Author Topic: Link and Pin Etching?  (Read 2359 times)

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narrowminded

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Re: Link and Pin Etching?
« Reply #15 on: December 20, 2018, 01:37:40 PM »
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I printed about 50 links last night.  .026" x .14" opening x .015" wide and .012" thick.  :o  They are amazingly strong and afford some flexibility.  Next is to try the pin, probably just a ring head with .01" wire inserted with CA or maybe try some resin and post curing.  We'll see what works. 8)

I still have to fool with the links as they didn't print with 100% success rate.  I lost about 10% of them, my first total part failures.  I had a few other parts with pin holes on very thin walls but none totally failed.  Maybe how they are supported or even the angle printed and maybe even increase the exposure time, affording more strength... but maybe making them stick. :|  So far they were just vertical.  Experiments and learning.  The ones that printed were flawless.  I still can't believe they actually printed and really held shape. 

I'm also going to way overcure some pieces to see what, if anything, there is to the story about pieces becoming more brittle over time.  I'm not convinced that it's really that bad and it's not even close to the difficulty with brittleness in FUD.  At least not from what I've seen this far.  I would really like to be able to print these and not paint them, being concerned about that supposed embrittlement issue.  We'll see. 

I also have some flex resin that can be mixed with standard resin in amounts to satisfy the desirable degree of flex.  I haven't experimented with that at all but suspect there's a way if this doesn't prove useable.

Here's a pic with a .010" wire for size reference:

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« Last Edit: December 20, 2018, 11:26:51 PM by narrowminded »
Mark G.

narrowminded

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Re: Link and Pin Etching?
« Reply #16 on: December 22, 2018, 12:24:03 AM »
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And here's what they were for, for those not following the 3D print threads.  These are tiny Nn3 tipper cars, less than 7/8" o'all length, all 3D printed in the train room except the wheelsets.  They are Z scale Fox Valley wheels.

The links and pins are on one of the fingertips:

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And installed in the Nn3 printed Tipper Cars:

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This resin process is the first I've been happy with the results of 3D prints, especially the material but also the finish.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2018, 12:28:33 AM by narrowminded »
Mark G.