Over the past week I've managed a few more bits of 3D printing, pushing my 3D modeling skills and my Anycubic photon to the limit. The power hammer had lots of odd shapes to model up and my favourite feature, the large spring between the two parts of the hammer mechanism. I was astonished that the foot peddle which engages the clutch mechanism came out, this is only 1mmx.8mm in profile. I printed this in 4 pieces, the main frame casting, the two fly wheels and the main hammer mechanism.  This was printed with a .04mm layer height and took about 5 hours of print time. The wheels are on a brass rod axle.

The operating gubbins shows the layer lines but these cleaned off quite easily, bear in mind this part is just 28mm across. The spring is made of .75mm coils and once the little bit of support structure was removed from the rear it actually springs freely.

Once assembled the hammer was primed and then painted up. Just a reminder of the prototype.

and my representation of it. I've added a little weathering to hopefully represent a work horse machine still in reasonable nick.

Next up I've made some dustbins! Lots of fun modeling the various flutes and ribs on the bin and the lids. Three of these filled the print bed of the Photon nicely.

A little bit of cleaning up was required, there was a slight issue about half way up the bins where there was a little bit of layer separation. Fortunately it wasn't enough to make the print fail and was pretty well hidden under a coat of primer. I was pushing the thickness (or actually thinness) of the parts on the printer. I hadn't allowed quite enough clearance on the rim of the lids so had to scrape some of the material off the inside to make them fit on the bases.

With a little bit of sanding, painting a suitable grey and some weathering I think they look the part.

The scene continues to come together, next up is the pillar drill.

I've not been ignoring the Stour Valley during all this. I've been working mainly on wagon stock. I had the amusement of running stupidly long trains round and round just for the fun of it.

David