How about a forum for use of the Make-Bot of Dremel Digital Printers for Modeling?

I'll assume their 3d printer now has a name, and is being sold?

I  think you may be more informed than the average reader...or I'm really behind in my six month absence . Maybe I need some more help with info and comments?

  I think its a good idea, and would promote advancements by exposing us more to 3d printing, and teaching too. But until it really takes off in the O train world a bit more, "scratch building" and 3d printing combined as a sub-topic would have the possibility of better success IMO.     

The 3D build above is a .OBJ file that will print this train.

A forum topic could be just a listing of .Obj files and .Stl files in zipped format that anyone could download to print. 

here is another note the cost!!

Hello Alan,

The first file, is this downloadable from your posting?  I tried reviewing the attachment and it didn't show me anything other than the very first image.   

Also I agree it would be great to have this type of information segregated out into its own forum.  I really would like to learn more about it and the costs involved.

Thanks!

Kasar

The two train images I clipped from TurboSquid; these cost money. My idea is to provide a place HERE for FREE downloads of train related items that are not made by anyone else!

So let's say that a certain type of fireplugs are available and sold by an existing vendor then we would not provide a file to make those fireplugs.  We would provide a file for a different style of F-plug that is not made.

OK sounds like a great idea.  Let's hope a few others get on board with this recommendation.

I'm glad you posted the file of the printed locomotive. That's what I am talking about.  Many people are unaware of the maturity of this technology. A place where people who make such files can post them free. Home-Depot is selling these 3-D printers for $1,000. Less than the cost of many model engines.

This is some of the stuff you can do. Note the tiny chair. The other is a dining car interior available on the web as a file.

Tommy posted:

How about a forum for the make-bot, dedicated to railroad modeling?

Why don't you start a thread on it, and if it develops a large enough following you can think about asking for a separate sub-forum.

One issue I can foresee with sharing files to create 3-D objects: some folks will be copying existing commercially made items and it will turn into an issue of design piracy and counterfeiting.

AlanRail posted:

The 3D build above is a .OBJ file that will print this train.

A forum topic could be just a listing of .Obj files and .Stl files in zipped format that anyone could download to print. 

I hadn't heard of Maker-Bot until this thread. I've seen samples of smaller items close up before, but didn't know that Dremel had started producing a desktop version. Therefore, a pile of questions:

Does this file give you anything other than a solid, static model, and has anybody printed one?

Is it a complete rails-to-stack locomotive, with no options for component separation?

Is it possible to create a build platform from which a viable locomotive shell could be produced for a suitable chassis?

How much surface finishing is needed on a product, given the "polygonal' path of the extruder?

Just wondering aloud.

Dremel now produces an acessary product that you paint on and produces a perfectly smooth enamel-like surface.

    I sort of doubt the Make bot unit is big enough for an O shell in one piece. Most of the large 3d units are barely big enough for one. But it can be done in pieces. You can expand a kit, its just not done often.

For separate pieces you'd pull them off the "picture" and into a new file.

  Windows 10 upgrade had a 3d print software included. Never used it because the controls are icons that made no sense to me, poor instructions (for windows, nothing new about that) I'm pretty good with figuring that type of stuff out, but like much MS does today, I could find no logic in it, so gave up.

If tablet/phone navigating seems like common sense to you, you'll likely love it. I can't follow the associations of the icons looks to the actions they do.

Wanna buy an Android? lol. (Useless too, so I wouldn't put you through that).

For smaller scales, this is great news it's out though.

MakerBot is 2D layer printer that heats PLA plastic in a spout that then lays out the hot plastic in an x/y and z dimensions, the FormLab 2 is a laser 3D printer that has a laser that heats resin in a pool while raising the "print" as it heats the resin in precise (microns) positions.

To print an engine you would need to do it in sections with tabs to lock them in place. I think that instead you could make detailed components to add to an existing engine or other car.

Forlab makes solid models. The Dremel makes hollow models. The finish on Forlab is superior but the products have to be soaked and washed in alcohol.  Home Depot gives ten percent off to veterans.