Disappearing Ray activated.......

[Scottl]

It was impolite

[Jbub]

It was impolite

What was impolite? The discussion between Bob and John about the limits of 3d printing vs. injection molding? Was there any hit on David's awesome model? I didn't see anything that was pointed at him, just at the limitations of 3d resin printing, which we can't control. My advice is don't take offense when none is intended, and if it is intended, give 'em the bird.

[ednadolski]

My advice is don't take offense when none is intended

This is the risk of email/forum communication.  Up to like 80% of communication is non-verbal (ie body language), but that is missing in things like forum postings.  Emojis don't really compensate.

Ed

[Dave V]

I don't really understand what the problem was, but I mean...yeah. The Railwire is a place for frank discussion and critical analysis. The attaboy forum is still available at trains.com.

[tehachapifan]

If I caused any hard feeling with my post, that's really, really unfortunate. It in no way was a dig at the model above which is absolutely gorgeous. My comment was supposed to be a compliment to the quality of the printing. I was building upon a comment someone else made about there being no visible print striations in the photo by my saying 3D printing appears to be almost at the point where you won't be able to distinguish between 3D printing and injection molding (as this model appears to be at another level). I also can't see any striations in the photo, but I believe it was the OP himself who said that they are still there.

[Cajonpassfan]

Wow.
It's very rare to see 14 upvotes on a single posting, and I've never seen anyone pack up their stuff and leave after such overwhelmingly positive response
Must have been a great model. Too bad I never got to see it. It's really too bad all the way around. Shame.
Otto

[Jbub]

Wow.
It's very rare to see 14 upvotes on a single posting, and I've never seen anyone pack up their stuff and leave after such overwhelmingly positive response
Must have been a great model. Too bad I never got to see it. It's really too bad all the way around. Shame.
Otto

I just realized that he deleted the photo

[davefoxx]

Yes, deleting posts is uncool.  Now, this entire thread has lost context.  Glad I got to see the model before the photo was yanked.  As others have said, it’s fantastic job.  Not sure I understand why offense was taken.

DFF

[wazzou]

You've got to respect the hustle in changing the thread name from "Shrinking Ray to Disappearing Ray. 

[amato1969]

LOL, right on!  I really don't get the rage quit.

  Frank

[JoeD]

Lets be honest here, no one ever shows the blemished side of the resin printed models, chipped visible features from support removal, lack of interior (and sometimes exterior) dimensional control, and the work that goes into cleaning them up to fit mating parts. 

Let me know when someone performs a 10 piece capability study comparing the 10 3D prints to the cad measurements to establish true print validation.

I mean that is what a manufacturer must to do validate if the production parts that are up to drawing specifications, before continuing with saleable production parts.

With that in mind, 3D prints are NOWEHRE NEAR the quality of injection molded parts.  But yes, they can be made to look great when complete with a lot of primer and cleanup work.

I agree that they aren't injection molding quality but the 3d technology gives us the ability to produce things that can't be done any other way affordably.  I don't think its fare to compare one tech against another.   All of them have specific qualities and limitations, just like any tool, you have to choose the right one for the job.  Hey, this is the golden age of fabrication and I'm enjoying every bit of it.     Trust me, a little sweat equity is a good trade off from having to hand fabricate details in my book.

[Lemosteam]

I agree that they aren't injection molding quality but the 3d technology gives us the ability to produce things that can't be done any other way affordably.  I don't think its fare to compare one tech against another.   All of them have specific qualities and limitations, just like any tool, you have to choose the right one for the job.  Hey, this is the golden age of fabrication and I'm enjoying every bit of it.     Trust me, a little sweat equity is a good trade off from having to hand fabricate details in my book.

Agree Joe, each method has its place, and none can replace the other, and they all have various tradeoffs.  Even scratch building has its merits based on some of the work I've seen here, even it its just to say "I could" and "I did".

[John]

Trust me, a little sweat equity is a good trade off from having to hand fabricate details in my book.

True words spoken here .. My two printers produce "good enough" things that aren't being made by your employer, walthers, atlas, or others .. In many cases, I can draw up that detail part and print it for a few pennies, or pay some retailer $10-12 for a two pack.  A good example -- a while back a member here needed 100 copies of a custom window for his pierside structures -- none of the commercial products would fit .. we drew it up, printed them over a long weekend - and off they went ..

I'm modeling a portion of the WM now, some interesting structures still exist .. I could probably scratch them, but I have some tech now that will give me a good enough ..

Find one of these at your favorite retailer?





Or this ..







Granted - I'm not on the level of some of the 3D masters here - but for those unique parts you can't find somewhere else, there is a place for this tech .. and my structures won't look like everyone else's on the internet ..

[Peachymike]

3d printing is just another tool in the modellers box. I have 8 printers, and produce a small range of kits as well as doing custom work. It is never going to replace mass produced injection moulded items, but what it does excel at is small runs of specific prototypes that are not likely to be produced by one of the big manufacturers. Once I dial a printer in to a specific resin, the results that can be achieved are truly astounding. Can I imperially say that those prints are as good or better than what can be achieved with injection moulding? Maybe not, but I would hazard to guess the cost of producing a mould for something like an air chime with the level of detail I can produce would not be cost effective. Nor is 3d printing restricted by shape as with an injection mould as it must allow for removal. But it is not a replacement for injection moulding, at least not on a large scale, rather another process by which cottage industries like David and myself can fill the gaps with those products that are not going to make it to market by other means.

[peteski]

Wow.
It's very rare to see 14 upvotes on a single posting, and I've never seen anyone pack up their stuff and leave after such overwhelmingly positive response
Must have been a great model. Too bad I never got to see it. It's really too bad all the way around. Shame.
Otto

Some time ago, in one of his threads I inquired as to why he was posting photos of the screen showing his CAD drawings instead of just using screen capture to the images (for better quality images).  His reply indicated that my question upset him and he wanted to leave the forum if his photos were not good enough (or something like that) and that he doesn't have his computer even connected to the Internet.  He also was taken aback by some off-topic posts that crept into one of his threads (as it usually happens here).  It appears that David is a very sensitive individual, seeing negativity where it doesn't exist.

The thing here is that the comments about the state of home 3-D printing technology were not specifically directed at David's work.  They were general comments made by John, Ed N., and Robert. All three of them own and use 3-D printers and also proficient in CAD design. They were making statements based on their own experience.