3D printing, the future? - Yes It Is!

Great looking prints there Dan! I tell ya, I got an FDM printer but I often look at the resin printers and think I ought to upgrade. FDM is just so darn easy and convenient. Turn it on and go. No clean up needed afterwards.

Your links don't work (or didn't work for me).

Am I to understand these will be used as patterns in casting???

And lastly, are you aware of the print repository on the forum?? You can contribute and download files for you own use.

Hey, it is a small thing, but I found out the insulating pins Ross Track uses are 3d printed by Dave Hikel (I was giving feedback on them). Not a big thing, but interesting.

insulating pins Ross Track uses are 3d printed

I never thought of doing that .... never purchase them again!!

I have to agree with BillYo414 above, Facebook links in original post don't work.

Chuck

@BillYo414 posted:

Am I to understand these will be used as patterns in casting???

And lastly, are you aware of the print repository on the forum?? You can contribute and download files for you own use.

Yes, we'll use these for the casting process. I'll check out repository. These are for clients so I can't post them but others I will.

I would be very interested in seeing how the casting part works. Mainly because of the size. I only ever poured iron but it was on castings 5-180 tons. I've always been curious about the other end of the spectrum.

Bill

As to casting, there are castable resins. That are formulated to be burned out of an investment.

SEE  3D Printing Materials: Jewelry Resins (formlabs.com)

Thanks Alan! I will check this out. I assumed the PLA was burned out.

the resin or PLA IS burned away; however these materials  tend to leave more residue in the investment that causes issues with the mold.

that is why jewelry makers use WAX; Wax burns away  completely. The castable resin is more wax like.

@AlanRail posted:

the resin or PLA IS burned away; however these materials  tend to leave more residue in the investment that causes issues with the mold.

that is why jewelry makers use WAX; Wax burns away  completely. The castable resin is more wax like.

Correct. These parts will be for the mold and then we shoot waxes for the castings

Interesting. I didn't know there was the intermediate step there. We used to do lost foam and then wood patterns. Never messed with the investment castings.

I bought a special resin that "should" allow us to 3D print then use directly for the casting process, skipping the mold/wax process.  We'll see how well it turns out.

Neat....maybe Dan can down the road produce some US&S H-5 style searchlight signals in O scale for us ex Wabash territory modelers......LOL!

these? Way too easy to model  and print.

@railroad-guy posted:

These are for clients so I can't post them but others I will.

Shoot me an email when you are ready Dan... and, I'll set you up.

@railroad-guy posted:

After seeing the fantastic results from Serge Y. Lebel and Sarah Griessenböck I made the plunge and bought the Elegoo Saturn and built a home made curing box. We shall see but I suspect great things from this.

One part is an O scale journal box for the SDL39 project and the other is a signal box cover in S scale. These will be prototypes for the brass castings.

Can anyone else smell this picture? I use a full respirator and can still smell this stuff sometimes.

never have smelled the resin have smelled the alcohol used to clean the excess resin from the print.

@TheRambles posted:

Can anyone else smell this picture? I use a full respirator and can still smell this stuff sometimes.

I use Water Washable Rapid Resin. Almost no smell and no IPA.