TM2201A

The Bison tanker has made it off the printer.

Meanwhile another lurking project on the CAD machine

I think I'll call it done on CAD work on Ergomatic variations for now.

Whilst the location of the windscreen wipers and mounting of the rear view mirrors on to the windscreen pillars may have been a good idea in the drawing office at Joseph Sankey they're a pig to recreate in model form so some compromise is in order for parts that are under 1mm thick.

The MK3 Ergomatic 1976 Bison/Buffalo cab has made if off the printer. Posed and fitting rather well on the Octopus development model.

A bit more work on the Bison. A not so quick trial of the tanker body was run off on the printer and sat on the Octopus chassis to see what it looks like.

About an hour's work and the Octopus chassis assembly is together. I couldn't resist gently posing the cab and tipper body on the chassis.

While the PC was running some slicing and other print supervision I had chance to do a quick bit of work on some different options; AEC Ergo 4 axle tanker, Late Bison 3 axle tanker.

More on the Octopus. The chassis, cab interior (albeit minus the steering wheel) and tailgate came out over the weekend. Having keyed up the printer to run unattended today the wheels, suspension, various mudguards, tipper hydraulics, fuel tank and tailgate parts have churned out today. A few of the locating pins and holes need to have a check over as they're too tight but pretty good progress.

Yes I have a 3D printer, I've used it for work stuff quite a bit though it has been diverted to modelling projects more recently. I inadvertently appear to have drawn up a kit for an Octopus/Mammoth Major/Mammoth/Hippo/Bison/Buffalo. Excellent to see your work on the carved up Dinky.

Some more Ergomatic progress; the FDM printer did a great job of the tipper body and a few more details added to the design files.

Nicely done. I'll see your three axle Ergo and raise you four...

Starting to build quite a pile of Ergo cabs; it took a few goes to iron out problems with really thin sections and minor printing errors.

Yes I could be convinced, to be honest I'd run off a few more for people to have play around with just to see if it looks about right. The more I look at the Ergomatic cab the more variations I find between models, let alone the branding differences which makes it a bit of a mare to model up. Certainly, as I sprog, my memories of the Merryweather Marquis was that you got a lot of toy and the cabs pretty good, Binns Road probably churned out more of the toy than was ever made of the real thing. As to other British hgvs if the 60s-80s I feel your pain, so many of the IXO types are almost there, something with European sales like a Ford D or Dodge 500 (they've already done a TK) would seem like an open goal.

Nice work on the Ergomatic cab. I'd had a cad model of one prepared a while ago and have finally got around to printing a trial off

Something of a trial on the fdm printer today; Leyland Ergomatic Cab

Sorry that's just wrong, Falcon's generators and motors were unique.

Looks like the builder just about had a set of etchings to work from, the one piece white metal cylinders weren't a feature of the 4 boxes of parts that saw myself and two other builders gradually question our collective sanity. Not too bad a price, though you'd have a lot of factoring in missing bits and rebuilding the tender cab.

That's a nice bit of modelling. A few thoughts from 24 years of swearing at CAD software... If for some reason sketch geometry fails to produce a new feature that intersects an existing feature most modern CAD systems will produce a new separate body; this can be useful in some circumstances (and is better than just throwing a fit and crashing like they did 15-20 years ago) but can give rise to multi-body parts like you appear to have experienced. It's worth checking the model or feature tree/menu (usually up the left hand side of your screen) for the part to see if an additional body has been created. As a tip model the part in its most basic condition first, so leave any tapering of surfaces, chamfers on edges or radii in corners until last; by doing this you can be confident that any geometry copied from one feature to the sketch of the next always intersects. If you think that a sketch edge may break away from the edge of a parent feature (for example if the feature is drafted) most CAD systems now have an option to use copy geometry with an offset which will force the system to understand that you want to merge the new feature and keep to a single body part. Although it seems like tedium get into the habit of manually fully dimensioning or constraining each sketch, ideally to either the part origin or known fixed features such as the centre vertical axis or bottom face of your lamp; the discipline helps avoid wandering sketches that then produce errors or wacky features if something gets changed in a parent feature.

I got side tracked at a recent swapmeet; a filthy and battered example of the Coles Lorry Mounted Crane fell into my bag for a pocket money price. After a fortnight marinading in Dettol I'm considering what to do with it; the proportions of the crane house seem rather off (even considering the real thing was a bit of a brute) compared to the chassis and the damaged jib needs repair or replacement. The temptation to do something else comes from the crane house having much in common with the Coles rail cranes operated by Stocksbridge steelworks (fortunately there is less in common with the BR CCE cranes that operated from Low Fell).

More progress on the Henry Diaper latex tankers with trial DLP parts for the straps and the 30' version and an almost inevitable diversion on to the later 51' diagrams (a long and noisy set of prints on the FDM machine to prove out joints and fits of the chassis and tank body though lacking the tank yokes so the sit if the tank is a bit wonky).

Nice. I've been using my FDM machine more extensively of late to either prove models before going to the hassle of setting up the resin or for big flat slabs like chassis and I'm pretty pleased with the results...even been using printed spanners on a 1:1 scale vehicle today and they worked very well.

I had a few hours over the weekend and last evening so had a CAD session just to see what I could sketch up for an Ergo. The basic cab isn't too bad to get on with but the variation in grilles, even in early production, looks to be a minefield. Anyway, here's a screen grab:

Much respect for managing to print something that small, I thought I was chancing my arm with tank access ladders and brake gear. I wholeheartedly agree with letting the software put on automatic supports and then refining its choices.

Sure; Buffalo Cab https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-print-models/miniatures/vehicles/1977-leyland-buffalo-4x2 Clydesdale https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/leyland-clydesdale-1980