RMweb Gold farren Posted February 4, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 4, 2012 i have be building some LNWR couches of late from plastic card not finished yet and was woundering if i was to builld some more if i could get some sides pre-made bay CAD and then ether get them 3D printed or etches i have no idear how much any of this would cost or what it would invove should i use afree cad program or bay one or would it work out cheaper to have say PD dessighns do all the work i now i would have to lerne to use to cad programe but i am in no rush at this time untill i have finished the ones i am building free hand i would only be building say one or two of each coache if that would make a deffence but have a long list i would like to build i time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will J Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I'd say it is worth a try downloading something simple and free like Google Sketchup and having a quick experiment. It ought to be up to the job of the relatively simple forms involved in coaches or trucks and you would not be wasting any money if you found it not be for you. Simply type 'sketchup' into Google and it will send you to a free download. There are also lots and lots of clear, informative tutorials on youtube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richbrummitt Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 As regards costs the more you can do yourself the less it will cost. Many people who do etching and some who do printing will help you out with the file but they will charge you for the time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold farren Posted February 7, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2012 ok i am sorry but i do feel the need to push on the cost isues has i don't like the idear of wasting any ones time. i have never bought any made to order parts and to me if i was to say design a A4 size etche with six couch sides on it i guess it is possable but the cost no idear are we in the mid to high tens of pounds or in the hunderds of pounds i most admet i do like the idear but the cost is the worry and the westing of the componys time is all so a concern Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richbrummitt Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I paid mid tens of pounds for the tool for my last etched sheet. That was a larger area than A4. It does depend where you go. I am told that the cost can be considerably more than this (low hundreds). I did all the drawing and design work myself, leaving just the printing of the tools and the making of the etched sheets to the vendor - the drawing and design is where most of the cost would be, unless you can do the same as I. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rods_of_Revolution Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 ok i am sorry but i do feel the need to push on the cost isues has i don't like the idear of wasting any ones time. i have never bought any made to order parts and to me if i was to say design a A4 size etche with six couch sides on it i guess it is possable but the cost no idear are we in the mid to high tens of pounds or in the hunderds of pounds i most admet i do like the idear but the cost is the worry and the westing of the componys time is all so a concern Really depends how complicated the project is, a CAD draftsman would charge between £15-£20 per hour. The easier you can make their job the cheaper it'll be, if you give them a clear hand drawn plan with dimensions for all the lines and angles it'll cost a lot less than a scribble on a fag packet. For something simple like a Mk1 coach side, provided you provide a drawing showing all the important dimensions you'd probably be looking 2hrs work, something more complex with panelling then you'd be looking at 4-5hrs You then have the cost of having it produced, for an A4 sheet I'd expect a price of around £35-£55, usually there will be an up front cost of £30-£40 then £5-£10 per etch, obviously the more you have made the cheaper it'll be. Kindest Regards, Jack Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben racey Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 If you have a look on the shapeways site, you can get an idea of the cost of production of 3d parts, dependent upon material used and volume of material you use. If you download sketchup for free, you've no upfront costs apart from cost of a computer(which I'm guessing you already have.....!), and your time..... Regards Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 ok i am sorry but i do feel the need to push on the cost isues has i don't like the idear of wasting any ones time. i have never bought any made to order parts and to me if i was to say design a A4 size etche with six couch sides on it i guess it is possable but the cost no idear are we in the mid to high tens of pounds or in the hunderds of pounds PPD advertise the cost of their etching service here It is worth rummaging around their site to to get an idea of what is involved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold farren Posted February 8, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 8, 2012 thank you for all the help it seems cheeper then i had thought and i have allready down loaded sketup 8 i have had a quit go on it just a rough scech of a coache to get the feel of it and dose seem very user friendly dose sketup have a raduis tool some where on it or dose that have to be hand drawn? i have a few thoughs in the drawing of a coache do we have to mark the depth of the etching or is that set by the prosece of etching has in layers of the etching? and in the finished 3 d drawing when more then one laye is needed is it one drawing for ever2 levels of etch or just one drawing needed ie showing beeding then the main couche body the third being the doors resase and finaly then the window resace which would be four levels ? sorry for asking so many questions in a short time but that will at lest give me a better i daer of what i have to do to get a the job done Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richbrummitt Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 The drawing for etched sheets is 2D. Colours are used to represent whether the metal is full thickness or etched half way through from the front or the back. There is further information on the colours that are expected by the supplier and the minimum sizes from the supplier, usually on their website. The 'drawing' for 3D printing is in 3D, and is usually called a model. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold farren Posted February 8, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 8, 2012 i see that makes more sence now so if i want muitypull levels i can only have 2 or i have to order a sceond set of etches and put them together thanks for that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike Posted February 8, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 8, 2012 i see that makes more sence now so if i want muitypull levels i can only have 2 or i have to order a sceond set of etches and put them together thanks for that Not quite - I think you need to decide whether you are looking at etching (2D essentially) something or 3D printing. Sketchup is OK for designing 3D models, though personally I prefer Blender (another free 3D modelling package). For etching you are better of using a vector drawing package or a traditional 2D CAD package eg Illustrator/Inkscape/CorelDraw etc. With etching you have potentially 3 layers: half etch front, solid metal ie no etch, half etch back, but that is not really the same as (I think) the sort of layers you are talking about, which would normally be achieved through using multiple layers of etches. Cheers, Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold farren Posted February 8, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 8, 2012 yes i think i'll just do some etching has for now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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