I will be passing on the knowledge and experiences that I have gained over the last four years playing around with 3D printing. Firstly with Shapeways and more recently with the two different style 3D printers that I bought.
I hope to give those who are interested enough information to get them started in this fascinating aspect of our hobby.
Be aware though that it can be very absorbing and another hobby in itself. I have probably put hundreds and hundreds of hours into the drawing side and the printing side is certainly not the fastest thing going.
The successful setup of a 3D printer can be a bit demanding but when you get a good print it is a great feeling, particularly when you have had the idea and drawn the item up.
A recent item I printed came about when I had the idea to draw up some one and a half inch nuts/bolts with three inch square washers for the Laser Rail Bits NSWGR Timber Trestle Bridge kit I was building. Within about 2 hours I had drawn the nut/bolt/washer, copied 272 of them, attached them to a sprue arrangement,, saved the model to the STL file format and printed them on my ANYCUBIC Photon DLP printer. Now that was fun!
I have yet to install these on the trestle bridge as that other thing called real life keeps intruding.
I also did some hex nut/bolts with 3 inch round washers, just because I could.
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HO 1.5 inch square nut-bolt and 3 inch square washers
HO 1.5 hex inch nut-bolt and 3 inch round washers
Here are some other things I have printed on the Photon printer.
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| HO 3D printed cows - 3D model from the internet - Showing some support marks I didn't clean properly |
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| HO 3D printed water tank - Support marks not cleaned off yet |
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| HO Werris Creek station building window - Dots are support marks on back of window |
