rovex Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Hi all As someone new to 3D printing I would be interested in knowing what materials use other RMWebbers prefer to get their products printed in. My first test pieces I printed up in frosted acrylic. Wasn't wonderfully impressed with the finished product and its also quite expensive, especially as I'm going to need alot of items printing. What do others use? thanks for all comments Dean Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 As someone new to 3D printing I would be interested in knowing what materials use other RMWebbers prefer to get their products printed in. My first test pieces I printed up in frosted acrylic. Wasn't wonderfully impressed with the finished product and its also quite expensive, especially as I'm going to need alot of items printing. Frosted Ultra Detail has the best surface finish of the commonly available materials, but it is only really useful when time and effort is put in to properly finishing it. That is to say it a good choice for making patterns for casting, but too expensive and brittle for most direct use. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marbelup Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 What scale are you working in? Or, what size models do you want to print? FUD is limited in size, so choices are more limited if desired size exceed FUD capabilities. My favourite, for Sn3.5 scale, is Prime Gray from i.Materialise. The detail is not quite as good as FUD but it is available in larger sizes. Also, the material seems quite durable. My oldest parts are nearly 2 years old and still in perfect condition. It is slightly more brittle than normal modelling styrene, but not unduly so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 The Bounding box for FUD is 284 × 184 × 203 mm, and for Prime Grey 250 x 230 x 250 mm. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike Posted July 22, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 22, 2014 As Marbelup says, what scale are you working in? For N gauge FUD is really the only option IMHO (unless you are adding etch overlays) which gives a decent enough finish and level of detail. It is expensive, but not too expensive for N. For larger scales I would probably do as Bill says and print masters for casting. Cheers, Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marbelup Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 The Bounding box for FUD is 284 × 184 × 203 mm, and for Prime Grey 250 x 230 x 250 mm. When I started out in late 2012, the bounding box for FUD was more like 100 mm cubed. Obviously, they have got bigger machines since then. The quality of prints I ordered at that time was pretty poor too, so I have not been tempted to try FUD again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovex Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Thanks guy for your input. I'm modelling in 4mm and these are a few of the things I was hoping to have produced. amongst others. I'm going to need quite a few of all of them and the other things I'm thinking of, which is what will make FUD quite (if not very) expensive. I'm probably being over ambitious :-( The two rather grand columns are about 92mm high, excluding fixing plugs, the canopy support about 50 high by about 60 across. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Why not make patterns in FUD and have them cast in resin? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
black5f Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Hi If this helps .... Patterns made via 3D printing (stuck to a sheet of acrylic ready to make a mould). The machine in this case is an Object, Veroclear 16 micron. Patterns are quite smooth and for casting need no extra finishing. Silicon moulds First finished resin wagon (7mm) (still some bubbles!). Premier couplings, wheels from the spare wheel bin, buffer heads are drawing pins the rest is cast in resin. I 3D printed a stencil for the lettering. Your first design would need some thinking about regarding the mould, if you did a careful one sided mould of half and stuck two together you might get away with it? If you think the others could be made in halfs, print halves as one sided moulds are very easy to make. These are all in 7mm so parts are thicker etc, 4mm, I dont know. Silicon is about £30 per kg enough for 5 or six moulds depending on size, resin is about £18 kg per 2kg. The resin appears to be very stable re heat and light. Tom Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
black5f Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Fresh from the mould. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Harvey Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Tom They look very nice how much did the printed masters cost? Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
black5f Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 The machine is one I currently have access too so not a commercial service. Personally to get high quality prints is relatively expensive, the materials are expensive retail to start with. Resin is very cheap by comparison. These wagons are for a garden railway and 50 are needed and 3D printing the masters is preferable to me sitting bent over for days on end making the masters and it's sunny. Personally, and it's just my opinion of course, 3D printing is a relatively quick and low cost way of doing one offs or say a couple. It's a wonderful thing though, wouldn't wan't to do 50! if your casting you don't have to worry about temperature stability or how well it takes paint. More than a few then on my budget I think about the design being one I can cast easily. So I make compromises. If two special highly detailed works of art are needed for a small layout then that's another mind set and probably best to get some good kits, which is probably why good kits are pricey. These are designed to be simple to assemble, you end up with thick Lima like brake levers and the end straps don't go over the buffer beams etc because that makes one sided casting a breeze, walls are over thick for the same reason. Bubbles are always problem and a some parts get thrown away, I don't bother filling them when the parts can be recast for pennys but you could, if you wanted too. If I'm left alone (a rare thing!) I can cast about three an hour and make them up in about another hour. I'm trying to perfect bulk weathering as well but I've never been a painter (I haven't budgeted for the cost of salt which seems to get magically filled up when its empty anyway). The lettering stencil leaves over spray but it's quick and you heavily weather over the bad bits. The CAD side I find very very time consuming, probably 90% of the work. I'm working on a BR vent now, done the underframe, just the body to finish. I'm running out of decent drawing pins though, for buffers, I have to sort through the ones from pound land, not many of them are round. Suffice to say, these are quite low cost wagons and casting from masters is, in my honest opinion, the way to do it. (I am quite tight, ask the wife!). Any way, there you go. Tom Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Harvey Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Thank you Tom but as in my question before "How Much Did The 3D Printing Cost" ??? Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M528morgan Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Instead of resin, you can opt for either T-glase or nylon filament. It will give you the acrylic mould you want. Or if not, send it over to Shapeways or Thingiverse; they might give you your desired output. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd84 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Hi, I've never done any casting or moulding before - can you recommend the products to use please. Many thanks. Regards Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted October 28, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 28, 2014 Hi there, can I just ask, is there a lot of difference between frosted detail and frosted ultra detail with regards to the detail and brittleness? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 The difference between Frosted Detail and Frosted Ultra Detail is the resolution that they are printed at. The material used is exactly the same. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted October 28, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 28, 2014 Interesting, thanks Bill. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpoorObjecten Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Frosted Detail also adds support material all over the model while Frosted Ultra Detail really uses supports as it's meant to be: adding support to support pieces, not to cover the whole model which happens at FD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted October 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'm sorry, I didn't really understand that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
69843 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 If I have gotten this right....: Frosted Detail: Coats the entire model in support material Frosted Ultra Detail: Adds support material only where needed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpoorObjecten Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 If I have gotten this right....: Frosted Detail: Coats the entire model in support material Frosted Ultra Detail: Adds support material only where needed haha, yes that's a better explanation sorry for my confusion post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted November 1, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 1, 2014 No problem. I often worry I'm confusing people. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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