines.  These will be used for two more water trucks (short chassis), one canvas truck and one riggings truck (long chassis).

I started a second attempt on the Erie radial roof body to run overnight, this time using the same STL that Chris used for his excellent print.  It will be finished and waiting in the morning.  It should be good based on the results I've achieved with the last two builds.

[bbussey]

This is the Erie radial roof prototype in question.  It's a rebuilt USRA with steel sides behind the original bracing.  The model is designed to utilize the underframe and detail parts from an Atlas USRA vertical brakewheel model with Andrews trucks.  The grab iron holes are designed for BLMA 18" grabs.  Requires 1015s as the ends don't have clearance for truck-mounted coupler swing.

[dem34]

In any case, I bet it beats waiting a week for a single print.

[Chris333]

In any case, I bet it beats waiting a week for a single print.

Or a month.