3d Printer getting cheaper?

[johnlewis]

3D printing is a tool, or set of tools. It lets you do things that are really hard to do any other way (can you turn an N scale shunter model into a 3mm scale one at the push of a button ? any other way). It is also (like any other tools) a tool for doing things that are really much easier other ways.

 

Alan

 

Is it simple to change scales?

 

I know, for example, that someone has produced a 2mm scale model of a vehicle which I would like in 4mm scale, but the designer of the 2mm scale model inferred it couldn't be converted and printed to the larger scale.

 

Your comments will be of interest to others I imagine.

 

 

jayell

[Marbelup]

In general, scaling a model up to a larger scale should work. When scaling down to a smaller scale, it is more likely that there will be problems with wall thickness or size of detail parts falling below the minimum level for whatever print technology is being used, so the print may be rejected by the print service or may print with some parts or details missing.

 

When scaling up to a larger size, wall thickness may end up thicker than necessary, which could increase the cost of the model or adversely affect the appearance. Similarly, small details which may need to be exaggerated to print satisfactorily in a small scale may look wrong when printed at a larger scale. Bottom line, though, is that a scaled-up model should result in a viable print.

[Etched Pixels]

Is it simple to change scales?

 

I know, for example, that someone has produced a 2mm scale model of a vehicle which I would like in 4mm scale, but the designer of the 2mm scale model inferred it couldn't be converted and printed to the larger scale.

 

Your comments will be of interest to others I imagine.

 

 

jayell

 

It depends. I've done 3mm and 4mm scale ups of some of my stuff. The main problem is that the price explodes although sometimes you can keep that in check by using cheaper materials in bigger scales and adding detail later.

 

How it was built also matters. Some models and toolsets can do things like wall thickness automatically which means you can rescale and say 'fix the wall thickness' to get a model that's adjusted.

 

Some stuff doesn't just scale  - particularly mechanical aspects like bogies where the wheels are different and a OO scale up from N might would probably result in the wrong axle lengths and possible even the funny narrow gauge OO wheel spacing meaning it fouls other parts. The same problem occurs in the other direction with stuff like wheel widths.

 

I've scaled stuff and its varied from milk churns and traffic cones (rescale, upload, print, done in minutes), railbusses (rescale, upload, boggle at price, change material, swear as its too large for polishing and won't print, remove the buffers and tell 4mm folk to use brass ones), to the NLR coaches which if you upscale to 4mm won't print with enough detail in cheap materials, and are obscenely expensive in FUD in OO, and would need various details reworking to look really nicein 4mm. I gave up on that one - easy to do an "OK" coach, hard to do the job justice for the pricing.

 

An item simply up or downscaled is generally not going to be quite so good, just as when rescaling an etch or laser cut simply because the design decisions would be different if you started at that scale. Some of it also depends how it was generated and the tools used. An STL CAD model can be rescaled but any further tidy up and editing is a lot of work, a parametric model can, if properly programmed, deal with most of the crap for you automatically.

 

Alan

[Guest GeoM528]

I guess so, 3D printers are cheaper now compared to 3 years ago. 3D printing materials are reasonably affordable now. I even found a saver pack deal here: Admin - Link removed I bought a PrintrBot Simple which was only cost me £300; such a steal, right?

[Andy Y]

I guess so, 3D printers are cheaper now compared to 3 years ago. 3D printing materials are reasonably affordable now. I even found a saver pack deal here: Admin - Link removed I bought a PrintrBot Simple which was only cost me £300; such a steal, right?

 

Repeatedly attempting to spam the site will mean readers will be less likely to use your products. Next time you do it your removal will be accompanied by a recommendation to avoid your site (you will get a link then which I'm sure will feature in Google's searches).

[raymw]

Not exactly for domestic use, but a few months ago, I spoke with a manufacturer who prints prosthetics, aero and formula 1 car parts. They build, and use machines  for additive manufacturing - costing £300-400K each, and weighing a few ton. Powdered titanium about £200 per kilo, stainless steel £100 - dangerous stuff about 10 to 50 micron. Laser weld spot size about 70micron, minimum wall thickness about 100-150micron, all taking place in a controlled environment under an argon or similar shield. They call it additive manufacturing, since 3d printing has  inferior associations.  The surface finish depends on many factors, they have teams of folk writing software for particular applications.

Referring to 'Gartner'   http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/89567-gartners-2014-hype-cycle/?hl=gartner this type of enterprise 3d printing is much further developed than consumer, (it's a few years past 'the peak of inflated expectations') and although the pricing will drop, as more manufacturer's come into play, I think it will be few years before  direct metal printing gets affordable for modelling. At the moment, I guess if you need to ask the price, you can't afford it.

A cheaper metallic solution for diy  - if considering the home plastic extrusion machines - is to use one of the filaments with metal particles embedded in it, but other than the prettiness of it, I believe you will get the worst of both materials if considering strength of the final item. Afaik, the only alternative is to use the plastic item as a pattern for subsequent casting in metal in a 'lost wax' process, or taking a mould in rubber/whatever.


Best wishes,

Ray