Pushing the envelope

[bbussey]

If I were making static models I might consider see-through links, but only briefly. It’s N scale and these will be operating models, no reason to get crazy. This is the new ESM G26 ratchet brake slightly modified at the fulcrum, and is a variant of the current G26 Ajax brakebox and similar to the BLMA ACF gondola ratchet brake. No one’s ever complained about either of those models.  Also, they build in under 15 minutes as they are. The supports are on the ratchet box and the fulcrum, no supports on the chain. Looks great as is, both to the naked eye and in close-up photos.

The last flex build plate thread had a number of people singing its praises.
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=53633.0
It appears they’ve improved in a year’s time.

[JeffB]

Nicely done on that chain! I printed some ho scale turnbuckles recently. It was pretty satisfying. Much like your results are.
I’d love to see the cad of the chain. That’s geeky goodness to me.

I did some turnbuckles and queen posts for the HOn30 Maine Two-foot equipment last summer.  It took a fair bit of tweaking to get them so that the turnbuckles were "cored" for the truss rods, but I got there eventually.  Also did stirrup steps, car body bolsters and stake pockets. 

I did try doing the ratchet and pawl, but just couldn't get the teeth on the ratchet to print.  Precision scale makes excellent injection molded styrene parts (as well as brass parts made from those), so it's not so much of a big deal.

Another good use for your 3D printers...  Custom NBW's.  Any size and shape you could want. 

Jeff

[Ike the BN Freak]

The NWSL makes nice wheelsets, but compare their price to FVM!  Yikes!

True, but NWSL wheels are available. But I get it, def one of those would increase the cost of the car

[Chris333]

ESM wheels are available and have added detail to the back of the wheels.

[Ike the BN Freak]

ESM wheels are available and have added detail to the back of the wheels.

True, but they don't do a 28" wheel yet

[bbussey]

And won’t be until the well cars are rerun in 2023.

[bbussey]

Took a break tweaking the New Haven P-S baggage-lounge to try the latest design of the FGE ex-PRR R7.  This is the first attempt using the membrane base.  I also wanted the complex ends printing face-up but didn't want to deal with separate ends due to the complex sides.  So I merged the roof into the body to have a consistent tubular cross section and then cut the car in half at the side of the door rods.







The halves are just placed together in the third photo and are not glued as of yet.  The prints rendered perfectly from what I can see.  The cross cut is staggered because the rods are not centered on the door.  The top stagger will be hidden from view by the roofwalk, the bottom one is inside of the centersill and cannot be seen. 

I printed three and cleaned up one to the point where the parts mount flush.  They still need to be cured, which I will do after the mating faces of the other two cars are made true.   The car weight will have to be cemented/epoxied to one end, and can be used as an alignment guide to join the two halves.

[Chris333]

Mark 4 did their PRR boxcar the same way.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Took a break tweaking the New Haven P-S baggage-lounge to try the latest design of the FGE ex-PRR R7.  This is the first attempt using the membrane base.  I also wanted the complex ends printing face-up but didn't want to deal with separate ends due to the complex sides.  So I merged the roof into the body to have a consistent tubular cross section and then cut the car in half at the side of the door rods.







The halves are just placed together in the third photo and are not glued as of yet.  The prints rendered perfectly from what I can see.  The cross cut is staggered because the rods are not centered on the door.  The top stagger will be hidden from view by the roofwalk, the bottom one is inside of the centersill and cannot be seen. 

I printed three and cleaned up one to the point where the parts mount flush.  They still need to be cured, which I will do after the mating faces of the other two cars are made true.   The car weight will have to be cemented/epoxied to one end, and can be used as an alignment guide to join the two halves.

This is brilliant!

I wish I had 1/10th the talent you have.

[sd45elect2000]

This is brilliant!

I wish I had 1/10th the talent you have.

No kidding right ?

Randy

[bbussey]

I was a long-time employee for a manufacturer of plastic lab products and health aids who designed the bulk of their products in house. The director of the engineering department taught me SolidWorks in 2002. I learned how to use CorelDraw in the mid-1980s. Been using both continuously for solid model design and graphic design respectively. I drew most of the G26 gondola in CorelDraw long before learning SolidWorks. It took some time to perfect the solid model version after importing the Corel vector drawings. Bottom line is that it has been decades of skill-building with both tools. I also had the advantage of starting to work with both tools shortly after they were introduced to the market. Started with version 3 of CorelDraw and the 5th release of SolidWorks. Both products have advanced tremendously since they were introduced.

[sd45elect2000]

I have more time than money for sure, why haven't I taken it upon myself to learn at least fundemental skills to make my interurban parts?

Internet porn....

[bbussey]

Modelers here have used less sophisticated CAD utilities to create extraordinary models in a short learning curve. Sketch-Up is very powerful and not cost-prohibitive.

The key is training yourself to see things in basic geometric shapes. Rectangles, circles and triangles. That’s what I was taught eons ago regarding basic drawing, whether objects or portraits. In the case of 3D, it’s cubes, globes and pyramids. Solid modeling basically is a collection of extrusions and cut extrusions of 2D shapes from various planes. X (top), Y (side) and Z (front) planes always with additional planes added as needed. Once you understand the concept, designing comes easily. Your just transcribing measured dimensions to digital form.

[samusi01]

I can't agree enough with what Bryan has to say here, and wish only to add one little thing: dive in. Don't look at something and think that you can't do it. There may be a learning curve but you'll get there, and there are plenty of resources out there.

Modelers here have used less sophisticated CAD utilities to create extraordinary models in a short learning curve. Sketch-Up is very powerful and not cost-prohibitive.

The key is training yourself to see things in basic geometric shapes.

I started with basic shapes: 35' containers, the best part of a decade ago. They are in the bottom left of the image below, and consisted mostly of cubes of various sizes... the tugboat was a project last year. There's no way I'd have been able to consider something like that when I started.

[peteski]

Modelers here have used less sophisticated CAD utilities to create extraordinary models in a short learning curve. Sketch-Up is very powerful and not cost-prohibitive.

The key is training yourself to see things in basic geometric shapes. Rectangles, circles and triangles. That’s what I was taught eons ago regarding basic drawing, whether objects or portraits. In the case of 3D, it’s cubes, globes and pyramids. Solid modeling basically is a collection of extrusions and cut extrusions of 2D shapes from various planes. X (top), Y (side) and Z (front) planes always with additional planes added as needed. Once you understand the concept, designing comes easily. Your just transcribing measured dimensions to digital form.

This is very helpful Bryan, but to the beginner it is still not very intuitive.  I guess visualizing what shapes to use, and how to manipulate them is something that has to be learned by experience.  I learned that especially with the simpler CAD programs (like TinkerCAD), you have to learn to make "tool objects' which you then use to "subtract" or remove areas from object you are designing in order to produce the specific shape you are designing.