Recommendations

[Alan Oliver]

Can anybody recommend any design software or tutorials to watch for creating rolling stock for printing on a resin 3d printer.

 

Thank you

[njee20]

Fusion 360 for software. I learnt using Lars Christiensen’s tutorials, which are nothing to do with trains. Carl White’s tutorials here:  https://youtube.com/@3ddrawingformodelrailways

 

get good reviews. He starts with the basics and progresses to drawing stock. 

[GWR57xx]

DesignSpark Mechanical is also good, and free to use.

There are many good tutorials online.

[KeithHC]

Design spark for me. To give you an idea have a look at my thread. All designed on Design Spark printed in PLA as test mules. I am waiting for better weather to use my new resin printer.

 

Keith

 

Thread, search for Oh for a good Thump my journey into 3D

[Alan Oliver]

Thank you For all the information 

[F2Andy]

I use Blender. The full version is free.

 

I have written an introduction to using it here:

http://www.prestonanddistrictmrs.org.uk/articles/using-blender-for-3d-printing/

 

And some examples of wagons I have printed on my blog:

https://three-d-for-railways.blogspot.com/2023/05/various-tank-wagons.html

[F2Andy]

On 22/02/2024 at 08:36, KeithHC said:

I am waiting for better weather to use my new resin printer.

My printer is in the garage, which is not attached to the house, and pretty cold in winter. I have a vat warmer, as used by home brewers, but even with that it is not worth printing if the outside temperature is below about 8°C. I managed to do quite a bit a week or so ago when it was warmer, but back on hold for now.

[ikcdab]

Also I am a massive of fusion360. Its strightforward to use and hugely flexible.

As for videos, Sams Trains has done quite a lot on rolling stock and locomotive production with 3d resin printing.

[njee20]

I also print in an unheated detached garage, year round. Heat gun on the vat for a minute before printing. Job jobbed. You ideally want the resin to be about 30 degrees, so ‘a bit warmer’ in a UK context isn’t cutting it, it’ll need some help. You don’t need to warm the entire room or printer, just the resin. KISS. 

[LMSfan72]

I use sketchup. Most of what I do I don’t have dimensions for (I tend to work off videos and photos) so I use shapes and proportions. That works well for sketchup. If I had drawings and proper dimensions then I’d likely go another route, but, I don’t!

 

 

 

[Blefuscu]

I'm another Blender user... but would I recommend it? Well, it's free I guess, but like all this software you will need to put a bit of time into it before you know if you gel with it. It took me years to get the hang of it - but that was back around version 2.6. They have done a lot of work to improve the user interface since then.

It's quite different from CAD, and I don't just do 'hard modelling' with it, I also free sculpt more organic shapes... cloth.. .people... etc. It might be my personal workflow but I also spend quite a bit of time nursing vertices and cleaning geometry. I find this strangely therapeutic for some reason. For me, it feels more like modelling than engineering, (although I'm still able to take measurements when I need to.) For chassis and bogie mechs it's probably not the right tool... but I know it  well enough now that I would use it in preference to CAD software.

 

I will use CAD software if I need require .dfx drawings for cutting or .step files for CNC and my preference there is for FreeCAD (3D) and libreCAD (2D). Preference might be the wrong word. I don't know either package very well and find both pretty horrible to use. This is in part due to lack of experience, although, from what I understand, Fusion360 IS hands-down better. I only use them because I didn't really understand the Fusion license agreement. If I did more CAD work I'd probably look at the design spark software from RS, also mentioned above.

[Paul_in_Ricky]

On 29/02/2024 at 09:41, Blefuscu said:

 I didn't really understand the Fusion license agreement.

It's pretty easy to understand, even if it might seem complicated.
Very simply put;

You can use it free for non-commercial purposes.

Some of the industrial functions like CAM etc aren't available on the non-commercial licence.
You're limited to ten active files for editing, but you can easily swap around files between editable and read only to stay within limits.

Edited March 2 by Paul_in_Ricky

[bradfordbuffer]

On 27/02/2024 at 21:56, F2Andy said:

My printer is in the garage, which is not attached to the house, and pretty cold in winter. I have a vat warmer, as used by home brewers, but even with that it is not worth printing if the outside temperature is below about 8°C. I managed to do quite a bit a week or so ago when it was warmer, but back on hold for now.

reptile heater suck to printer cover does trick....i have a 16w one for main heating then 2 individual 8w ones on side if particularly cold plus ebay supplied heat saving hood just don't cover fan vents at back as you will have too much heat!😉 all for anycubic mono x