JCL

Good point, I think you're right. I've created a new thread and reposted the, erm, post, onto that one. I'll continue with non-tutorial stuff here. The good news is that I successfully printed those windows twice, once at 65% power, and once at the recommended 80% power. The 80% power ones on the right look better, but ultimately, for my printing configuration, the .5mm verticals are too thin, so I've gone for 0.75mm instead - effectively the third window. Both the waiting room and the signal box have been amended, so I'll be able to print them at the weekend.

I've been looking into creating buildings using Blender that can be printed with a 3D printer. I'll get the disclaimer out at the very beginning of this thread: there are a lot of people on here who are much better 3D modellers, there is a lot of 3D software out there that can also do the job, but I only know Blender in any depth, so I'll be concentrating on this, there will be many ways to skin a cat, and if you're mad enough to be using Blender and have different ideas, please pile in with them All I can show you is a workflow that currently works for me. I'm using Blender 2.91.0 from here: https://www.blender.org/download/ . The software is free, and has had a major upgrade since I put those other tutorials up a few years ago. Although it's still a big program, it's a lot more intuitive than it was before, and to be honest, you'd only be using a very small subset of the available functionality. I think this keeps it manageable. Setup the Environment After opening up Blender: select the cube delete it hover over the margin between the main screen and the playback pane, right click, click on 'join areas', and move the mouse downwards to delete the playback pane. make sure the layout workspace is available. If you can't see it, click the + button at the top of the screen (to the right of scripting in the illustration above) and choose it from the list. You can delete all of the others except for modelling by right clicking on each one and choosing delete. on the right, click on the scene properties tab (looks like a tear drop), click on Units to open it, and choose the following options Unit system: metric Unit Scale: 0.001 Length Millimeters Click on the small V shown in the red box next to the '5' in the diagram and set Viewport Overlays -> Grid Scale to 0.001 Setup the Preferences Now we need to add a couple of helper modules. In the menu system, click on edit -> preferences, when the preferences window is displayed, click on add-ons (in blue here) go to search (top right) and start typing import choose Import Images as Planes we'll probably have a go with Archipack, so select that too. On this one, click on the little arrow to open up the details, and click on render preset thumbs. Now, if you save this as your default startup position, and you'll not need to do this again. To do this, in the menu system, click File -> Defaults (at the bottom) -> Save Startup File I'm still looking at Archipack to help with the modelling, and although it looks good, I'm not sure that it will work out the box for 3D printing. One case in point is that the default guttering it creates wouldn't be printable. With this in mind, I'll show how I did the modelling, and then perhaps afterwards will write up some notes on Archipack. >> The next post will be importing reference images and setting up the walls. Blender Course on YouTube Finally, there is also a general Blender course available below. Blender Guru seems to be the most popular Blender education channel on Youtube, so it's worth having a look at. This will give some more starter information, and you could even get a zero calorie donut out of it.

It started with a G'day and carried on from there. Luckily my sister-in-law is from Brisbane, so she can talk me through the more difficult words. On the printing, yep, printing flat on the FEP. basically, the problem is in the bottom part of the window, where the verticals are thinner front to back. The test print has been set off, so fingers crossed, something should be available in the morning.

In the meantime, it's probably time to start the pump house. Now, there are a lot of people on here who are much better 3D modellers, and there will be many ways to skin a cat. All I can show you is a workflow that works for me. I'm using Blender 2.91.0 from here: https://www.blender.org/download/ Setup the Environment After opening up Blender: select the cube delete it hover over the margin between the main screen and the playback pane, right click, click on 'join areas', and move the mouse downwards to delete the playback pane. make sure the layout workspace is available. If you can't see it, click the + button at the top of the screen (to the right of scripting in the illustration above) and choose it from the list. You can delete all of the others except for modelling by right clicking on each one and choosing delete. on the right, click on the scene properties tab (looks like a tear drop), click on Units to open it, and choose the following options Unit system: metric Unit Scale: 0.001 Length Millimeters Click on the small V shown in the red box next to the '5' in the diagram and set Viewport Overlays -> Grid Scale to 0.001 Setup the Preferences Now we need to add a couple of helper modules. In the menu system, click on edit -> preferences, when the preferences window is displayed, click on add-ons (in blue here) go to search (top right) and start typing import choose Import Images as Planes we'll probably have a go with Archipack, so select that too. On this one, click on the little arrow to open up the details, and click on render preset thumbs. Now, if you save this as your default startup position, and you'll not need to do this again. To do this, in the menu system, click File -> Defaults (at the bottom) -> Save Startup File I'm still looking at Archipack to help with the modelling, and although it looks good, I'm not sure that it will work out the box for 3D printing. One case in point is that the default guttering it creates wouldn't be printable. With this in mind, I'll show how I did the modelling, and then afterwards will write up some notes on Archipack. Blender Course on YouTube Finally, there is also a general Blender course available below. Blender Guru seems to be the most popular Blender education channel on Youtube, so it's worth having a look at. This will give some more starter information, and you could even get a zero calorie donut out of it.

The Lincolnshire coast is a wonderfully stone free place! Even All Saints church in Wainfleet is made of bricks. My family's church is Wainfleet St Mary - it's stone, but far too far away from the railway line. On another note, the windows I've drawn up have failed slightly on both the waiting room and the signal box - even with plenty of supports. Because of this, I've put together a test file with different thicknesses of 'wood' between the panes. Also, my printer has a power output percentage that can be changed on the machine. This determines how bright the LCD panel will be and how well each layer is cured. It's currently at 65%, but I'll up it to the normal 80% and print this file. Hopefully at 80% the original thicknesses will work properly. Here's the stl file: window test f.stl I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers! I’m definitely printing one for the signal box - I’m looking at. @monkeysarefun’s suggestion, so will try it tomorrow. I have a test base printing at the moment - although I did forget to do the back window. I’ve a problem with the lower parts of the windows. The horizontals are ok, but the verticals have snapped. I think I’m going to have to do some tests and thicken up the widths a bit. Doing the bricks is strangely therapeutic - I imagine it’s like cross-stitch or something as you put your head down and relax for an hour.

The second building at Havenhouse is the signalbox. This was demolished in the 1980s, and the photos are generally at an oblique angle (not many people got off at Havenhouse it seems, so no change there!) Havenhouse by Jonathan Hazan, on Flickr This is the box at the moment. Just the back window to do and the roof and bargeboards. Once it's finished I'll do a blow-by-blow build of a pump house that was situated next to the Haven (river) between Wainfleet and Havenhouse. It was used in the draining of the area. The pump house is a square building with a flat metal roof, some arches, windows and doors. There's a bit of ornamentation going around the building, and a 1901 date plaque in one of the walls. There's also a lean-to, which I'll do in the original brick. If I can find any photos/drawings, I'll also see if I can put a steam pump in there. Next post will have more photos and some measurements, etc.

Well they look absolutely marvellous!

Thank you! It was me. I'll write up some stuff about this on the other thread when I have a look at it, rather than taking over this one.

Unfortunately it's not working for me on 2.90.0. I only see a semi-transparent black box that I have to Esc out of.

I can in a couple of weeks - I’ll put it on the buildings thread

I saw that, something else to try as people think it’s the bees knees.

Interesting, I'll have a look for it. Thanks for letting me know.

I was concerned about suction and damaging the FEP. After I've printed the signal box, I might do an experiment and put the roof on, but with holes along the top, and have the ridge tiles along the top a separate part that can be sanded and glued on.

Hi there, I'm modelling Havenhouse in Lincolnshire at a speed that means it's touch and go whether I finish it before the sun becomes a red giant. Recently I bought an Anycubic Mono X which has allowed me to print bigger models, so I've had a go at some buildings. After looking at @woko's and @Locksley's buildings, and sharing a couple of messages, I've put together the waiting room. The model was printed flat on the plate at 0.05mm using basic Anycubic gray resin. It took about 4 hours to complete. Next up will be the signal box, which will be a lot easier. Here's the STL file if anyone wants to print it non-commercially. Havenhouse waiting room.stl I'll be doing the roof in card as I can't think a way of printing one that won't cause orientation problems.

I used Blender to model the waiting room. I'll be doing the rest of the buildings for Havenhouse (Lincs) over the next few weeks. I think I'll start a thread to put them on.

After seeing @woko’s buildings and reading @Locksley’s layout thread, I thought I’d have a go at drawing up and printing a GNR waiting room. He recommended .3mm mortar lines that are .3mm deep - which worked out really well. The layers of bricks means the walls are 4mm thick in places, so it’s really sturdy! I repaired the building in MS 3D Builder, sliced it in Lychee, then printed the thing flat onto the build plate of the Mono X with a small margin at the bottom that can be set into a platform. I used standard resin settings. I completely forgot to support the window structures, so they had a bit of a tough time. It has a hipped roof which I’ll probably do using thick card or similar. I’ve used this first print as a test for my painting. The software is telling me it cost $1.60 to print.

Unfortunately, that’s not always necessarily true. I’ve seen photos of vehicles that have been built that have differences to their associated GAs. A combination of GAs, photos and the ability to squint would be better.

Hi Martin I would cut the lines in batches based on the colours below. That way, the knife will be in the correct orientation for most of the cuts, and the cuts will be more accurate. (ignore the numbers) cheers Jason

Because it’s biodegradable, I’ve asked a couple of times about this, but unfortunately I’ve not had any replies.

My Mono X turned up at the end of December. @TomE and @njee20 are right in that there have been teething problems, but there are either workarounds available, or Anycubic are sending out new parts. Some of the issues were with early models only. The only problem I have mine so far is operator error. The machine is like a sports car compared to my previous one - the Peopoly Moai. It’s much easier to use, and was able to produce a good print on my first try. It’s also fast enough that I’m more likely to experiment as the results arrive more quickly. I’m on Facebook because of work, so I’ve joined up to two Mono X groups on there, and one of them has an excellent FAQ that helps setup and troubleshoot. I also use the Lychee slicer to process my stl files. Overall, I’m very pleased with it so far, I just don’t let it into the house, so I print in the insulated shed because of the fumes. fo me it was worth the money, but then again, I’ve not seen the Saturn, so I’m afraid I can’t directly compare.

On Windows, I use AdGuard or UBlock Origin - I swap between the two as there is a war of attrition between YT etc and the blockers. On my iPhone I swap between AdGuard and NeverAds. I don’t block all sites, only the ones that are crazy with adverts like YouTube with their ads before during and after videos and banner ads on top of videos.

I don’t know if the phrase “choosing beggars” has made it over there, but it’s quite the phenomenon - here’s a round up of examples: https://www.boredpanda.com/choosing-beggars/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic (There’s some choice blurred out language on there). I sometimes give stuff away on Thingiverse - which doesn’t need an account to download files, but I don’t support it, and I don’t work on it unless it’s something I need to do myself. You’re on Shapeways, and I understand you not wanting to put your files on other sites. That’s your prerogative. If they want a free file, then it’s up to them to create an account to download it.

Hi everyone, I had to make some adjustments so that holes didn't have to be reamed for nuts and bolts, but the model is finished now - just before Christmas. This evening I've sent it off to @Knuckles to check the files. If it all works out, then hopefully he'll be able to print them. Also, for anyone that has a printer, an Anycubic Wash and Cure arrived in the post today. Good lord it makes life a lot easier/cleaner/safer! Fingers crossed. cheers Jason

Hi all Although I’m about done, there is a warning - there’s not much play on those bogies, so I’m up for any thoughts you might have. Apart from that, If there’s nothing else, I’ll make the files available over the weekend. The model below has been bolted together - those nut housings made a huge difference, although I did use tweezers for the nuts in the cabs I used 1/2” 8AB bolts, because I have them. The bogie wheels for now are standard Bachman or Hornby wagon wheels. I’m going to cure this one with a UV lamp before I undercoat it. As I say, I’m still learning how to use this printer, and I feel the clear resin has given a sharper finish than the grey. I’ll know more once it’s cured and undercoated. cheers Jason The bogies