3D printing, the future?

@Mannyrock posted:

I remember that 20 years or so ago, when 3-D printers were first invented, it was announced with great fanfare that they would totally revolutionize manufacturing in the 21st Century, and that in short order, everything from your cars to pancake flippers would be made by 3-D printers.

It didn't happen.  In my book, a real flop.

Good to hear that they may be of use in making train stuff!

Mannyrock

They didn't flop, the problem was the hype machine oversold how fast it would develop. One person I know talking about 3d printing, said "well, look at how fast smart phones took off".....the only thing is smart phones were not revolutionary technology either, in the sense that it represented putting together existing technology in a way no one thought of. The cell phone technology was not new at all, the chips to run the app were not exotic technology and the data technology (now at 5g level) was not earthshakingly new.

3d printing has advanced tremendously in 20 years (and I can see that, and I am not an expert). No, it isn't the star trek replicator kind of thing, but that was hype, not reality. It has developed the way a lot of other revolutionary technology developed, it takes time. The fact that you can get home printers at a reasonable cost is one sign of that. What you don't see is how it is being used behind the scenes. It is being used by military contractors to print parts, I read something not long ago that the military was developing systems to allow them to literally build replacement parts when out in the field. It is being used to prototype parts for manufacturing, but is also being used to print things commercially. And it is advancing, what Sarah did in this thread wouldn't have been possible not all that many years ago.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The scary part is she was way ahead of me on her first post here, how's a person to ever catch up!

It is always really nice to have someone to catch up to on something, you can't be top dog in everything, GRJ

I think at some point 3D printing will be as common and as cheap as color laser printers.

Maybe with the Egloo PLUTO model.

However, again I think laser cutters will beat out 3D printers to be first to be common.

@bigkid posted:

It is always really nice to have someone to catch up to on something, you can't be top dog in everything, GRJ

You can be sure that there are many areas that I'm not even in the dog fight, and this is one of them.   I've looked at 3D printers a host of times, but I just can't see how I'd have the time to actually develop the skills to use them effectively.

@Mannyrock posted:

I remember that 20 years or so ago, when 3-D printers were first invented, it was announced with great fanfare that they would totally revolutionize manufacturing in the 21st Century, and that in short order, everything from your cars to pancake flippers would be made by 3-D printers.

It didn't happen.  In my book, a real flop.

Good to hear that they may be of use in making train stuff!

Mannyrock

My brother was doing 3D printing for his master's thesis back in the early to mid 90's.  The technology is not new.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

You can be sure that there are many areas that I'm not even in the dog fight, and this is one of them.   I've looked at 3D printers a host of times, but I just can't see how I'd have the time to actually develop the skills to use them effectively.

I hear you, I know how I am with CAD programs (just designing my modest layout in a rail design program burned out brain cells, and it was a simple design,no grades, no 3d version, etc) or visual design programs, and it would be a full time job. This is kind of one of those things that goes in "when I am retired, and have the time". 

I just can't see how I'd have the time to actually develop the skills to use them effectively.

John if I, a former structural engineer and lawyer can design and build a circuit board .....you can design a 3D object.

I started with TINKERCAD an easy free 3D modeling program. Modeling is just putting together 3D shapes like squares ,rectangular boxes spheres or cylinders to resemble your model then subtracting holes or parts you don't want.

You clearly understand that Printing is just converting your model to a .STL file that is read by a slicer program that creates vertical slices that the printer prints in steps.

It really is not that hard to do or I couldn't do it either.

@AlanRail posted:

John if I, a former structural engineer and lawyer can design and build a circuit board .....you can design a 3D object.

I have no doubt that I have the ability to learn, just not the time to devote to the process.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

...............just not the time to devote..........

I fully appreciate that condition.  I need to jettison some of the activities I've taken on in the past 3-4 years.

John

Think of it this way: 3D printing is a way of making "custom" electrical circuit housings with openings for LEDS and switch openings.

Disclaimer: It's HO and a UK-prototype channel...

YouTuber 'Sam's Trains' documented his experience with getting a 3D printer and learning to build various pieces of (UK-inspired) rolling stock of increasing sophistication, (by his own admission, not nitpicker-grade modeling). A significant part of these videos (and the entirety of the fifth one) is narrating the building of the 3d models in reiatively simple CAD applications like the web-app version of SketchUp (the...only free version unless you use the 2017 SketchUp Make)

As of this writing he has yet to put all those videos in the playlist he created for them (i left a comment on his most recent video asking if he noticed this), so I tried to present them in the order released--had he populated his 3d printing playlist I would have just linked to that, so apologies in advance for the string of embeds...

Binge-watching all seven videos will take about 4 hours 40-ish minutes, so maybe bookmark the post and watch them over the course of a few days if you find the process interesting.

Below, a tutorial video narrating the build of a basic gondola in SketchUp:

---PCJ

@mwb posted:

Very neatly done, Sarah!

Can you send me a half dozen or so of those domes?

Thanks, sure – these domes are specifically done for the UP O-50-6 type tank car, quite a big one, carrying 12.515 gallons. That means the radius for the dome to fit is made for a tank of 48.5mm in diameter. I love to share!

Sarah

@Sarah posted:

Thanks, sure – these domes are specifically done for the UP O-50-6 type tank car, quite a big one, carrying 12.515 gallons. That means the radius for the dome to fit is made for a tank of 48.5mm in diameter. I love to share!

Sarah

Okay, that'll be a wee bit large; can you knock that back down to 40 mm OD and all that then?

Great stuff, Sarah!

I scratch built a bunch of marker lanterns for cabooses and ends of passenger trains. I thought it would be a pretty simple project to drill out holes on 3 axis in twenty-six tiny metal beads, shape the end of brass screws for the bottoms and add some brass tube and pins on the top and solder it all together. By the time I did all of that I'm sure I could have learned how to make them with 3D printing, such simple shapes, and they'd have printed out very consistent. I wish I would have done it this way.

how much are the 3D printers to purchase and how hard are they to learn to program and approximate how much time it takes to learn how !

Alan

That a question like: How long is a road!

Obviously, 3D printers come in all price ranges from a couple hundred to tens of thousands of dollars!  Pricing is based in the size of model, the media used to print, and the printing technology.

How long it takes to learn to program is again a question only you can really evaluate.  It will be at least how long it takes you to learn to do 3D design drawings, again a number nobody can really state as it depend on the individual.

You can use existing 3D designs much faster, but even learning the in's and out's of a specific 3D printer is a vary variable number.

Things are about to get real, the tank is fully designed with stanchion positions and rivets. To fit the build space I had to cut it into two halves that have support brackets to help re-join again. Wish me luck!

To minimize possible deformation around the areas that the supports attach, I always add 1 or 2mm for sanding off with a disk sander after the supports are removed.  Will be interesting to see how your ends come out, round or oblong a little.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

1. That a question like: How long is a road!

2.  How long it takes to learn to program is again a question only you can really evaluate.  It will be at least how long it takes you to learn to do 3D design drawings, again a number nobody can really state as it depend on the individual.

1.

2. I have a sense that our Sarah is a pretty fast learner... 🙂

Mark in Oregon

@Alan Mancus posted:

how much are the 3D printers to purchase and how hard are they to learn to program and approximate how much time it takes to learn how !

Alan

How hard is it to learn drafting?  I remember several in my high school drafting class that never really got the hang of it.  Things always look easy until you try to do it.

When making a cad file, you have to be precise with your dimensions and proportions.  Everything you want to be on your model has to be included be it on the main printing or as add on components.  You just can't draw a rectangle and expect a boxcar to come out printed.

Sara is obviously very talented and I suspect patient.

Rusty