Stereolithography for T gauge

[Alex.]

Hi all,

 

Been dabbling in T gauge for a while and want to try some more custom stuff like new chassis and gearing.

 

Have been looking at the form 1 by formlabs but not sure if the gearing in T is too small to be printed.

 

Hoping someone with experience will know.

 

Regards,

Alex.

[Marbelup]

The Form1 printer isn't readily available yet (May??) and I don't believe anyone on the forum has one or access to one, so the actual print quality for model railway applications is unknown.

 

You could try some gears and chassis parts using the best of the commercial print services, e.g. Fineline, before committing to buy a printer.  At least then you could compare resolution specs with the commercial printers to see how the Form1 stacks up.

 

Gears would probably work best made laid flat, as most stereolithography printers have better resolution in the X and Y axes compared to the Z axis.  That way, you would have the greatest chance of getting a decent profile on the teeth.

 

I suspect there are not too many people willing to tackle mechanisms for T gauge.  I have seem some scratchbuilt bodies on the web, e.g. for Australian prototypes, but based on existing the existing T-gauge mechanism with little or no modification.

[SpoorObjecten]

Shapeways' FUD material works out great for T-gauge!

 

http://http://www.shapeways.com/shops/spoorobjecten?section=Modeltrains+-+1%3A450&s=0

 

 

Though, i must say, the Full Color Sandstone material is awesome, not perfect, but still really cool:

[Alex.]

@Marbelup, Makes sense to at least have some gears trial printed first, Just need to find a company with reasonable prices.

 

@SpoorObjecten, FUD is great, already used it to make some wagons but it's not fine enough for gearing etc.

[richbrummitt]

I believe the specification for the Form 1 states a dot size of 0.3mm millimetres. That limits its use for very small scale stuff unless you leave some detail off to allow finishing and adding fine details after. 

 

Any AM technology can make gears but whether they can be made to suit your needs is a different matter. Microantribe (sp) have some interesting little gearboxes that are probably a better bet.