squirty plastic printer questions

[MJI]

I am considering one, but want to see if worth it.

 

Stability on long items,  would a carriage chassis be solid and not warp?

 

Shrinkage, how much?

 

Gluing , what would be used? Attaching plasticard, cast resin, brass, and phototropic resin items.

 

How small can you go, for holes and the like?

 

Brittleness, how brittle is it?

 

Not going to do high detail as i have a mars 2 pro for that.

[KeithHC]

I presume you are talking about resin printing. I have one but waiting for better weather. However I think it is mainly a yes to all your questions. Have a look at a few threads on here to give you an idea. Wokos thread covers wagons carriages locomotives and even buildings all in resin. I think one of the things to do once printed and cured is to get a squirt of primer over as soon as possible. This I think is to cover the resin to protect from uv light.

 

hope this helps

 

Keith

[MJI]

I know about resin, but the ones with little nozzles which squirt out plastic i have little information of.

[njee20]

No, he’s talking FDM. Possibly not the most helpful of title. 
 

- stability: superb, no long term changes

- shrinkage/warping: negligible, yes a coach chassis will stay straight indefinitely. Nothing like resin. 

- gluing: just about anything - CA works fine

- holes: depends on the printer/nozzle. Nothing close to resin, and honestly I’ve never tested a minimum, so I’d not like to say definitively. Most printers come with a 0.4mm nozzle, I’d not expect accuracy below 1mm

-brittleness: depends on the material, the orientation has a marked impact on strength, as the layer orientation is always a source of weakness, nothing close to resin though. Materials like TPU are like rubber. The ‘standard’ PLA is still a step change from resins. 

 

They’re both useful tools in the arsenal. For railway modelling I use my resin printers 95% of the time, but for stuff around the house, FDM is much more useful.

 

Some of the newer printers, notably Bambu Labs, are blurring the lines between FDM and resin, I keep being tempted. Of course print volumes are usually bigger too. There are plenty of 500x500mm printers.   

[MJI]

Thanks i will be getting one.

 

I know the detail is pants, but a roof sanded, or a DMU chassis. Ideal.

 

I would trust standard resin on something big, yet great for wagons.

[njee20]

Chassis yes, definitely. Things like roofs not ideal IMO (assuming you mean rolling stock), the gentle curve just accentuates the ‘contour lines’ you get from the layers. It doesn’t sand particularly well either, much harder than resin.  

[MJI]

2 hours ago, njee20 said:

Chassis yes, definitely. Things like roofs not ideal IMO (assuming you mean rolling stock), the gentle curve just accentuates the ‘contour lines’ you get from the layers. It doesn’t sand particularly well either, much harder than resin.  

I could do undersize and laminate plastic card.

 

But chassis would be good.

 

Roof making not easy.

[njee20]

More words may help here, I have no idea what you’re talking about… just print roofs in resin. 

 

Here’s a shark I (FDM) printed this morning for my son’s school project, you can see it looks like a contour map on the gentle curving upper. It’s about 9cm long FWIW.

 

[MJI]

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

More words may help here, I have no idea what you’re talking about… just print roofs in resin. 

 

Here’s a shark I (FDM) printed this morning for my son’s school project, you can see it looks like a contour map on the gentle curving upper. It’s about 9cm long FWIW.

 

That stepping is obvious, as to resin, can't do long enough, plus strength on the edges.

 

Need to think a bit more for carriage roofs.

[njee20]

Bigger resin printer needed then. The Saturn 3, or a Saturn 2 (if you can still get one) are superb. or print in two pieces and join. 
 

much like with resin orientation matters, printing a roof vertically would probably help alleviate the stepping, but would cause other problems with likely warping along the length. There is no panacea, but I wouldn’t be using any FDM printer to print roofs. 

[MJI]

This is useful thanks. I do need to experiment with different resins anyway.

 

I do have enough use case  as i want to try the track printing,  these needs both types.

 

Higher strength and better stability are definitely requirements.

 

 

[MJI]

More info.

 

I am fed up of modifying Triang floors. So want to print a chassis. With my own side mounting,  no ends, no trussing , slightly deeper.

 

Craft cut sides, ends, except 123 ends, resin printed.

 

Roofs will work something out. Just experiment.

[njee20]

You can resin print track bases (we’ve discussed that on Hayfield’s thread I’m sure), but obviously Martin is pushing ‘plug track’ utilising both, and the stability and build volume from an FDM base will be advantageous. 
 

I’ve got an Elegoo Neptune (because I had a Saturn/Mars/Mars 2 and the brand was a known quantity), and it’s been a good printer. Sorely tempted by a Bambu P1P.  

[simonmcp]

There are people who are working on real 3d slicing software (where the nozzle actually moves in all three dimensions whilst extruding) which would allow you to print step free roofs. I believe it is only available on Linux at the moment though.

[Vistisen]

On 03/03/2024 at 21:50, njee20 said:

You can resin print track bases (we’ve discussed that on Hayfield’s thread I’m sure), but obviously Martin is pushing ‘plug track’ utilising both, and the stability and build volume from an FDM base will be advantageous. 
 

I’ve got an Elegoo Neptune (because I had a Saturn/Mars/Mars 2 and the brand was a known quantity), and it’s been a good printer. Sorely tempted by a Bambu P1P.  

I have a similiar printer setup I have an Elegoo Mars3 Pro and have just bought a BambuP1S. I can recommend it. First impressions are that it is so much easier to use than the resin printer. There is no washing and curing to start off with. The Bambu has auto plate levelling which saves a lot of time and effort.  It even has a built-in webcam so you can see how a print is going!

Here er a sample print for a model of Hatch Beachaumps court that I am building mainly from card. I need to print the inner wall of the entrance hall The grey print is from the elegoo using ABS like resin. It is a rough test print is check sizing. It took about 10 hours to print. The green print is from the Bambu FDM using the basic filament that came with the printer it took under two hours. The design has been modified between the two prints to correct sizing and some missing details.

Somehow the FMD printer seems to be able to print in midair. It printed the window frames fine. The resin printer has to have a lot of supports, and print at angles to be able to print the frames in midair. Just look at the difference in the slicer plans designed!

 

It costs about twice the price of the Elegoo. But is going to be used more, I think. The running costs will be lower. Especiallybecause you don’t have to buy IPA to rinse the prints. You can see more banding in the Green print and the door frames are more ragged. I suspect I will do test prints in FDM and use Resin for the final 'production' print

Edited March 31 by Vistisen

[MJI]

Will be using ABS like resin now, but still want a fdm as well.

 

Now thinking of carriage sides minus overlay rather than laminating plasticard