Good advice and I'm learning quickly. The slicer does show a pretty detailed rendering of the layers being added (or removed depending on which direction the animation is going). I also am paying more time to looking at the STL file first since it shows non-solid objects pretty clearly once I learned what to look for. I'm making the AC units in four parts, but just for fun, I'm going to try and print the entire gantry hoist machinery in one go. I had to redraw a lot of the downloaded components since they were not solids.
Today continued the multi-tasking. I masked and painted the engine house exterior, painted the gantry rails, printed the AC box and attempted to print the Bridgeport directly from the SketchUp warehouse model. It didn't work. It also needed some more support since the base was deforming so I stopped the print. It's good that you can pause and look at the work at any time without missing a beat. if you see early that the supports aren't working, you just kill the job and you're out a couple grams of resin.
The ac came out pretty well, but there was some distortion on the sides so I modified the drawing with some internal bracing. I also redrew the fan in the fan housing making it much thicker so the parts will hold together. What blows me away is that the door handle is actually sticking out from the door. The door louvers came out nice too. I'm still having that problem of material missing at the corners. It's just a little bit and no big deal to fix, but I want to know how to stop it from happening at all.
Right now (11:30 p.m.) the machine is running downstairs printing the modified fan assembly. It's a pleasant sounding machine, almost as if it's breathing.
I glued the machine shop to the building, sanding all the spackle and then masking. As I noted this morning, I chose not to use the Press-n-Seal since it doesn't hold well under pressure.
Getting this beast up the cellar steps and out to the driveway was mildly difficult since not only is it a bit heavy, it's very unwieldy. I didn't break anything. To mask the big doors I used one piece of cardboard. I used the machine shop roof to mask its inside. I just sealed the junction to the building.
Here's what I looked like getting ready to paint this thing. The wind was shifting constantly and the super mask kept vapors and spray out of me. It was in the 90s and hotter then heck.
It was so hot that some of the paint was arriving at the building as dust. It was drying before it reached the target. Get too close and it ran, stay back and it flashed. Not ideal paint conditions. The main roof served as the main interior mask.
Here it is back in the shop and, yes, I got it back in one piece.
The Rust-o-Leum Matte Camouflage tan was the perfect color for the 'concrete' exterior. I would work well for sidewalks too.
On Monday I'll do some minor sanding and maybe some touch up and the start adding windows.
Here's how the rivets showed up after painting. They're a pretty good alternative to punching your own.
Here's a good example of why printing on a 45 degree bias. This was the valve cover while it was printing. Instead of a broad surface that has to be pulled off the Teflon, you just have some small surface area that needs to release. The printer shows what each layer looks like as it progresses. Meanwhile, the Chinese guys have already shipped the new touch panel, but mine seems to be working better too. I have never had some much fun with a new tool!
