# 3D printing is HERE for LS trains



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Yesterday, I visited my son's business and got to see 3D printing in action. I hadn't visited his shop in a couple of years.


OH MY GOD has 3D printing come a long way in the last few years. It's so far beyond what I could believe, I was really dumbfounded. Many of you may have seen the Jay Leno video on YouTube about printing a working wrench. Heck...that's easy stuff today. Today's printers will print not only the part, but the supporting structure for parts that aren't strong enough to support themselves....I mean, so weak, gravity collapses them. They also now print a range of plastics with different hardnesses....for example, a hairbrush where the handle is stiff but the bristles were pliant.


This means you could print a side for a truck that actually works....stiff outside frame and elastic "springs". It means you could print a coupler that absorbed slack impacts. Heck....you could easily print the equivalent of a Kaydee coupler and all the parts would work...no assembly. You could even print the undercarriage of a train with a Kaydee coupler in it....all one part.


So here's a photo I took...that shows what these printers could do 2 years ago...a year ago...and now. I intentionally left it a link so that you can use CNTROL + to make it bigger.


Three cylinder heads which are about 1" in diameter

On the right is the printed model from 2 years ago...with the best 3D printer. It shows that the printer could not even resolve almost half of the fins.

In the middle, is last years version. It shows the resolution is bad....and that the smooth surfaces are still rough....but it did properly "print" most of the voids. 


On the left, is today's capability. Today's printers can print with 1/10,000" resolution. Surfaces are now very smooth...and small details like the fins on those cylinder heads are properly resolved.

There are some other good news items too....these printers can now print "clear" plastic...and it's really clear like glass. No more of that partial cloudly look.

And...of course, these printers can now print the inverses....that would be mold prototypes so you can tell if your CAD files really are good enough to make repeated parts.

I personally believe the days of printing a building are VERY near....as 16"W x 13"L x 8"H is the printing limits now...and that's big enough for a nice sized building....windows and all.


I gotta do some 3D CAD learning....


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Mike Reilley on 28 Mar 2012 08:54 PM 
Yesterday, I visited my son's business and got to see 3D printing in action. I hadn't visited his shop in a couple of years.


OH MY GOD has 3D printing come a long way in the last few years. It's so far beyond what I could believe, I was really dumbfounded. Many of you may have seen the Jay Leno video on YouTube about printing a working wrench. Heck...that's easy stuff today. Today's printers will print not only the part, but the supporting structure for parts that aren't strong enough to support themselves....I mean, so weak, gravity collapses them. They also now print a range of plastics with different hardnesses....for example, a hairbrush where the handle is stiff but the bristles were pliant.


This means you could print a side for a truck that actually works....stiff outside frame and elastic "springs". It means you could print a coupler that absorbed slack impacts. Heck....you could easily print the equivalent of a Kaydee coupler and all the parts would work...no assembly. You could even print the undercarriage of a train with a Kaydee coupler in it....all one part.


So here's a photo I took...that shows what these printers could do 2 years ago...a year ago...and now. I intentionally left it a link so that you can use CNTROL + to make it bigger.


Three cylinder heads which are about 1" in diameter

On the right is the printed model from 2 years ago...with the best 3D printer. It shows that the printer could not even resolve almost half of the fins.

In the middle, is last years version. It shows the resolution is bad....and that the smooth surfaces are still rough....but it did properly "print" most of the voids. 


On the left, is today's capability. Today's printers can print with 1/10,000" resolution. Surfaces are now very smooth...and small details like the fins on those cylinder heads are properly resolved.

There are some other good news items too....these printers can now print "clear" plastic...and it's really clear like glass. No more of that partial cloudly look.

And...of course, these printers can now print the inverses....that would be mold prototypes so you can tell if your CAD files really are good enough to make repeated parts.

I personally believe the days of printing a building are VERY near....as 16"W x 13"L x 8"H is the printing limits now...and that's big enough for a nice sized building....windows and all.


I gotta do some 3D CAD learning.... 


Mike,

That is VERY cool! I was shocked by the resolution on those fins (or ribs as we die and mold makers call them). Would the files be STL to run these printers? My MasterCam software HAS that converter embedded in my version. I'll do the 3D cad work for you!







When do we start?


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

With this you would think American companies could do everything here, not sending back and forth to China, thus saving money, and increasing the speed of development.


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

WE are doing it here in the USA.... I wish we'd gotten a better printer though... 

I'm geussing the machine we have is someplace technology wise between the right and the middle. 

Chas


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike
And...of course, these printers can now print the inverses....that would be mold prototypes so you can tell if your CAD files really are good enough to make repeated parts. 


Is there a cross over process going from the plastic base to molds for metal products?


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

GARY - I think the machines DO take STL files as the input. My son's company has "designers" that review each of the submitted files to ensure they will print well. I believe these guys are experts in adding the supporting structures that are washed away after the printing...which is stuff only the experienced CAD designers put in from the outset. 

JERRY - My son is one of those that used to send stuff back and forth to China....and has moved it all back to the US. You should understand though, that once you have built several iterations of a prototype using the printing process, you end up with a CAD file that is solid enough to send anywhere to have it produced in plastic. So...the "back and forth" really goes down substantially. 

CHAS - I remember those days too...only a year or so ago. Most of the parts that were printed need a small amount of handwork after the printing to "sand and polish". In many cases now, that's not needed. If you really want a shiny surface, the plastic would probably still have to be buffed a bit to get it to really shine.

CHARLES - Yes, there is a process. One of the services my son's business does is making RTV molds for low production quantity parts. I'll ask, but I believe there is a process that uses the dissolving plastic (the stuff used for supporting structures) to make a master that can be encapsulated in casting sand...which melts out when you pour molten metal into the sand mold...must be 21st century lost wax casting without the wax. But since most plastic manufacturing is blow molded or injection molded, molds for those machines are still predominantly ground out with milling machines and hand finished. Frankly, I haven't talked to my son much about this part of his business because few customers use it. Most of his customers are doing pure prototyping to resolve design issues. (As an aside, if you've ever looked under the dash in your car and wondered just how all those twisting plastic air ducts got designed...it's now done by prototyping them and seeing if the prototype fits...on a daily basis.)


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Is there a cross over process going from the plastic base to molds for metal products? 
Bob Hartford is using the plastic printing to make metal parts for his kits, I believe. Apparently, the printed plastic part is good for a couple of moulds, which gives him enough to make 50+/- metal parts. Not sure what he's using for the moulds.


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## lathroum (Jan 2, 2008)

We have a Makerbot at the school where I teach... it will print pretty decent parts... I have made some furniture and fire hydrants for my layout with it... 
will also do nice windows, and doors and such... limited by the 10cm cube build size on it... but we got it for under $1000... larger builds are slow, 
but the time is ok if you figure you are manufacturing right on your desk... the kids here love it... 

some parts need to be cleaned up a bit... nothing some sand paper and acetone won't fix... 

They have 3D printers that print in metal now also... and a whole bunch of resources on the web for getting stuff printed by people who own these things... 

for easy design check out www.tinkercad.com or www.3dtin.com or even google sketchup 

www.thingiverse.com for ready made stuff... or www.shapeways.com... they have some train stuff on there... and 1:24th stuff for your town... 

check out www.100kGarages.com for people to print your stuff for you 

this should open a can of worms... 

Philip 

You don't neded the printer, just the time to design... someone else can print it for you...


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

Don't need the printer...just the time to design...story of my life...spend my day sitting in front of this box making pretty pictures for work and really do not feel like staying to work on my own projects.....sigh. 

Chas


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

That's amazing--thanks for sharing that. I've been following Makerbot for a while now, they're getting really cheap. If experience is any guide we should have reasonably high res printers form home use within a decade. 

I can imagine an online database of parts and designs which can be scaled up or down as needed. You can already find something very similar for Google Sketchup


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

What are the costs involved in having something printed? 

I've been working on "detailing" an Aristo 0-4-0, and in particular trying to make PRR style "marker lights." You can find a scale drawing on the web:






This seems like a perfect candidate for 3d printing. But how much would it cost to have, say 20 of them made?

I ask because I don't have any experience at all with CAD software, and if I'm going to spend the time learning how to make a CAD drawing I don't want to find out it'll cost $1000 to make 20 parts. Any idea what the costs might run?


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## VictorSpear (Oct 19, 2011)

*Interesting Use Case.* 


Cheers,
Victor


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Interesting indeed. I just want to get some kind of a ballpark figure on what it costs. I can't just ask as I don't have either a CAD drawing or the skills to make one, and the learning curve is steep.

But just imagine--if I were good at CAD, i'd make a whole bunch of RR parts, like that marker light, number plates, valve gear parts, headlights, handrail stanchions, backhead parts, etc etc. If I wanted a business model I'd make a website where, for a small fee, people could download the model, put it out for bid at shapeways, and print as many as they needed. It could be scaled to whatever size the user needed. Alternatively, we could establish a free database of rail parts.

Maybe it's time to learn CAD. Experiments with Google Sketchup have been frustrating so far. 



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## lathroum (Jan 2, 2008)

Try tinkercad.com or 3dtin.com 

no big learning curve on them... its putting shapes together... 

if you design it... my students can print it on the makerbot... and see what happens... 

too larg of overhangs will sag... but it looks doable.. 

acetone will smooth out some of the lines you get from the layers... 

need it in STL format... 

lmk 

Philip


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I tried tinkercad and found it difficult. That probably seems astounding and impossible, as it seems designed to be easy, but I've got zero--zilch, nada, niente--experience with drafting, CAD software, or engineering.

I suppose the best approach would be to make it life size, and then scale it down?


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## lathroum (Jan 2, 2008)

the little squares in tinkercad are millimeters... the bigger squares are centimeters... 

but you can build it big, and scale it down... 

try running through the "quests" as they call them... its the tutorial in steps...


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