A Venture Into The Unknown - Elegoo Mars 3D Resin Printer

[Ark Royal]

3rd Print

 

Up to now both previous test prints have built directly to the build plate, on my next print this could not be the case due to the overhang.

 

 

These are wall coping stones for my build Here (Bottom of the post)

 

I duly loaded the .stl file into Chitubox and did not alter any print setting.

 

Layer Height: 0.050mm

Bottom Layer Exposure: 60 sec

Bottom Layer Count: 5

Exposure  Time: 8 sec (all other layers)

 

This is how it was set up in Chitubox with added supports. 

 

You'll note that the parts are still parallel to the build plate. I pressed the support button (top right, next to settings). There is quite a lot going on in this page which i will not get into for a good reason which i will get to later. At the time i fumbled my way through using Auto generated supports using the following settings.

 

Lift Height: 5.00mm

Supports: Medium

+All

 

That generated the supports as shown above.

 

Unfortunately i never photographed the model when it was completed but it looked good, probably would have shown a lot if i had of but it was getting late in the evening and i wanted to see the outcome so forged ahead and using a scapel removed the supports.

 

My 1st Failed Print

 

Not a total disaster. The next 2 photographs show the 3 large coping stones as they were orientated in the build process. I have removed the smaller long coping stones for clarity.

 

 

 

The smaller Long coping stones (x4) also sufferred from the same fate with the ends thinned from the underside whilst the tops appear to be fine.

 

Print Time: 57min 57sec

Cost: £0.57

Electric Cost:  £0.07

 

So What Went Wrong ?

 

Now this is when you are really on your own, but that doesn't bother me, of course you could post and wait for someone whom has experienced the same to post an answer but i sat and looked at the results, annoyed i'd already cut the supports off which destroyed them in the process.

 

Build Plate Not Level ?

 

The middle coping stone printed as modelled, the outer one did for at least 50% of their length. 

This suggest to me that build plate level could not have caused this.

 

Model Orientation ?

 

Up to now all my prints have been done parralel to the build platform with success. There was nothing to suggest that this would be any different. The only difference was the need to raise it up off the bed to support the overhangs. Often you see models angled and there is a good reason for that , which again i will get to later. 

The fact of the matter still remained that the Centre coping stone was a success , so why would model orientation be the cause.

 

Supports ?

 

Well again i used auto supports so there should be no reason to suspect this, but maybe i should have used Heavy instead of Medium ? When the supports were generated they were originally done in Heavy but overhung the sides of the models impacting the vertical face, that's when i removed them all and selected Medium which removed this overhang issue. The model seems well supported from the picture above but on closer inspection within the program you can see that at the extremities of the outer prints the auto-supports have not been placed towards the outer edges.

 

Print Settings ?

 

Again no reason to suspect the print settings as 95% of all the prints turned out as expected.

 

 

I plumped for investigating Chitubox support settings in hope to find the answer.

I'd advise those whom are considering a resin printer of any make to watch the videos on You Tube From This Guy.  Whilst his models are not necessarily in the field we study the rules will be the same to a lesser or greater degree.

He seems very credible and his explanations stand to up to reasoning. Pay particular attention to the sizes he uses for print supports. The entire Playlist is worth viewing and gives a better insight into Chitubox than i could ever achieve. 

 

Armed with that Information i set about printing just one of the 2 failed prints in the photographs above. I decided to print 1 parallel to the bed with the original supports as per auto supports with added ones where they were missing and another print of the same model at a 10 degree incline with my own supports. I did not make the supports as fine as he did but they were positioned after determining how it would print. 

 

It now makes sense to incline the model if only to relieve the suction on the FEP sheet. It also relieves the strain on the supports which effectively means that the supports can be smaller, or at least that's my interpretation. 

 

Success Is A Failure Turned Inside Out

 

 

 

Both appear to have printed ok. Now waiting for them to cure.

 

 

Print Time: 1hr 14min 

Cost: £0.29

Electric Cost:  £0.10

 

Tonight i intend to print the other failed coping stone. However this time i am going to take the diameter of the support down to those used in the videos to see what the outcome is. I may even print more at varying orientations to see the results of that.

 

What i will say now is the process of putting the supports in manually takes some time, i'm sure with experience this will improve. The notion that it's a simple case of do a 3D model, slice it and print has now gone out the window, if failures are to be kept to a minimum.

 

Mark 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Ark Royal
Incorrect timing

[monkeysarefun]

Mate, I honestly reckon that you  don't need to use supports for any surface under about 8mm that's attached to the original model and is parallel to the build plate or sloping up away from it.  Everyone seems to go crazy with supports for some reason. Unless its something longer angled up off the bed such as a loco or carriage body  -  that I can understand but otherwise to me  it mostly seems a waste of time and resin.

 

I use very few supports in my prints, in fact the only place I use them is for an area of print that starts off as an island, for example any part of the print that is sloping down away from the main part of the model or starts elsewhere and is attached at a later time in the print, such as say the chin of a  horse.

 

If it is parallel, or sloping up, as long as its attached to the model at some point when it first starts printing I don't bother with supports. I've had very few failures.

 

ie, in the pic below. assuming they are small items of say a cm or so across  only the last one would need any supports, the rest can either build on the model that is already there as per the first two,, or are already attached to the initial model when they start to build, like the third one. IF the overhang was over say   2cm I'd support it every cm or so plus a couple at the end but otherwise I don't bother.

 

Only the last one needs supporting because the overhang isn't attached to the original model and just floats in space initially so it needs supports to tie it to the bed -  those column things are meant to represent supports btw..

 

Generally, anything that is flat or angled up as it goes away from the model  doesn't need supports as long as it is attached to the model when it starts printing.

 

I am talking about small prints here, obviously, like I said larger items like  angled up locos and rolling stock would need supports due to gravity and the distance from the original build point as they build.

 

 

None of these used any supports and all the small details hanging off the main body of the model  still managed to build ok..

 

 

 

For this one I did use five  supports - one for the tip of  of the  blokes droopy wing, one for his elbow, one for each foot and  the other for his vuvuzella style trumpet.

 

I couldn'nt be bothered supporting all the small details like his face  and hands or any of the plinth overhangs and brackets  etc, and they all still printed fine.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[55020]

I agree that I will always try and print directly on the build plate for items that are symmetrical and don't have a lot of overhang.  There's a risk of a small amount of "elephants foot" for square bases, but with my printer this doesn't seem to happen. However I did recalibrate my Z-axis zero.

https://www.elegoomars.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=218

General advice on generating supports is not to use Chitubox, but to use PrusaSlicer (free download) auto support feature, then export this as an "stl with supports" into Chitubox for slicing and printing on the Mars.

 

I also found the attached file had some good generic advice, although it was written for the Photon.

 

 

Newbie's_v1.3_3D_Resin_printing_Guide_(Handbook).pdf

[Ark Royal]

Hi Monkeysarefun and 55020

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

That would mean that to prevent any islands i would either need to print the above parallel to the build plate or 43.50 degrees so that the overhang and the peg started printing the first layer simultaneously ?

 

The later would obviously reduce the cross section on the FEP. Does that look right ?

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Ark Royal
added reduce

[njee20]

On 01/03/2020 at 05:14, Ark Royal said:

Hi njee

 

Both of you purchased a second machine at roughly the same time so the moons must have been aligned.... or a big sale event.

Either way you must enoy or make a lot of 3d prints to warrant another machine. Having said that it strikes me as one part of the hobby where it could quite easily become addictive if you are having success after success. Anyway its great to have others on this forum that are using the same machine.

 

 

I want to highlight that the user manual states fill the vat 1/3rd full of resin. On my 1st print i felt this a little conservative and went closer to the 1/2 full point. Whilst printing i noticed that the level had risen due to the displacement caused by the print plate. Nothing surprising there but sometimes you overlook the simplest of things when new to the hobby. Given the statement about damaged FEP sheets above and the possible consequences, stick to the manufacturers guidelines !!!!

 

You can pause a print and always add more resin , allow the bubbles to settle and then continue your print.

 

No reason to only fill to 1/3 IMO. As long as the displacement doesn't cause the vat to overflow I wouldn't be too worried. I have had resin cure directly onto the screen (as you say when there was a hole in FEP), I used a Stanley knife blade (not in the knife) to scrape it off. Worked fine.

 

I bought the Mars because I broke my Photon and I expected a fix to be expensive and to take a while, in the event it was neither, and I've today received a replacement motherboard FOC from Anycubic. I print a lot of wagon bodies which take 8-10 hours, so having a second machine to do smaller things simultaneously is welcome!

 

FWIW what broke the Photon was changing the screen, it threw a terminal error immediately after changing it, with and official one bought from Elegoo, I'm nervous about putting that screen on the new MB I must say, and Elegoo are out of stock or I'd buy another one!

[monkeysarefun]

7 hours ago, Ark Royal said:

Hi Monkeysarefun and 55020

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

That would mean that to prevent any islands i would either need to print the above parallel to the build plate or 43.50 degrees so that the overhang and the peg started printing the first layer simultaneously ?

 

The later would obviously reduce the cross section on the FEP. Does that look right ?

 

 

 

 

Ahh, thats where it gets a little tricky and extra support WOULD actually be useful!

Angled like that there is very little cross-section attaching the model to the build plate and its possible that it would get pulled off the plate at some point during the printing.

 

If I was printing it like that I WOULD lift it off the bed slightly and  use short supports along the bottom  edges and probably a raft to give the model more contact with the base plate.

 

99% of my prints are flat onto the bed , the only times I don't do it is when printing things too long to go flat, then I angle them up but I've probably done 2 prints  out of my total of several dozen  print sessions that way.

Edited March 4, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

 

No reason to only fill to 1/3 IMO. As long as the displacement doesn't cause the vat to overflow I wouldn't be too worried. I have had resin cure directly onto the screen (as you say when there was a hole in FEP), I used a Stanley knife blade (not in the knife) to scrape it off. Worked fine.

 

I bought the Mars because I broke my Photon and I expected a fix to be expensive and to take a while, in the event it was neither, and I've today received a replacement motherboard FOC from Anycubic. I print a lot of wagon bodies which take 8-10 hours, so having a second machine to do smaller things simultaneously is welcome!

 

FWIW what broke the Photon was changing the screen, it threw a terminal error immediately after changing it, with and official one bought from Elegoo, I'm nervous about putting that screen on the new MB I must say, and Elegoo are out of stock or I'd buy another one!

 

The main concern with overfiling the vat -  at least in the case of  the Photon -   seems to be the risk of resin rising up over the build plate  and getting into the ball joint, then hardening and gumming it up

 

As to resin leaking onto the LCD, I've also had this in a minor way - scraped off with a razor blade ok.  Some photon users recommend  (and Anycubic also mention it in one of their official videos)  putting tape around the edge of the LCD screen to prevent resin running down there and into the printer in the event of a big leak.

[monkeysarefun]

5 hours ago, Ark Royal said:

I duly loaded the .stl file into Chitubox and did not alter any print setting.

 

Layer Height: 0.050mm

Bottom Layer Exposure: 60 sec

Bottom Layer Count: 5

Exposure  Time: 8 sec (all other layers)

 

 

5 hours ago, Ark Royal said:

So What Went Wrong ?

 

Now this is when you are really on your own, but that doesn't bother me, of course you could post and wait for someone whom has experienced the same to post an answer but i sat and looked at the results, annoyed i'd already cut the supports off which destroyed them in the process.

 

Build Plate Not Level ?

 

The middle coping stone printed as modelled, the outer one did for at least 50% of their length. 

This suggest to me that build plate level could not have caused this.

 

Model Orientation ?

 

Up to now all my prints have been done parralel to the build platform with success. There was nothing to suggest that this would be any different. The only difference was the need to raise it up off the bed to support the overhangs. Often you see models angled and there is a good reason for that , which again i will get to later. 

The fact of the matter still remained that the Centre coping stone was a success , so why would model orientation be the cause.

 

Supports ?

 

Well again i used auto supports so there should be no reason to suspect this, but maybe i should have used Heavy instead of Medium ? When the supports were generated they were originally done in Heavy but overhung the sides of the models impacting the vertical face, that's when i removed them all and selected Medium which removed this overhang issue. The model seems well supported from the picture above but on closer inspection within the program you can see that at the extremities of the outer prints the auto-supports have not been placed towards the outer edges.

 

Print Settings ?

 

Again no reason to suspect the print settings as 95% of all the prints turned out as expected.

 

 

I plumped for investigating Chitubox support settings in hope to find the answer.

I'd advise those whom are considering a resin printer of any make to watch the videos on You Tube From This Guy.  Whilst his models are not necessarily in the field we study the rules will be the same to a lesser or greater degree.

He seems very credible and his explanations stand to up to reasoning. Pay particular attention to the sizes he uses for print supports. The entire Playlist is worth viewing and gives a better insight into Chitubox than i could ever achieve. 

 

Armed with that Information i set about printing just one of the 2 failed prints in the photographs above. I decided to print 1 parallel to the bed with the original supports as per auto supports with added ones where they were missing and another print of the same model at a 10 degree incline with my own supports. I did not make the supports as fine as he did but they were positioned after determining how it would print. 

 

It now makes sense to incline the model if only to relieve the suction on the FEP sheet. It also relieves the strain on the supports which effectively means that the supports can be smaller, or at least that's my interpretation. 

 

I read your original post on my phone and missed your print failure.

 Looking at the failed print you can see that the base layers did print ok, then what looks like  happenned is that the left hand side pulled away from the base and flopped down due to gravity. As the print progressed the floppy bit was still getting built on because the printer plate would descend into the vat, pushing it back against the FEP and adding another layer, then rising again and the bit would spring down again. As more and more layers were added it would get more  rigid  until a point where it stayed  straight when the plate lifted up from the FEP. At this point it would start to  build normally again, thus the top part of the print is straighter and almost good. 

 

Two main reasons clould be base layer settings or the suction from pulling the flat section away from the base. You've obviously looked into the suction side by angling the prints - another fix - maybe on prints large than copin stones is to hollow the model in either Mesh mixer or Chitubox.

 

  Looking at your settings, the base layers seem to be on the low side? I know this is resin-dependant and also that the Mars has slightly more power than the Photon, but mine are set to 8 layers 110 seconds each for the Photon. These are a little high maybe but I definitely have no issues with things sticking to the plate - I have to use a chisel to scrape them off!

Edited March 3, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[55020]

I think it best to view settings as something of an art rather than a precise science.  I have seen so many suggestions on various forums and YouTube regarding settings.  What I've tried to do is not change too much at one time, so that if things seem to get worse then I can undo the culprit.

 

One piece of advice that seemed to make sense was to slow the speed of the build plate being raised between layers.  The difference in overall build time is small, but so far it seems to have had a positive impact.

 

As monkeysarefun has stated, my next consideration would be to increase the exposure time of the base layers, then increase the number of layers.  However one step at a time

 

Here's my current settings, which seem to work OK for Elegoo grey ABS-like resin.

 

[Ark Royal]

Hi Monkeysarefun and 55020

 

Thanks for all the advice thus far. Its nice to know that there's help out there.

 

I know that you have advised me to drop the supports but at present i am having success with them and with time limited on the current build project i need to progress.

Hopefully i will have time at the weekend to investgate this further.

 

My concern with the coping stones and the overhang being suspended in mid air prevented me from putting them directly onto the build plate initially, figuring that the layer was that fine that it would be distorted as the build plate lifted on the 1st few layers of the overhang. I have tried this method with the longer strip coping stone and as you both have stated an overhang will print if parallel  to the build plate and not too large. 

 

I will post the results when more time allows, Just a big thank-you to both of you until then 

 

Mark 

[monkeysarefun]

51 minutes ago, Ark Royal said:

My concern with the coping stones and the overhang being suspended in mid air prevented me from putting them directly onto the build plate initially, figuring that the layer was that fine that it would be distorted as the build plate lifted on the 1st few layers of the overhang.

 

It quite possibly does for the first few layers at least but my theory is that it is pliable and so gets pushed down hard onto the FEP when each layer is added so it'll not stay distorted.

[55020]

Mark, the spare LCD screens are now showing "in stock" on Amazon.  Their availability is pretty patchy, so might be worth you grabbing one?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELEGOO-Resolution-Protection-LS055R1SX04-Compatible/dp/B07X4CCQC1

 

 

Steve

[Ark Royal]

7 hours ago, 55020 said:

Mark, the spare LCD screens are now showing "in stock" on Amazon.  Their availability is pretty patchy, so might be worth you grabbing one?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELEGOO-Resolution-Protection-LS055R1SX04-Compatible/dp/B07X4CCQC1

 

 

Steve

 

Nice One Steve Pounced on one

 

[Ark Royal]

Continuing the Coping Stone Saga

 

Having played around with the support setting and going as low as those shown in the video i posted i am glad to say that the large coping stones are now printed to my satisfaction.

 

Up Bay Coping Stone

 

This was printed twice one with the support settings from Chitubox and the adusted support settings discussed earlier. The adusted support settings was the one i fittedd to the model.

 

 

Print Time: 1hr 42min 

Cost: £0.11

Electric Cost:  £0.13

 

Down Bay Rear Wall Coping Stone

 

 

Print Time: 1hr 50min 

Cost: £0.09

Electric Cost:  £0.13

 

This came out 1st print.

 

Small Coping Stones

 

These were printed again flat on the bed with no supports, I extended the leg that sits on the bed to 1mm figuring i could file it down to fit the recess i had. I also increased the mortar gap to 0.45mm to get more stone definition.

 

 

They came out good the 1st print.

 

Print Time: 26min  35 sec

Cost: £0.11

Electric Cost:  £0.04

 

 

All told including failures the entire Station Bridge Coping Set Including Electricity came in at £1.85 which is a a far cry from the £21.49 (excluding tax and shipping) that it would have cost me from Shapeways.

 

The results of the 3d printed models from the Elegoo are on par with those from shapeways, the beauty of owning a printer is that you have the ability to change a feature and reprint it and have it there in you're hands within hours. Its been a bit of a learning curve but i am satisfied with the results.

 

I had already made the  Girder from brass and was totally satisfied with it , but the paint kept chipping off when i dismantled the bridge to wotk on the build. This prompted me to have a go at printed it. Built on the build plate with no supports and 1st attempt turned out fantastic

 

 

Print Time: 40min 05 sec

Cost: £0.06

Electric Cost:  £0.05

 

 

OVERHANGS - NO SUPPORTS

 

On 03/03/2020 at 19:52, monkeysarefun said:

Mate, I honestly reckon that you  don't need to use supports for any surface under about 8mm that's attached to the original model and is parallel to the build plate or sloping up away from it.  Everyone seems to go crazy with supports for some reason. Unless its something longer angled up off the bed such as a loco or carriage body  -  that I can understand but otherwise to me  it mostly seems a waste of time and resin.

 

I use very few supports in my prints, in fact the only place I use them is for an area of print that starts off as an island, for example any part of the print that is sloping down away from the main part of the model or starts elsewhere and is attached at a later time in the print, such as say the chin of a  horse.

 

If it is parallel, or sloping up, as long as its attached to the model at some point when it first starts printing I don't bother with supports. I've had very few failures.

 

ie, in the pic below. assuming they are small items of say a cm or so across  only the last one would need any supports, the rest can either build on the model that is already there as per the first two,, or are already attached to the initial model when they start to build, like the third one. IF the overhang was over say   2cm I'd support it every cm or so plus a couple at the end but otherwise I don't bother.

 

Only the last one needs supporting because the overhang isn't attached to the original model and just floats in space initially so it needs supports to tie it to the bed -  those column things are meant to represent supports btw..

 

Generally, anything that is flat or angled up as it goes away from the model  doesn't need supports as long as it is attached to the model when it starts printing.

 

I am talking about small prints here, obviously, like I said larger items like  angled up locos and rolling stock would need supports due to gravity and the distance from the original build point as they build.

 

 

 

 

 

Well to prove this point i added a 3D model of an Eastern Region Diesel Maintenance Facility Setvicing Platform End Support. I felt this would prove this point with a sloping step and overhangs.

 

 

Here it is on the build plate

 

And Here Cleaned Up

 

 

Print Time: 1hr 56 min

Cost: £0.08

Electric Cost:  £0.13

 

Lesson Proved. No need for supports.

 

This little machine continues to Amaze me , I thought i'd set myself with an epic failure but 1st attempt and this speaks volumes.

Drain Cover 6.3mm DIameter

 

 

Mark

 

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Ark Royal

[Ark Royal]

Ooops Forgot This

 

 

Small Coping Stones

[55020]

What program are you using for your designs?

 

So far I'm getting used to Fusion360, but I know there are lots of other options out there.

 

Just like you, I've had pretty good success printing directly onto the build plate.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Steve

[Ark Royal]

54 minutes ago, 55020 said:

What program are you using for your designs?

 

So far I'm getting used to Fusion360, but I know there are lots of other options out there.

 

Just like you, I've had pretty good success printing directly onto the build plate.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Steve

 

I use Fusion 360, have done for over 8 years. It's incredibly versatile and does most we need in the Modelling Fraternity.

I recently done this design in Fusion 360 of a Westinghouse L Style Lever Frame and converted from that program into a drawing program to produce a brass etch

 

 

Which i then had etched to produce the finish article. Although not the finish article the process was very straight forward usisng the sheet metal part of Fusion to make the folded parts and then flatten them to a pattern part.

 

 

It takes a bit to learn especially if like me you come from another CAD program

I'd recommend You Tube - Fusion 360 - Lars Christensen.

I continually update my knowledge as and when i get stuck with a certain feature or how to achieve a certain result.

Also remember there's always more than one way to achieve the same result within the program.

 

If you need any help Steve just message me

 

 

Mark

Edited March 9, 2020 by Ark Royal
Text

[55020]

41 minutes ago, Ark Royal said:

 

I use Fusion 360, have done for over 8 years. It's incredibly versatile and does most we need in the Modelling Fraternity.

I recently done this design in Fusion 360 and converted from that program into a drawing program to produce a brass etch

 

Which i then had etched to produce the finish article. Although not the finish article the process was very straight forward usisng the sheet metal part of Fusion to make the folded parts and then flatten them to a pattern part.

 

It takes a bit to learn especially if like me you come from another CAD program

I'd recommend You Tube - Fusion 360 - Lars Christensen.

I continually update my knowledge as and when i get stuck with a certain feature or how to achieve a certain result.

Also remember there's always more than one way to achieve the same result within the program.

 

If you need any help Steve just message me

 

 

Mark

 

WOW!  That's a very impressive piece of miniature engineering.

Thanks for the heads up regarding the YouTube channel, I've just subscribed and will now spend some time watching and learning.

 

A big thank you for the offer to assist if I get stuck, which hopefully you won't regret over time 

 

 

Steve

[Ark Royal]

Always willing to help a fellow modeller

 

Another great thing bout Fusion 360. You can share projects whilst remaining in full control of the original file. That make collaboration a piece of cake 

 

Mark

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Ark Royal said:

Well to prove this point i added a 3D model of an Eastern Region Diesel Maintenance Facility Setvicing Platform End Support. I felt this would prove this point with a sloping step and overhangs.

 

 

Here it is on the build plate

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow thats puhing the boundaries! Glad it worked out.

 

Apart from 'traditional' CAD packages the thing I've been having much  success with in conjunction with the resin printer is photogrammetry using a free programme called 3dflow zephyr.

 

All the models here were produced by taking a simple array of pictures of the subjects - ie just walking in a circle around it taking a picture every 10 degrees or so, then into the programme, stl created, resized in meshmixer, then sliced and printed.

 

No 'traditional' modelling tools or techniques were used and you can reprint it out as many times as you want at whatever scale -  Its a brave new world of model making,

 

(Again all were printed standing up  flat to the bed with no supports except the for the central statue as already described  and the front foot step thingies on the  guns).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeTrice]

Question: for the Eastern Region Diesel Maintenance Facility Servicing Platform End Support printed without support does the vertical height printed match the 3D model? I suspect if the steps were thinner you might not have got away with it.

[Ark Royal]

20 hours ago, MikeTrice said:

Question: for the Eastern Region Diesel Maintenance Facility Servicing Platform End Support printed without support does the vertical height printed match the 3D model? I suspect if the steps were thinner you might not have got away with it.

 

Hi Mike

 

Not sure if you mean physical vertical height when stairs orientated the correct way or vertical height as printed.

 

Anyway from the rear of the upright to the front face of the lower step is 24.6 mm according to Fusion 360, it actually measures 24.5 mm

From the ground to the top of the support is 28.5 mm according to Fusion , it actually measures 26.7 mm.

 

So some adustment needed in the Y plane as printed

 

Mark 

[MikeTrice]

The reason I asked is being unsupported it will be put under strain during printing which might cause it to print bent. Having said that  your model looks strong enough to get away with it.

[Ark Royal]

Station Chimney Pots

 

Another nice feature of a 3D Printer, you get to have prototypical items rather than settle for proprietary items at the press of a button.

 

 

 

Dimensions sourced from an online auction house of all the places.

 

 

Print Time: 44min 27 Sec

Cost: £0.04

Electric Cost:  £0.05

 

                

[Ark Royal]

22 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Apart from 'traditional' CAD packages the thing I've been having much  success with in conjunction with the resin printer is photogrammetry using a free programme called 3dflow zephyr.

 

All the models here were produced by taking a simple array of pictures of the subjects - ie just walking in a circle around it taking a picture every 10 degrees or so, then into the programme, stl created, resized in meshmixer, then sliced and printed.

 

No 'traditional' modelling tools or techniques were used and you can reprint it out as many times as you want at whatever scale -  Its a brave new world of model making,

 

 

 

Monkeysarefun,

 

This post hasn't gone un-noticed. It is indeed a brave new world and i'm excited to be part of it . I can see this coming in handy later. I'm presently under the cosh with building a model for our club layout and hence the items for that figure heavily here at the moment.

 

i have plenty of other projects (far more exciting than chimeny pots and coping stones) that i can see this technology playing a part in.

 

Mark