Anycubic Photon

[Erock482]

Is this from scratch?  What are you using to draw?  I've been amazed at some of the designs I've seem people do.

This is done based off of drawings in a century + Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight cars by Robert Sloan. I'm using an older version of Sketchup to produce the model in 3D and export at a STL

[Mike C]

   @Erock482   If you make any extras I would definitely buy at least one !

[Erock482]

   @Erock482   If you make any extras I would definitely buy at least one !

Well Mike the printer arrived today, Ill give it a test run over the weekend and finish up the CAD model and I guess we'll have to see how it turns out!

I have some other models up on shapeways, but the cost associated with FD and FUD is too high to warrant buying them off there. you're talking the cost of a second hand blackstone car just for a printed shell

[narrowminded]

Funny, in your photo the black grab ions look like they were separately added onto the shell. It must be  the contrasting paint (you did excellent job not getting any paint on the side of the shell).  OOPS! It just sunk into my brain that you didn't print the grabs directly with the shell.  You printed them separately, and applied them to she shell like you would metal ones

I also agree with John: just because it is possible to do, sometimes it doesn't mean that one should.  Unless the model is to just be a display model, or a proof of concept, I would use metal grab irons. But I usually over-engineer and over-build things.

I tend to agree on the detail grabs and such being made with wire.  BUT, you print the drill dimples in the body and then print the wire forming tools with shape, length stops, etc.  Precision fits at little effort.

[Erock482]

I tend to agree on the detail grabs and such being made with wire.  BUT, you print the drill dimples in the body and then print the wire forming tools with shape, length stops, etc.  Precision fits at little effort.

There's An idea I hadn't thought of. There's nothing I despise more than bending grab irons and drilling holes. Im more curious if it will even come out, guess we shall see! Printer is arrived and set up, Baptism by fire occurs tomorrow after i pick up an extra shift at work

[Lemosteam]

Its been done, bend fixture, gauge, even for soldering as you can see in the album below: 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/96MqS3X68IjxXgiu1

[Erock482]

Finished some last modifications to the model, opted to air on the side of caution and break the model into sections for printing, the body, roof, and endbeams and decks are all seperate.

She's off to the races, should have either a resounding success or a failure in about two hours.

[Mike C]

Well Mike the printer arrived today, Ill give it a test run over the weekend and finish up the CAD model and I guess we'll have to see how it turns out!

I have some other models up on shapeways, but the cost associated with FD and FUD is too high to warrant buying them off their. youre talking the cost of a second hand blackstone car just for a printed shell

Haha yea the second hand cars are much more expensive ! 

[Mike C]

Finished some last modifications to the model, opted to air on the side of caution and break the model into sections for printing, the body, roof, and endbeams and decks are all seperate.

She's off to the races, should have either a resounding success or a failure in about two hours.

I like the way it's broken down , should be easy to assemble !

[Erock482]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ] ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] Well, mixed success!

On the upside, grab irons seem solid, The detail is incredible!

Downside, some warping, siding detail isnt as defined as it needs to be. And the Anycubic slicer software made an intersting glitch, seemingling missed some of the walls between the windows at certain layers.

Ive doubled the depth and width of the gaps between siding, re arranged the print slightly, got chiTuBox running, and print attempt numero dos is currently on its way!
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Chris333]

Need to use the file validator and edit pixels.

[wazzou]

And orient your pictures correctly.   

[Chris333]

I did have to exaggerate my board gaps a little. Think I was doing .008" deep and wide.

[PJPickard]

Caboose looks good. Chris do you think .008 wide and deep is the smallest practical?

[Maletrain]

+1 on "over-engineering and over-building" models.  If I am going to put a lot of time (and maybe money) into a project, I want it to have a long life in the service for which I built it.  And, for me, that is not sitting on a shelf to be admired through glass. 

It seems to me that the biggest problem with a lot of the small items currently on the market is that they now tend to try to make everything with just one method/material.  For me, wire grabs would be a better choice for both durability and scale appearance in the smaller scales.  (On larger scales, where the attachment hardware can be modeled, I do think that molded grabs look good and have reasonable durability if they are Delrin.)