# 3D Printed Station



## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

I decided to try and 3D print my Canadian Pacific station rather than use traditional methods.
The sides of the 'wooden' stations were mainly covered in shingles, and the thought of trying to glue scale ones on was not attractive to me!
So since I have my 3D printer, maybe it could help, and it has.
The walls all interlock at the corners so that I did not need to glue anything.
The roof however will probably be made of wood, with glued on details of some sort, but I have not had time for that yet.
Cheers,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

You are having fun with that printer.


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## choochoowilly (Oct 31, 2016)

My modeling skills have been trumped by a machine, looks good


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

I think I would be tempted to use some acrylic for the basic roof and then glue some roofing sheet to it. Precision Products from Ozark might work. I have had good luck with the acrylic from Home Depot. Tough stuff. I sure like the looks of that station.


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

very Nice looking concept
Dennis


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

Looks fabulous David. let me know when I should expect mine!! Hopefully I'll have all the snow cleared away by then.
Cheers


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks great. How big are the panels? They look too big to be done with a normal size printer. Are the colors molded in or are they painted? I always enjoy seeing how other people make their buildings.


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Thank you everyone who has commented.
So, some details.
The station footprint is 32 ½" x 10 ¼".
The ground floor walls are 4 ¼" high.
I modified a printer so that I could print 'tall and skinny', mainly because that's how I envisioned printing my heavyweight cars to avoid warping over a long, 30 ½" length.
The longest piece of this station was a wall 21 ½" high.
The walls are printed three at a time in a triangle shape with small joiners so that there is some stability as the print gets taller.
The corners are slotted together with a kind of dovetail joint so that I did not need to glue anything and they have a flange top and bottom to mount to wood to keep everything square.
Other than the end brackets, the roof support brackets slot into a grove to make sure that they all lined up nice and square.
It was printed in red (because I happened to have a spare spool of red) and then painted with acrylics.
The window detail was printed separately and then glued into place after painting them.
The station will NOT be out permanently, but put in place when needed. I am still not sure how well this filament will last in the heat of the day anyway - we will see.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

To help show what I was explaining, here are a couple of photos that show how the corner pieces and roof brackets slot together, and how I print the sides in a triangle shape.
Cheers,
David


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## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Hi David:
I just got out of the hospital for my autogreffe (Whooee...). And the first thing I see looking on the forum is your beautiful job on that station. The joining of the elements is brilliant and should help keep things rigid.
Keep up this fascinating exploration of that new medium.
Best,
Simon


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## RShilling (Jul 6, 2016)

Very nice. As 3D printers become more common the modeling possibilities will really expand. Especially in Large scale, as there are few kits available for the many prototypes that people will want to have.


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Great work David and I like the idea of how you join the parts together, a very impressive station so keep us up to date on it's progress and installation with trains.
Russell


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## mickey (Jan 28, 2009)

After the initial cost of the printer, how expensive is it to print something like all the parts for the station? I am assuming like most things, there is a price/quality function for these printers.


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## bdp3wsy (Mar 14, 2008)

It looks great. Will you be selling these? Or the printing files? Jack


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

mickey said:


> After the initial cost of the printer, how expensive is it to print something like all the parts for the station? I am assuming like most things, there is a price/quality function for these printers.


Hi Mickey,
It all depends on what filament you use as there is often quite a price difference.
With the station so far, I used about $25 worth, but then there was also a lot of test pieces before I settled on how to do everything, so probably $35.
Cheers,
David


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

bdp3wsy said:


> It looks great. Will you be selling these? Or the printing files? Jack


Hi Jack,
No to making and selling, it is just a way to make the station.
Selling the files?
The problem here is that you would need to have a printer that can print the largest file which is 21 ½" tall.
If you have one, we can talk!
Cheers,
David


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

For the roof, I finally ended up 3D printing the roof trusses to support whatever I put on top.
The front part of the roof is in two planes and I couldn't work out how to do that without having something underneath to support everything.
Both ends and the back are a simple one plane, so that was not a problem.
The front corners have the 'dog leg' shape to accommodate the multiple planes at the corner.
Anyhow I will now continue experimenting how to 3D print the roof shingles.
I have done a small sample to see how thin I can do it.
All the best,
David Leech,Delta, Canada


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Beautiful work David! 

How many hours do you think you've got in the design modeling, and also the printing? 

Those shingles on the wall are very impressive, how did you tackle that in your modeling program? 

Love your corner joints! 

What make is your printer?

Thanks much,
Cliff


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

CliffyJ said:


> Beautiful work David!
> 
> How many hours do you think you've got in the design modeling, and also the printing?
> 
> ...


Hi Cliff,
I have no real idea how much time it took to draw it out!
I use Sketchup and as the Canadian Pacific standardized everything it didn't really take long to work out the doors and windows.
The shingles were drawn as the 'extruded' shape of the wall, and then the gaps just added for a small section, and then cut and pasted all over.
Once I knew what I wanted to do, it only took me a couple of months of an hour here and there to get the whole station done.
It was printed on my much modified Creality CR-10S printer.
Thanks for all the feedback.
Cheers,
David


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## MichaelS (Mar 31, 2020)

David, your station is amazing. You did a great job!

I find that using an interlocking system for your walls as well as the triangle-shaped sides have been excellent ideas to reduce both the assembly time and any risk of printing failures. You said you modified your printer, but how did you do that?

Recently, my team and I have managed to 3D print the head office building of Novo Nordisk. We have done it from scratch, starting from 3D modeling. Maybe our next try could be a station!


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

MichaelS said:


> David, your station is amazing. You did a great job!
> 
> I find that using an interlocking system for your walls as well as the triangle-shaped sides have been excellent ideas to reduce both the assembly time and any risk of printing failures. You said you modified your printer, but how did you do that?
> 
> Recently, my team and I have managed to 3D print the head office building of Novo Nordisk. We have done it from scratch, starting from 3D modeling. Maybe our next try could be a station!


MichaelS, welcome to MLS.
Thanks for the kind words.
Basically I made the printer twice as tall and changed the firmware to that effect.
If you don't do that, the printer still thinks that it is the original height!
I also took the x and y axis and put them on a gantry so that I didn't have a build plate that moved back and forth.
How about a photo of the office building and to what scale did you build it?
Cheers,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## deltatrains (Nov 25, 2010)

*CP Station*

Hi David,
That model is absolutely brilliant. Over the last two years it was fun to look at, and video the cardboard
test mock - up of this station, I am now looking forward to the day in the ( hopefully) very near future
when this most excellent building, in its final form, can be viewed close up.
Once again, congratulations on a very nice construction project.
Peter.


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## fsts2k (Jan 13, 2009)

David, really nice job on this. It looks like a wonderful model and great engineering on the printing. Thanks for sharing


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## MMER1116 (Oct 29, 2012)

David,

Excellent work. Would you be willing to share a car file? I have two Raise3D printers, a Pro (12x12x12) and a ProPlus (12x12x24). I have been printing for about 2 years mostly track supports, gear boxes for trackside automation, and accessories. Right now, the printers are printing masks to donate for Corvid volunteers. 
I usually print in PLA, PETG, or ABS.

What material to you usually use?

Thanks,

Mike


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi Mike,
I have been using a temperature resistant PLA, which of course has now been discontinued!
But I have found another similar source that looks promising that hopefully I will be able to get once the world returns to a better place.
Thanks for your efforts in printing masks.
Cheers,
David


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## MichaelS (Mar 31, 2020)




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## marwen (Jun 11, 2020)

Its really Amazing and you guys dong incredible job.


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## gizmorama (Jul 13, 2020)

PLEASE write some more on using the 3D printer. Include some how-tos. I am fascinated with them and don't know where or how to begin.
I can only imagine that lots of folks would benefit from your advice and experience.
Thanks in advance


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Well the station is finished - well more of less, still things to tidy up and add interiors, but it's good enough to put outside when I have my steamups, if that ever happens again.
As far as how to do things, it's just too variable to explain.
The best thing is to learn to model in the computer first and then find someone willing to try and print your work.
When all is successful, buy yourself a printer and practice and experiment. That way you work out how best to draw things and how best to print them, but the basic method of both is fairly straight forward.
Sorry I can't be more detailed.
Cheers,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

That came out really nice. It looks quite similar to my Dolores CO station, home of the RGS Geese.


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