Valentin

I wonder if this Resin Heater for Photon/S Printers worth the price. I know there are much cheaper DIY alternatives but I couldn't find one suitable for the Photon S.

Hello, I am happy to share the STL and the Fusion 360 CAD files for this LCDR Class T engine.

By following this tutorial, I managed to create a very similar pattern straight in FreeCAD. One of the advantages is that the size of the hexagons and the gap / wall between them can be very easily adjusted. I have attached the FCStd file dor those interested (I had to add the .stl extension to "trick" the RMWeb's interface to allow me to upload the file; this extension should be removed befpre opening the file in FreeCAD). Hexagon Pattern.FCStd.stl

Hi Justin, It looks like this "magic angle" is actually 22.942 degrees? At least according to this diagram I found online:

For a very short time, many years ago when it wasn't an online only application, I used SketchUp, for a couple of very basic projects. After getting my first 3D printer at the end of August, I wanted to be able to design my own 3D models so I tested two completely different programs: Fusion 360 and Blender. I started with the former and after some frustrations and many hours of video tutorials, I managed to build some very good models. But, because I am a big supporter of Open Source software and Fusion 360 is not an open source software and AutoCad doesn't offer a Linux option, I tried Blender. After another many hours of tutorials, and more frustrations, I gave up! Blender is not for me. I ended up with FreeCAD which, although very similar to Fusion 360 (both are parametric models of 3D design), has it's particularities. But, I can run it on my Linux machine, it's faster than Fusion 360, and, most important, allows me to create those models I always wanted.

I can't believe I searched online for about an hour for these kind of rods and I couldn't find them. Many thanks for posting the link, Jan.

I need some 1.2mm diameter steel rod and I found these welding rods on Amazon (huge quantity - 50x 1ft in length for under £10). I wonder if they are straight enough to use them as shafts and axles. Another option is to get these very small - only 30mm in length - stainless steel rods which I am quite sure they are straight, but very expensive at £3.95!!! And I need two...

Yes, that's correct for the Mono X. I was talking about Photon (S) - sorry for the confusion.

You won't see the 0.01mm value adjusted in the GUI - the printer's OS just ignores any value lower than 0.025 or higher than 0.1mm.

Why are you setting the layer height at 0.01mm? For Photon (S) the range is between 0.025 and and 0.1mm; I assume the system will adjust the out of range value and set it to 0.025mm. I know it does this if you put any value smaller than 4.5 seconds for the delay between layers (for Photon S).

To avoid this, use solder with different melting points and a temperature controlled soldering iron.

I am vary pleased with FreeCAD. I was running Fusion 360 under Windows 10 on my work laptop (i7, 7th Gen with 16MB of RAM) and that was much, much slower than FreeCAD under Linux on my personal laptop (i5 Gen 6 with 8MB of RAM).

Would the email address be the one published on the 2mm Scale Association website, in the contact section?

Julia, will this spindle mod take 0.5mm HSS drill bits with the same size shank?

When tightening one of the two thumb screws of the loco chassis frame assembly jig, it came off the threaded rod (pictured below). What is the best option to put them back together?

When using a pillar drill, is it better to open the axle holes from 0.5mm to 1.5mm in steps? It didn't end up very well when I did it with a pin vice. I used the Proxxon milling machine and a good quality helix carbide1.5 mm bit to drill a hole in a 6mm brass block. The exit hole deviated by approx. 0.05mm. Is this acceptable?

The thickness of two P/B strips held together is 1.4mm and i drilled the 0.5mm pilot holes using the milking milling machine. I can only hope that, by the time I manually opened them up to 1.5mm, they remained perpendicular to the frames.

That's a very good tip! Unfortunately I cannot apply it on my chassis as there are no bearings (the frames are 0.7 mm P/B).

For how long do you set the ANYCUBIC Wash & Cure machine for curing a model of an engine, or a coach, or a wagon in 4mm scale? Would you reduce the time if the model is smaller? I have heard good feedback from others regarding the sacrificial skirt, under the footplate. I will try it myself soon. Keep us posted with your thought about the Siraya Fast resin - I have just bought a bottle and printed only the 3DBenchy boat using the exact settings recommended by Siraya in their instructions, at a temperature between 15 and 22 °C - I am happy with the fact that the dimensions of the boat are nearly the same (within 0.1 mm) with the ones in the guide. With the ANYCUBIC translucent green resin (delivered with the printer) the differences were higher - probably because I couldn't reach the recommended environment temperature of 30 °C.

Is it a wrong approach to open the holes up to 1.5mm manually? After drilling 0.5mm holes into the coupling rods and the frames, I detached the rods and enlarge the holes in 0.25 and 0.2 mm steps. I finished up with a 1.52mm drill and a smoothing broach. I ended up with three collinear holes. There may be a need to open the holes more as the wheels don't spin freely - I will check again after the frames are fitted to the brass block spacer and the wheels connected with muffs.

Thanks Ian. I just noticed the ‘milling’. LOL!!! I am typing these messages on my phone, using the “sliding keyboard” and the autocorrect function did what it always does I did experienced a lot the “wondering of the small bit” - a box full of broken bits can testify it... By the way, what use a broken drill or milling bit can have? Especially the ones with a bigger shank.

Thank you very much, Tim, for the detailed instructions. I am using a sort of pillar drill - actually a Proxxon MF70 milking machine fitted with some good quality drilling bits. I also have a Dremel rotary tool fixed into the Dremel 220 Work Station but I find this not to be very accurate when it comes to drilling very small holes.

Based loosely on the Nigel Ashton's article in the Aug-Sep 2012 2mm Magazine, I try to make a scratch-built chassis. The plan is to drill the axles holes in the frames and, in the same time, to mark the locations on the solid brass spacer for the axle muff openings. To have everything perfectly aligned, shall I sandwich one frame between the other one and the brass block (as shown in the picture below), or have the brass block sandwiched between the two P/B frames?

This device, also from Anycubic, makes it very easy to wash and cure the prints. On the other hand, I have never used anything else for washing and curing.

This is an amazing tool - I didn't even know such things exist, soooo much better than an oversized drill bit. I purchased one, not from APT but from Drill Service (Horley) and I tested it on some scrap brass and P/B. I kept using it as it was so satisfying to see how well the BA12 bolts "sunk" into the holes And there is a countersink tool on each end of the rod! Thanks again, Julia, for bringing this tool to my attention!