A new Ian Allan book coming out on 3D printing and laser cutting

[JCL]

I thought I'd mentioned that I've just been reading The Railway Magazine and in the back is an Ian Allan advert for a book entitled "3D Printing and Laser Cutting: A Railway Modelling Companion" by Jeff Geary and Dave Renshaw coming out in September. The advert's text says: "A hands-on practical guide to the cutting edge technology of 3D printing and laser cutting for railway modellers." 160pp 22.50

 

It's a big subject, so it'll be interesting to find out how the book covers the subject.

[rue_d_etropal]

I wonder how much they can say to fill 160 pages. It is a big subject, but for most people Istill think getting into the design side is more useful than messing around with a 3D printer, unless you want to spend that much time on one. Also with the technology moving so fast, any book will get out of date very quickly. I wonder if there is a book in the 'Dummies Guide' range of books.

yes found one, but there are also loads of other guides onlinefree and to buy

 

https://www.amazon.com/Printing-Dummies-Kalani-Kirk-Hausman/dp/1118660757

 

There have been some guides produced in modelling magazines, certainly in French ones, but the British press has been notable for its lack of articles about 3D printing itself. I still use a quote from one editor when I asked, and that was '3D printing, a useful aid to scatch building'. I am now looking at it as an alternative to scatch building, in effect virtual scatchbuilding, with ability to turn out the model in real at the end .

I still find most people don't understand the concept, let alone the technology, and I try to explain it simple as a 2D paper printer, which moved up a bit, at end of each page.

 

Now laser cutting might be of more interest, but they should be including silhouette cutting as well, especially as it shares same design files as laser cutting.

[Enterprisingwestern]

If Ian Allans more recent offerings are anything to go by, I hope there aren't any pictures in the book, you most probably wont be able to see anything in their blackness.

How the mighty are fallen, where did they go wrong?

 

Mike.

[JCL]

Now laser cutting might be of more interest, but they should be including silhouette cutting as well, especially as it shares same design files as laser cutting.

...and is of course, considerably cheaper. Without checking, I think that there are now around 150 people who have said they own a Silhouette cutter of one type or another.

[rue_d_etropal]

I do think that at least one of the British magazines could produce a special feature in much the same way ther have been loads of features on DCC, and in many ways that has less interest. The French magazines have had features on both 3D printing(possibly still not enough) and laser cut kits, although not much on how to go about laser cutting and silhouette cutting. These new technologies are the future, and fit in well with online based businesses.

At over £20 for a book, I can't see many buyers, shame, but it could be a smaller publication in a magazine, over several issues. Books like these can end up in low-cost remainder bookshops ,and get out of date very quickly.

Might be sounding negative, but think my idea might actually be better received and get more peple interested.

[brack]

In fairness Narrow Gauge & Industrial Review have featured several articles on 3D printed locos and models in the past few years. One of my designs has featured twice in 2 different scales, once by me and once by a customer. Mark Greenwood's 009 Hudson Hunslet (3D print and etch kit, with 3D printed brass chassis) also features in the latest issue. However the target audience of the Review is perhaps more skewed to those prepared to make their own models than some of the other magazines.

 

I suspect the book isn't aimed at those of us who've experimented with this stuff for several years (it's over 5 years since I taught myself CAD and printed my first model) but it's appearance suggests that its becoming more mainstream, or Ian Allan wouldn't be touching it.

[rue_d_etropal]

There have been a few articles about 3D printed items, Chris did a nice pece on my inset track last year. It is the overall picture of 3D printing, what it is,how to get involved, either just designing or going whole hog and getting your own printer, that has not been covered.

From my experience of talking to people at exhibitions, it is a big black hole, but when you break the subject down into simple steps, most can follow what it is about. Not sure who would actually buy a book. More likely someone will buy it for someone else who was showing an interest..

I just think it would be better to do something similar in magazines.

 

found this link

http://www.ianallanpublishing.com/3d-printing-and-laser-cutting-a-railway-modelling-companion.htm

 

The final section introduces laser cutting and etching/engraving for the modeller, again with step-by-step examples.

this just sounds like tagging it onto the end, when it could do with more than one section. No mention of silhouette cutting.

[JCL]

I remember MikeOxon doing a good introductory article about the Silhouette in RM.

[rue_d_etropal]

I thinkI noticed that article a couple of years ago in RM. There seem to be loads of specials about DCC , but nothing about 3D printing or laser/silhouette cutting. I think the article was more about one machine not its use in general. I will look online, as I think I saw it on Exact Editions site.

 

Each of the technologies has good and bad points, combining them to maximise the good points is where it really is a game changer.

[Ralph R]

There is actually another book due to be released in November entitled 'Laser Cutting and 3D Printing for Railway Modellers' written by Bob Gledhill and published by Crowood Press. The book contains a tutorial on the use of Sketchup and how you can use it to drive a laser cutter and 3D printer. Bob has a laser cutter and three different 3D printers so he is well experienced in using these products. It was as a result of meeting Bob that I purchased a 3D printer myself and I have benefitted greatly from him sharing his knowledge with me. 

 

Recently he came to our club and several of our members worked through some of the exercises in the book using Sketchup and we all managed to produce drawings from the exercises which are in the book using Sketchup. Bob is a tutor at Missenden where he regularly shares his experiences and he designed and developed the MERG servo mounts for operating signals and turnouts. 

 

It hasn't appeared on the Crowood website yet but they do offer 20% discount on orders via their website so it is worth watching out for. Having read the manuscript and done all the tutorials I can recommend this as a great bible to using Sketchup and 3D printers and laser cutters and if you are thinking of going down this road and are new to it then I think it would be money well spent.

 

Ralph

[rue_d_etropal]

That does sound better, but still think a special in magazines would be better, given how much is done for DCC and other new elecrtrical technology. The important thing about laser cutting and 3D printing is not the end product but the design process, something I am starting to refer to as 'virtual scratchbuilding'. It is sometging that would appeal more to the IT savvy younger crowd(although I am now myself classified as a senior student, but no bus pass yet!!).

[rue_d_etropal]

had not realised Sketchup could frive a laser cutter. The files for laser cutting are very simple. Main problem is getting them into right file formt. Is there piece of software that will convert either bitmap or jpeg files to suitable format. It would be far easier to use something like windows paint, change lines to correct colour then convert to laser cut file format.

[rue_d_etropal]

had a quick look at book at exhibition.Might suit someone starting now, but these type of new technology books can get out of date very quickly. Noticed what looked like coding/instructions on one page.

I have been asked by one club if I might like to give a presentation on 3D printing. This is something I have been thinking about, as most people feel that 3D printing is some form of magic.

[MikeTrice]

I note there is another book due in November: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laser-Cutting-Printing-Railway-Modellers/dp/1785002260/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1475514700&sr=8-3&keywords=3d+printing+laser

[rue_d_etropal]

As I have already said, I would rather see some articles in magazines.

From my job  experience in IT and my own personal computer use, most IT books get out of date very quickly. Laser cutting is possibly more stable, as it is based on relatively simple software, where as 3D CAD is varied, and there is a big diffrence between packages, and price. I always suggest anyone interested should allocate plenty of time and get hold of various packages , free ones and free sample ones(limited time normally about 15 days). That way you can try it out without costing anything. Anything worth while should have a training package.

[Ralph R]

I see that Bob Gledhill's book has now been published and contains a lot of information about laser cutting and 3D printing as well as providing an excellent tutorial on using Sketchup to produce drawings.

 

Available from http://www.crowood.com/details.asp?isbn=9781785002267&t=Laser-Cutting-and-3-D-Printing-for-Railway-Modellers or of course Amazon.

 

Ralph

[Kelly]

A magazine is unlikely to touch a subject about learning to produce artwork for 3d printing as there are so many different methods of going about that. It is also probably far too complex a subject for a magazine to cover in 2 to 4 (about the most generally for commercial magazines) pages without getting into too many parts, at which point a bookazine makes more sense. And if you get to that point, a book makes better sense.

 

Though with the pace of computing and software, by the time it leaves the author's laptop, it is likely already out of date (especially if it uses blender as an example perhaps). The pace of development in 3d printing is also generally fairly quick.

 

However, there have been a few articles on using 3d printed models in magazines, something that could be expanded on. But likely only viable for n due to costs involved unless you're prepared to spend a small fortune on your own printer (a small fortune to one person can be vastly different between people remember too).

[jonhall]

The difficulty is that describing the 3d printing bit, or the laser cutting bit (or etching or sillhouette cutting) is the easy bit (I nearly wrote unskilled but that isn't really true). the bit that makes any of those things possible is the ability to draw the CAD model, and of course research the original such that the CAD is worth producing, and that pre-qualification will turn 90% of the readership off because its not a skill they have or want to learn, and it will probalby lose another 9% who already have those skills and have already found the subject and mastered the basics, leaving just a small fraction who are at a point where they might find it useful.

 

An article/ book that says 'I used CAD to draw up my parts and then printed them this way' isn't that much different from 'I used my lathe to turn up wheel blanks in the usual way, then this is how I used my milling machine to produce the spokes', in the first part of the sentence puts off all those without a lathe, and those who have a lathe and are capable of turning wheels with it, and who have a mill, are probably capable of milling spokes as well.

 

As CAD becomes cheaper, more frequently taught, easier and therefore more mainstream then the number of people with the skill set to potentially become interested in the subject increases, although I fear that just because it can be drawn, does not mean it is accurate enough to be worth replicating.

 

Jon