Kris' Digital modelling

[Kris]

Over the past few months I have been creating a number of different models digitally, using TinkerCad and lately Fusion360. These models have been created for use with on my Coombe viaduct layout and on my children's 00 gauge layout (train set), there have also been a couple of quick creations for their brio. Before getting my own printer I borrowed my work's printer for a week to see what could be done with it, since then I have purchased my own and am now printing on an Anycubic Max4 pro. 

 

I have shared some of these images elsewhere but will now start to group them together here. 

 

So to start with some TinkerCad images.

 

Brio Buffers

 

 

A set of garages based on those in Saltash.

 

 

Saltash Baptist church. This model broke TinkerCad causing me to start looking at Fusion360. Ultimately it did not print with enough detail, something to revisit in the future. 

 

 

 

[Kris]

And now onto some of the Fusion images I have been playing (correct word here) with. 

 

first up, a section of 4mm fence panel, really dull but something we see every day. The post is much longer than needs to be to allow for the ground contours. I have also created a gate to go with this. These are beefier than they need to be to survive (hopefully) attack from my children.

 

 

Next up, a road bridge section, again 4mm for my children's layout. They have damaged and earlier card version so time for a replacement. This is on the printer as I type.

 

It's a road bridge that has many liberties taken with it. The girders should be thicker on the base but that would not allow trains to pass under it. 

 

Next up we go onto n gauge bits. First up something that does not fit into the printer in one piece, so is being printed in many different sections just like a large jigsaw puzzle. The Royal Albert bridge, to scale. It's big very big and getting the rails in has been fun. So far I have printed the pillars and, both tubes and the main girders. Some of the supports have been printed as well. 

 

 

And a small section view.

 

 

 

I shall pop some photos up of printed items in the next few hours. 

[monkeysarefun]

I read many comments here and elsewhere saying they'd love to get a 3D printer but learning 3D CAD is beyond them. They assumedly think Autocad or similar complexity, I think if they were aware what Tinkercad can do and how easy it is to get into it- (along with Sketchup) -they'd be amazed.  From there its a much less scary step to the more complex Fusion360, Blender etc.

[Kris]

29 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

They assumedly think Autocad or similar complexity, I think if they were aware what Tinkercad can do and how easy it is to get into it- (along with Sketchup) -they'd be amazed.

TinkerCad is very simple and very user friendly. If seven year old children can manage to use it, then... 

[monkeysarefun]

1 minute ago, Kris said:

TinkerCad is very simple and very user friendly. If seven year old children can manage to use it, then... 

And the Frosts Mill layout on here is a brilliant example of what it can produce.

[Kris]

The bridge has come out okay. Needs cleaning up (and removing all supports) but over all I'm pleased with what I've got.

 

 

And placed roughly in place with the main support print removed. 

 

 

"Toby" is a good choice of loco to test clearance as he is rather tall! 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Kris
Extra photos added.

[Kris]

Here are some of the photos of the printed items. 

 

first up, the garages. 

 

Next the church

 

 

Part of the Royal Albert Bridge. 

 

 

Finally a more complete Royal Albert Bridge. The main track bed is sagging in this photo so the supports were stuck in place using blue tac so that I could get a nice photo with the setting sun. At some point I must try to do this with a more completed version. 

 

 

[Kris]

The printer has been at work again and some more supports are coming along. The solid colour PLA is producing far nicer results than the transparent ones. 

 

[Kris]

Next up on the printer as I type, some steps for my son's railway. Brick steps, I wonder where that idea came from...

 

It's been most of the day "building" it on the laptop as Fusion360 does not handle lots of bricks very well. 

 

[monkeysarefun]

I've found Sketchup to be the easiest way to model brick walls. I have a library of pre-created 2 D file 'Sheets' of bricks of different bonds. I select the one I want and overlay it onto the wall section,  bricks outside the wall and in window and door openings  etc get removed. Its pretty much  just like laying brickpaper over cut out wall sections in what I now call 'Analogue' modelling!

 

Then I use  a free  extension (jointPush-Pull I think)  that takes all the bricks and makes them 3D to whatever depth you want the mortar to be - all up  about 5 minutes work..

[Kris]

Well it printed, mostly okay. For some reason a few rows of bricks lost their definition, never mind I can hide those. 

 

[simonmcp]

What may be happening is that the resolution or size of your bricks is out from the resolution of the printer. Essentially if your make of printer has a resolution or step of .2mm then anything that isn't a multiple of this will not print correctly. A crude but hopefully familiar analogy is why you sometimes see strange patterns (moiré) in copied and reprinted photographs from old magazines or a more accurate explanation is that it is like pixels in a bitmap image -you can't have half a pixel. If you can establish the resolution and or layer height of your printer and only use multiples of that, in all directions, then hopefully you should get cleaner results. Unfortunately it may mean that you have to have fewer rows of bricks than the prototype. Some slicer software allows you to see a preview of the layers in close up.

 

Great work on Saltash Bridge by the way.

 

Simon

[Kris]

The next bits of digital modelling have been 2 bus sheds that were found in the goods yard at Saltash and the goods shed. 

 

[Kris]

Just a few things that I have been printing and designing.

First up the goods shed. Despite minimal support it printed okay. Having looked at the finished object however I feel the size might be wrong. I think that I will be redesigning this. 

 

 

 

Next up, some redesigned bridge decks for my model of the Royal Albert Bridge. 

 

 

Finally an ornamental fishpond with a fountain for my children's 00 layout. This will be printing out later today. It's designed to fit over a milk bottle top so a resin pond can be created.