martin_wynne

Putting used resin back in the bottle of fresh resin will shorten its shelf life. Filter it into a separate jam jar and wrap it in kitchen foil to keep out the light. Martin.

@hayfield Hi John, 3D printing using water-washable resin on the Alkaid printer: 1. negotiate a cease-fire in the kitchen. 2. shake the bottle of resin well, and leave it to stand for a while for any froth to clear. 3. if cold, run the bottle under the hot tap to warm it up. 4. remove the protection films from both sides of the tank base, and fix it on the printer. 5. remove the protection film (if any) from the build plate, and clean the build surface in hot soapy water before using it for the first time. Rinse and dry it. 6. fix it on the printer. Tighten the top knob firmly. Unlike FDM printing, there is some force involved in resin printing and things can come loose if not tightened firmly. 7. make sure the 4 levelling screws are loose, and switch on. 8. perform the levelling process as explained in the manual and in James's video: Alkaid video 9. take some time to get this right -- with luck you will only need to do it once. Nip up all 4 screws first, and then tighten them very firmly without disturbing the levelling. 10. exclude all daylight, and then half fill the tank with resin. 11. put the yellow cover on the printer. You can allow daylight while the cover is on. 12. plug in the USB stick containing the CTB print file. On the Alkaid the USB socket is at the back (and upside down). It's a lot easier using one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DX59EAG 13. use the touch screen to find the file and start the print. While printing some slurping and sucking noises are normal. 14. for 4mm scale chairs it will take about 25 minutes. Leave it dripping for about 5 minutes afterwards. 15. exclude daylight again. Remove the yellow cover and place an old biscuit-tin lid or piece of card over the whole tank area to catch any further drips while removing and handling the build plate. 16. swish the build plate in a bowl of warm water. At this stage the chairs are soft and delicate, so don't bump them against the bottom of the bowl. Using a soft brush such as a pastry brush, wash 95% of the surplus resin from the build plate and around the chairs. The water will be contaminated with resin, so don't pour it down the drain. 17. plunge the build plate up and down vigorously in a bucket of warmish water. This is to remove the remaining 5% of resin, and force wash water through the tiny slots for the loose jaws, and ensure there is no surplus resin left in the slots. 18. cover the tank with kitchen foil, and put the yellow cover back on the printer. You can now allow daylight again. 19. dry the build plate and chairs with a hair dryer, or leave them on the radiator while you have a nice boiled egg and read the latest issue of the Railway Modeller. The chairs must be fully dry before UV curing. 20. examine all the chairs carefully. Make sure none are missing or only partially printed. If so it is bad news -- you will need to clean out the tank and filter the resin to find the missing bits before you can print again. N.B. if loose jaws are missing they may have printed normally and be found detached in the wash water. 21. holding the build plate over a soft landing such as a piece of foam or bubble wrap, gently prise each raft from the build plate using a window scraper. At this stage the chairs are still soft and delicate, so handle them carefully. 22. collect up the rafts and expose them on both sides to UV light using whatever means you have available, until they are fully cured. Depending on the power of the UV this might take 10-20 minutes. Or if using a sunny window cill, several hours. 23. they will harden further over the next few days, and the rafts will very likely curl. cheers, Martin.

You put toast back in the toaster when you like it darker than it came out the first time.

@Donw Hi Don, For printing PLA filament (used for plug track timbering bases, filing jigs, model parts such as point-motor brackets, etc.) FDM printers are very user-friendly. PLA is made from sugar-cane and is non-toxic and emits no significant smell. The printer can be run in living areas, although there is some fan noise so perhaps not in the quietest rooms. (Using other types of filament, such as ABS (which is the similar to plastic kits and can be assembled with solvent) or flexible rubber-like materials, the fumes can be unpleasant and not suitable for living areas.) Resin printers are not generally suitable for living areas. The resin is toxic and smelly, although the water-washable resin we are now using for chairs has little smell. The resin needs to be at 20-25degC for good results, so an unheated outbuilding is not really suitable. The resin printer needs to be in a heatable room with a door, away from living areas, such as a model railway workshop or spare bedroom. Also while using a resin printer there needs to be no natural daylight, so that means working on winter evenings, or with a window blackout board. Additional items needed for FDM printers are none. Additional items needed for resin printers when using water-washable resin are a pastry brush, a small bowl, a plastic bucket, and some means of UV curing. That can be sunshine on a window cill, or a simple UV lamp such as the ones used for curing nail varnish. cheers, Martin.

@figworthy Hi Adrian, The resin cost for the chairs is more difficult to calculate because it depends how tightly they are packed on the printer build plate. For Amazon Prime members the current cost of resin is £25.64 per kg, see: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C7BFQZ2C/ A single S1 ordinary chair in 4mm/ft scale uses about 0.08g (some of which is wasted in the printing supports), so the cost of such a chair is about 0.2p (i.e. 5 chairs for 1p). A full chair set for a B-7 turnout in 4mm/ft scale uses about 15g of resin, so the cost is about 38p. Total material cost for a B-7 turnout base in 4mm/ft scale is therefore 34p + 38p = 72p at current Amazon prices. cheers, Martin.

@figworthy Hi Adrian, A 1kg reel of filament is currently showing as £13.56 (it varies), see: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07FQKP7NS/ Using the default settings, a timbering base for a B-7 turnout in 4mm/ft scale weighs about 25g. You can therefore make 40 such bases from 1 reel, and each one will cost 34p. cheers, Martin.

@figworthy Hi Adrian, Templot can show you the total length of timbers and sleepers. After making some test 3D prints you should be able to calculate the numbers you want. I have no plans to add such calculations to Templot. Just to add that Templot is not a software product. It is my private hobby interest. Everyone is welcome to share it if they wish. Or not, if they don't like it. cheers, Martin.

@Jol Wilkinson Hi Jol, Current UK price £84 + £7 postage. 2-3 day delivery from a warehouse in Leicester: https://www.geeetech.com/alkaid-lcd-light-curing-resin-3d-printer-p-1210.html Martin. (no connection with Geeetech).

The plastic is toughened PLA. The file skids over the surface and barely harms the jig. The jigs are good for several dozen rails or more. See the jig instructions: https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?threads/using-the-templot-rail-filing-jigs.728/ Martin.

Hi Jol, Which ones? Recommended by who? 1. Geeetech Alkaid resin printer, £90 delivered in UK. Excellent. 2. Kingroon FDM printer, £180 post free in UK. Excellent. cheers, Martin.

Hi Ian, As John says, there is nothing to prevent anyone from building finished turnouts and crossovers now, and installing them on a layout. But as far as I know the only person who has actually reported doing so is Michael Woods in S Scale. See: https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?threads/experimental-plug-track-continued.673/post-9002 I'm sure there will be many more soon. I would be building some myself, but for my recent injury. cheers, Martin.

@hayfield Hi John, Don't forget to mark the back of the blade at 20mm from the end of the jig before removing the rail. You will need that mark when aligning the rail in the jig for the switch front. Full instructions for using the filing jigs are at: https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?threads/using-the-templot-rail-filing-jigs.728/ cheers, Martin.

Hi Jol, No CAD skills needed for Templot plug track. Templot generates the 3D files ready to print. Martin.

Hi Ian You are jumping ahead a bit there -- this is still an experimental project. As far as I know the only finished working turnout so far is one in S scale. For the intended switch drive arrangements, see: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/175840-is-track-building-making-a-come-back/?do=findComment&comment=5351199 cheers, Martin.

@hayfield Hi John, Resin delivery now showing on Amazon this Friday. If you are a Prime member, you get £10 off. See: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C7BFQZ2C/ Martin.

You can enter any rail section dimensions you wish. But only bullhead. Laser-cut timbering bases are fully supported. All the information is on the Templot web site - https://85a.uk/templot/club Martin.

An FDM printer and a resin printer are two completely different machines, for two different tasks. It is unfortunate that they get lumped together as "3D printers", so that having one of each seems an unjustifiable expense. No-one would lump together say a soldering station with a Dremel grinder, so that having both seems extravagant. Martin.

Nowhere have I suggested running prints under the tap. Or pouring contaminated water down the drain. The first wash should be in a small bowl or tub of water, with a gentle brush (pastry brush). This will remove 95% of the resin. The water will become significantly contaminated. It needs to be left out of doors in a transparent container for several days until the resin content has cured in daylight UV and precipitated to the bottom of the container. The clear water can then be decanted off and used to water the garden. The cured resin residue can disposed of in the domestic waste for landfill. For the chairs, the second wash needs to be done vigorously in a bucket of water. See this post for details: https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?threads/problem-with-printed-loose-jaw-chairs.811/post-9418 The contamination will be at a low level in a full bucket of water, and it can be disposed of immediately by spreading thinly over the garden. Over time the slight resin content will cure naturally in daylight and become relatively harmless. Some garden plants may even thrive on it! Keep it well away from fishponds, pets, etc. Martin.

Utterly disagree. The results from that resin have been brilliant. And much easier to ensure adequate washing of the loose-jaw slots. Strongly recommended. https://uk.anycubic.com/products/anycubic-abs-like-resin-v2-package?variant=45845570945309 Martin.

AnyCubic ABS-Like V2 Water Washable: https://uk.anycubic.com/products/anycubic-abs-like-resin-v2-package?variant=45845570945309 Martin.

@njee20 For FDM printing, slow=good quality, fast=poor quality. Using my posted slicer settings for Cura in 4mm/ft scale, and the default timbering thickness 3.2mm, timings are in the ballpark range 9-11 minutes per sleeper for plain track, and 15-18 minutes per timber for pointwork. You can change all the settings in Templot to whatever you want, but I would advise that departing from the defaults may produce unpredictable results. Likewise you can change the quality settings and everything else in your slicer to whatever you want. But not all options are likely to produce usable results. FDM printers run just fine unattended, so the time taken is largely irrelevant -- while it's running you build the cattle dock, instal point motors, build a wagon kit, or paint the station-master's hat. Martin.

@JSModels Hi Jonathan, After changing to the loose jaws option, click the button modify group to match. The strange screw-heads are caused by having duplicate templates, or duplicate chairs on the raft. Delete the duplicates so that there is only one of each chair in the export. (The screw-head rotations are randomised, so if duplicated you get multiple corners, instead of 4 corners for square heads.) Ask on the Templot Club forum for detailed explanations of plug track. cheers, Martin.

Hi William, The loose jaws are the default option and recommended. They allow track formations, simple or complex, to be built in the prototype manner by dropping the rail onto the chairs, one rail at a time, and then fixing it in place in each chair. The rail can have prototypical square ends and does not need to be chamfered, because the chairs are not threaded onto the rail. It also means the rails can be bent as required, such as at the wing rail knuckle, the switch set, the centre of K-crossings, etc. In 2mm scale the loose jaws are very tiny, and may need a higher-resolution 3D printer. If preferred the chairs can be printed with solid jaws, but then they do need to be threaded onto the rail, and where there are two or more rails in a chair, such as in the V-crossings, the assembly process becomes very tricky and fiddly and in some cases impossible. Alternatively the solid-jaw chairs can be inserted in the timbering base first, creating the equivalent of a Finetrax kit. But that requires some departures from the prototype, such as having a break in the rails at the knuckle instead of a proper knuckle bend. Complex formations such as tandem turnouts, outside slips, etc. are difficult or impossible done that way. If in doubt, use the loose jaws option. Martin.

Code 82 FB rail is available here: http://www.karlgarin.com/whatsnew.htm It's intended for light rail in 7mm scale, but may be ok in 4mm. Martin.

UK flat-bottom rail (6.1/4") in 4mm/ft scale is Code 82. Code 83 rail is USA heavy flat-bottom rail in H0 scale (3.5mm/ft). Peco use it in their "83-Line" products for the USA market: The societies stock it for modellers working in Proto:87. Martin.