A beginner starting in 3D printing with Blender - update May 18th - layers

[JCL]

Thanks very much for that Simon. I've redone a part that way and it seems much easier.

 

 

In the image above you can see a part of the frame. Although they might look complicated, the parts have been built up as if I've been using a child's set of building blocks. For this reason I'll just provide a brief explanation of what I did.

1. Two cylinders, one inside the other. They are currently half embedded in the frame.
2. Side bracing. I created a cube, resized it, selected one of the top edges, and moved it along the Y axis to form a wedge.
3. A series of cubes resized and positioned one over the other.
4. A cube that had its outer edge subdivided twice to form two extra edges along the outside edge (in red). Then the corners (in blue) were selected and moved backwards.
5. A cube sized and shaped.

A bit more to do, but getting there.

[JCL]

Rivets

 

I've read around and this seems to be a way of making a rivet.

 

1. Create a UV sphere.
2. In Edit mode, choose Face select in the buttons at the bottom.
3. Select half of the sphere and press delete.
4. Select an arc that makes up the new flat edge of the semi circle and choose select and Edge Loops to select the flat surface
5. Press F to add a face to this surface.

This might seem like a faff as you could just embed half of a whole sphere into the frame. Well yes you can, but every face, edge and vertex you add to this fill will increase its size - and there are going to be a lot of rivets!

 

 

That's it for now. bit to finish and rivets to add. But before that, dinner.

 

cheers

 

Jason

[JCL]

Hi there

 

So, I'm finishing the axleboxes (hornblocks?) on the tender. Here's a quick one on the hangers holding the weights. All of it is done in wireframe mode (the Z key).

 

Draw a cylinder for the "peg" and make it he same depth as the springs.

 

Then draw a second cylinder for the circular hanger section. Draw a cube and resize it to become the bottom of the weight hanger.

 

Use the Loop Cut and Divide tool in the tool shelf to divide the cube into two. Move the dividing line up to where the hanger changes direction. You can always select this later and move it up or down if you want to

 

Select only the top face and move it to the right. You might have to move it around a bit until you get a smooth transition between the vertical hanger and the cylinder.

 

This will give you the shape below.

 

Select the lower vertical front face and push it backwards.

 

To give you this shape.

 

Finally, I added a couple of 30 faced cylinders to represent the weights, and a 6 sided cylinder to represent the nut at the bottom.

 

I have made the vertical hanger deeper than it should be so that I don't get caught out by the minimum thickness issue with the 3D printers. It also means (possibly) that they will be strong enough to print the axleboxes on their own. My thought is that I will print this whole tender off to see if my thoughts and assumptions are correct. If I need a second one at any point, I'll put together a file of only the bits that are difficult to fabricate with styrene such as the flare along the top and these axleboxes.

 

Oh, and finally, those rivets didn't work, so I went back to using a sphere. For some reason using a 1/2 sphere meant that the rivets weren't uploaded by Shapeways. Odd eh?

[JCL]

OK, I'm going to have to take a break now for two reasons. The first is that I move house next week, so I'm in the final throws of packing and suchlike. Secondly, although I have the plans, unfortunately I don't have any kind of photo of the front of the tender. I'm hoping that a book about GNR tenders that I'm going to buy from the Great Northern Railway Society will fill in the details as to exactly what the tender is called and what it looked like from the front. There seem to be so many different variations of tender, I'm keen to get it right as it's not going to be that cheap to print. Also, I've noticed that a lot of the books have a lot of illustrations of locos, but very few illustrations of tenders

 

So, the next bit will be the loco itself. I know when I started this it was a blow by blow account in the greatest of detail, but I think now I'm at the stage where I'm only going to do that type of post if I'm introducing a new technique or tool that I've found out about. You may have noticed this already. I will re-do the chimney (I know, again) as I've found a streamlined way of making it, which is nice.

 

With regards to the here and now, I've taken that first axlebox and copied and pasted it to all three locations on each side so that I can say that I've done it. When I get started on the tender again I want to look into the concept of dynamic copies (instances). These are copies of an original that are updated if I make any changes to the original. I have had a go at this, and was ready to write it up, but unfortunately I made a bit of a pig's ear of it. My idea is that the body and frame will be two separate parts(like the original Hornby tender), so one thing that is different to before is that I have added some lugs so that I can sit the tender body correctly on the frames. The other is that I've slightly increased the width of a few parts around the axleboxes from .55mm to .7mm (probably somewhere near a hair's breadth) so that if I want to do a test in WSF then I can.

 

Anyway, here's where I'm at at the moment.

 

 

And here it is on Shapeways if you want to give it a spin.

 

https://www.shapeways.com/model/2872122/d3-tender-4mm-scale.html?li=aeTabs

 

Badly written, but a long day of packing!

Edited November 26, 2014 by JCL

[alanbuttler]

Blimey JCL, I've just caught up on about 2 weeks worth of posts, looking at that last image of the complete tender, it's amazing to see how far you've come in such a short space of time.  Great work with the model and thanks again for your detailed build diary.   I'm yet to try blender but your posts will help tremendously.  I appreciate you may not want to continue posting this much detail for future builds, but the tender build experience is more than enough to help people get stuck in.  Good luck with the loco

[JCL]

Thanks very much Alan!

 

Well I was going to take a bit of a break, but having seen that notice on Shapeways for 20% discount, I may burn some midnight oil to finish it. I'm thinking of making the front separate so that if I find it is wrong, it'll be easier to swap out just that bit. Alternatively, I can close couple to the loco, then who'll know? (Don't tell the others).

 

First things first, I've a solenoid to fix onto a snow blower.

[JCL]

A quick one. I've found a modifier that is just brilliant. As I mentioned, I'm trying to get everything done for this sale, and I'm looking at all of those rivets. Not only are there quite a few (not loads, but enough), but all of those entries in the list of objects (inside the green rectangle below) will clog it up. I wish there was a way of grouping them like you can in Photoshop. Maybe there is and I haven't found it yet.

 

Anyway, the time an sanity saving modifier is Array. Sounds a bit computery, but all it means is make x number of duplicates of the selected object. In the image below I have highlighted the original rivet. Then I:

1. Clicked on that blue spanner
2. Clicked on Add modifier and Array
3. Chose the number of rivets I needed (including the original one)
4. Typed a zero into the Material Offset on the X axis)
5. Ticked Constant Offset and then used the mouse to hover over the value in the Y box and clicked and dragged until the rivets were the correct distance apart.

 

I also did it with all of the other rivets on the side and the great thing is that each set of rivets counts as one object. This is the as as selecting a group of rivets and pressing Ctrl+J. I made sure that the origin of this group was zero on the X axis and then mirrored on the X axis. This means that I only have to produce the rivets on one side and the other side will be populated automatically.

 

The other thing you can do is delete rivets within the group of rivets. I do this by going into Edit mode, selecting the rivets I want to delete, pressing P to part them from the object and choose selected. Then I click on the ones I don't need and delete them.

 

As fascinating as rivets are , It's not just rivets that can be worked with in this way. I also joined the axlebox assembly into one object and use the array function to create two more equally distanced from the first one. Again, setting the Origin's X axis to zero and mirroring on the X axis means that all six axleboxes can be duplicated and positioned in seconds.

 

 

Here is the latest version of the tender. The buffer beams are simple cubes stretched and squashed. The buffers were made as per the video in post number 11 http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/91147-a-complete-duffer-starting-in-3d-printing-with-blender/?p=1618461. Although they are currently resting against the tender, when I go to print I'll make sure they are on a sprue so that if I want to, I can swap them out for some sprung ones. The steps are just cubes that have been split with Loop Cut and Slide and then the end face dragged upwards. The bracket behind the bufferbeam was made the same way as the brackets either side of the axleboxes.

 

Edited November 28, 2014 by JCL

[backofanenvelope]

Coming along nicely Jason and from a complete duffer you have achieved much.. and really getting to grips with Blender. I am really getting to grips with the Blender Cookie stuff and am now trying to learn all the keyboard commands.

Tom

[JCL]

Thanks Tom.

 

I've been racing ahead trying to beat this deadline. I've all the rivets done on the sideframes, and a lot of the front finished as well. Again, a lot of cubes involved in that section.

 

I've also had a chance to have a little play with colours; just to give myself a general guide. I don't have time to write out the colouring instructions at the moment, (there was quite a bit of trial and error there), but I will once I've moved house.

 

In this image I've realised that the marked rivet, and the others that were cloned from it, are too proud of the surface and will provide problems.

 

 

A couple more, just for the sake of it. The wheels won't be printed, and are there to measure clearances. If I have done the front correctly, then I shouldn't be too far from finishing. I will give the sides and beading another go though. And I just need to extend the front vertically into a curved section.

 

 

I'll have to look at photos for buffer beam detail. Hopefully I'll get a chance tomorrow.

 

 

cheers

 

Jason

[uax6]

Jason,

 

It may be me, but there's something that doesn't quite look right with the stuff under the footplate.

 

How deep are your axleboxes? I have a drawing of a HR tender here (big goods as it happens!) that shows the depth on those are 3mm, plus a tenth of a mm for the cover. The springs are about 1.5mm deep (I would think in full size they would be about 4 inches deep), with the horn guides (the angled bits) 2mm deep. The spring hanger brackets sit so the thread goes through them at 1mm from the frame.

 

I think the webs on the horn guides are too thick too, it all looks a bit too blocky around the axlebox.... (it might just be that the box isn't deep enough...)

 

Andy G

[JCL]

Hi Andy, thanks for that, I'll have another look. Unfortunately the plans I have are quite vague in this area. I'll go back to the photos and have another look. The webbing as a bith thicker to get around minimum thickness. I did have the idea of making it compatible with WSF, but I think you're right, I'll just make it compatible with FUD and FD.

 

I'll have another go later.

 

J

[JCL]

Having spoken a couple of times with Andy, I think we've managed to refine the hornblocks and axle boxes to something that looks right.

 

 

 

A few more tweaks, and if everything goes to plan I'll send it for printing this evening. I'm also going to print those GNR railing posts to see how they come out, and a couple of other things besides to help me work out ideal depths of panelling.

 

I could also do with a ducket or two and a...and a...

[JCL]

Mixing Arrays and Mirror modifiers

 

One of the things that I've enjoyed finding out is that those modifiers that I've been using can be stacked up. I mentioned a while ago that you can make one side of an object and use the mirror to make sure that it's symmetrical. I also said that you don't need to click on the apply button straight away, so you can treat the mirroring as a temporary thing to give you the look and feel. If you don't like the look and feel, then you just remove the mirror modifier. The same goes for the array modifier that I found out about the other day. I can tweak the array modifier to my heart's content before I click on the apply button. This makes modifiers very flexible as they can be treated as temporary states until you decide whether or not to go with it.

 

Well, better than that, you can have more  than one modifier acting on an object. Below you can see that I have one original axlebox assembly and two copies on that side. These were created in the array modifier in the top part of the red rectangle. Now, you can't see them, but there are three more axleboxes on the other side of the tender. These were created using the mirror modifier which is below the array modifier in that red box. You see, what happens is Blender has that object, then it creates the array before applying the mirror to the array.

 

The great news is that I can make changes to the original axlebox and all of those changes are instantly replicated to the other five. If I make any mistakes, I know that Blender will apply my fix to all of the axleboxes, so you can be sure that they are all exactly the same. Note that, until you press the apply buttons on the modifiers, you can only edit the original object, not any of the clones created by the modifiers. That's fair enough in my book.

 

[JCL]

A photo of a slightly different axlebox, but here's a photo from Wikipedia. My assumptions about the weights being circular (like washers I suppose) were wrong, so I've made some changes as you can see below.

 

By Hugh Llewelyn from Bristol, UK (LNER Gresley 4,200 gll tender  Uploaded by Oxyman) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons(

 

In the left hand photo I created a cube and made it quite thin on the x axis (the red one). Then I used the Loop Cut and Slide tool to create two new edges, one on either side of the hanger. Finally, with the edge select button pressed, I selected the two outer edges (the visible one is in white) and dragged them down. This was done in Right View so that I could see the background image and the sloped shoulders are on the plans that I have.

 

In the middle photo, I created a second cube and made it thin as per the drawing, then I selected the two front vertical edges and used Ctrl+B to use the Bevel Tool to create the semi-circle at the front.

 

Finally, in the right hand photo, I used a new tool (at least for me); the bevel modifier. This seems to bevel all of the edges of an object at once.

 

 

This image shows the settings that I used for the bevel modifier. If the bevel looks longer on one edge than another, it might be that something called the scaling might be out of whack. All you need to do is be in Object Mode and press Ctrl+A and then the appropriate option to reset the scaling.

 

[uax6]

I may be wrong (and often am) but they are not weights Jason. I think there are smaller springs inside those cups. On coaches these tend to be rubber washers, which help seat the spring, and help to give a better ride, as small imperfections are taken up by the squishy-ness of the rubber, rather than trying to deflect the main spring...

 

Andy G

[JCL]

Cheers Andy! Well that makes a lot of sense. I'm really showing my ignorance here. :-/

 

Well, I've put in the order for the tender, and separately, 10xGNR railing posts, and a D3 dome in the same group. The first was in Frosted Detail, and the other part of the order in Frosted Ultra Detail.

 

To give myself a fighting chance, I exported the tender as an STL file (File -> Export ->Stl), then I uploaded it to the Netfabb cloud https://netfabb.azurewebsites.netwhich checked the file and made any repairs necessary before uploading it to Shapeways. Unfortunately you need to log in to access the Netfabb step. If you have a hotmail or outlook email address you can use that. Anyway, it's practically 1am, so I think it's time to get off.

 

Obviously, if the models pass muster with the Shapeways people I'll photograph them when they arrive to show you what they look like.

 

cheers

 

Jason

Edited December 1, 2014 by JCL

[JCL]

One for Tom and whoever else might be interested.

 

Here's the link http://cgcookie.com/blender/

 

 

[backofanenvelope]

Yes just after I brought two from them Might see if theres anything else I might want...

[JCL]

Hi Tom

 

It seems to happen like that sometimes. In a different thread it's been mentioned that the Shapeways sale continues on until midnight tonight Pacific Time (I think that's 8am in the UK). Mitchell has said that it's possible to combine orders, so I may try to get another couple of things in and do exactly that - postage is quite high to Canada so it makes sense if possible.

 

Anyway, here's the Shapeways render of my tender. It cleared first checks, but still has the manual check to complete. Buffers and brakes are inside the tender facing upwards on a thin sprue. If anything is wrong now, then it's too late.

 

 

cheers

 

Jason

[uax6]

Axleboxes and springs look pretty good from that render...

 

Can't wait to see the real thing.

 

Andy G

[JCL]

Hi Andy. Thanks very much. It's not perfect, but I got it in with about 30 minutes to spare. At one point I was checking and half of the tender top had disappeared, so that was a panic. I don't think I've had a (self imposed) deadline like that in quite some time!

 

I think that in the normal course of things I'd ask someone else to check the model for flaws before the final upload.

 

Hi tom, on the Blender Cookie site, I did have a look at signing up, but in the end I realised that most of my questions seem to be covered by the free tutorials. I think the adding panels to a rounded spaceship might be useful at some point for adding beading to panels of a coach for example.

 

Now I've got my first model off to Shapeways, regardless of whether it prints of not, I can say that I've actually enjoyed getting to know Blender. Yes it is a challenge, but for me at least, not the horror I heard about. It seems that they have made huge changes to its look and feel, and also to the way it's used to make it more user friendly. There are still areas of the program marked "here be dragons" that I've yet to use. Some parts I will, especially around layers and grouping so that I can manage the parts that make up the model more effectively. Other parts not so much - I've no plans to create an animation short for example!

 

Anyway, I've a quoted delivery date of the 15th if it passes the manual check, so I'll catch you soon.

 

Cheers

 

Jason.

 

(Edited on a stroppy iPad, all typos are my own)

Edited December 3, 2014 by JCL

[backofanenvelope]

Jason, well done considering wasn't that long ago you were a complete novice.. it's really exciting waiting to see how it comes out and the possibilities are endless. Yes I realise quality has still got along way to go but.... I remember seeing my first laster printer and thinking wow we are certainly living in the future! As for BG I got the motorbike tutorial which very interesting but much quicker pace, assuming you already know a lot of the keyboard shortcuts.. but lots of interesting info there. Really must get my nose to the grind stone and get on with my trial run..

 

Tom

[JCL]

Thanks Tom. I'm doing this in the same way I did the Silhouette thread, so if anyone else wants to post photos of their Blender work on here please feel free to do so - no model too small/simple. It'll be interesting to see if this inspires anyone else to have a go. (Just sayin)

[JCL]

Good news!

 

"Exciting update: We are starting to 3d print the item(s) in your order that have passed our manual review!

 

We'll let you know when your order ships, and you can track the progress of your order here: #832089.

 

If you have any questions, please email us at service@shapeways.com.

 

Looks like I've a parcel coming my way.

[paul2001]

Hi Jason I'll answer your call for other models

 

 

LNER F8.

 

 

GCR fish van.

 

Both of these models were done as proof of concept a couple of years ago one day I'll get them printed

As for the tutorial i think you've done a belting job, I only noticed the thread on about page 4 so couldn't help you out but really you didn't need any.

I'm self taught pretty much doing what you are. My Mrs reckons i could perform brain surgery if i could find a youtube tutorial  

 

Regards

 

Paul