More 3d printed architecture

[Neil P]

I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread or risk hijacking someone else's, so I decided on a new one, and I'll add new photos over the coming months.

 

I've been learning 3d printing and have a Creality Ender 3 (FDM) and an Elegoo Mars 2 (SLA). I've been following JCL's excellent Blender tutorials.

 

My first railway print was an engineer's brick retaining wall - all FDM, created in Tinkercad. The bricks were largely acceptable, but near the limit of what a FDM printer can produce.

 

Second was a 2m long retaining stone wall created in Blender, using UV mapping for the stone texture, printed as 10 sections. I printed it vertically to get maximum resolution, which needed a large raft to keep it stable.

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Neil P
Re-adding photos after server failure

[monkeysarefun]

Well done with the UV mapping especially.

[Neil P]

9 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Well done with the UV mapping especially.

Thanks. The plan is to move on to tunnel portals next, then a viaduct. 
 

Ultimately, I’d like to design all the buildings on the layout from scratch and then print them using a combination of FDM and SLA, but there’s a lot of learning to be done. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Neil P

[stevel]

I am following the same path. Learning Fusion 360 and hoping to print the buildings and rolling stock required.

Was thinking of using Blender for the buildings and seeing your results, convinces me to go that route.

[nugsdad]

Wow that looks amazing. Are the files available for those of us who are less CAD savvy?

[Neil P]

On 25/08/2021 at 06:43, nugsdad said:

Wow that looks amazing. Are the files available for those of us who are less CAD savvy?

Here's a link to the arches on Tinkercad: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/aUgYR0jDsCO

Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to distribute the wall texture as it's licensed for "personal use only" but I'd be happy to provide a short tutorial if anyone is interested.

[njee20]

If you made it surely it’s up to you if you distribute it…? Looks very good!

[Stubby47]

Assuming each panel of the wall is identical to the next, is it possible to print a reverse image that can be used as a mould/press for plaster? This would be cheaper than 3D printing each section, but would give the same overall appearance.

[Neil P]

4 hours ago, njee20 said:

If you made it surely it’s up to you if you distribute it…? Looks very good!

I made the wall model and UV mapped a stone texture onto it, so I can’t distribute the model with the texture, and without it, there’s not much point!

[Neil P]

4 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Assuming each panel of the wall is identical to the next, is it possible to print a reverse image that can be used as a mould/press for plaster? This would be cheaper than 3D printing each section, but would give the same overall appearance.

Yes. That would be very easy. (In my case, I’ve made each section different as they are different heights so it wouldn’t work). 
 

There is also a hidden siding behind the wall, so the plastic has the advantage of being robust if I need to remove it on occasions. 

[racerbill27]

Hi...I'm very new to this field.  I appreciate your retaining wall project as it is exactly what I am looking for.  I wonder if you could send a tutorial on creating the stone texture?  

Thanks...Bill   racerbill27 at gmail.com

[Neil P]

On 04/12/2021 at 17:23, racerbill27 said:

Hi...I'm very new to this field.  I appreciate your retaining wall project as it is exactly what I am looking for.  I wonder if you could send a tutorial on creating the stone texture?  

Thanks...Bill   racerbill27 at gmail.com

 

Sorry - only just spotted your reply. Did you want me to post a short tutorial or have you managed to work it out another way?

[JCL]

Hi Neil, was off the site most of last year. Those retaining walls look great! You say you printed it using an FDM printer, can you give us an up-close photo of them and let me know how you oriented them on your printer - and any other tips you might have. I bought an Ender 3v2 last year, and I've been getting to know it's capabilities. I'm doing pretty well printing rolling stock on it, but haven't tried any buildings yet.

[Neil P]

8 hours ago, JCL said:

Hi Neil, was off the site most of last year. Those retaining walls look great! You say you printed it using an FDM printer, can you give us an up-close photo of them and let me know how you oriented them on your printer - and any other tips you might have. I bought an Ender 3v2 last year, and I've been getting to know it's capabilities. I'm doing pretty well printing rolling stock on it, but haven't tried any buildings yet.

Thanks, JCL. It was your excellent tutorials that got me started on these. The brick walls were done in Tinkercad, but the stone ones in Blender after watching your tutorials.

I oriented the stone walls so they were standing upright while printing - i.e. the orientation they'd be in when being used -  with quite a large raft to keep them still. The photos are already about as close up as I can focus on them. The stones are around 5mm high. I sprayed a coat of Hycote filler primer on them to help smooth them a bit. Once painted and weathered, you can just about see some horizontal banding on close-up photos, but they look perfect to the naked eye.

The brick walls are less successful. I printed them lying flat on their backs (bricks facing upwards), and I think they might be better printed standing up like the stone ones to maximise resolution. To make that work, though, I think I'd need to double the mortar gap between brick courses but leave the gap between adjacent bricks the same. At the moment, the bricks are approximately 1m x 3mm with a 0.2mm gap all round. I'll post a close-up photo later.

I haven't started on the tunnel portals and viaduct yet due to lack of time, but I hope to do so in the next week or so.

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Neil P

[JCL]

Cheers Neil, and no worries about the photo! Once I've got a couple of things out the way, I might do some experimenting. I'm enjoying the Ender pretty much because I don't need to run a chemistry lab, which is how it feels when the Mono X is out!

[PaulaDoesTrains]

Something worth experimenting with, which should work on any FDM printer, is Adaptive Layers (sometimes called Dynamic Layers). It can help reduce the "step" you get on slopes without having to use a very small layer height on the entire print.

[Neil P]

Started work on the viaduct. This is the first section of 6 in primer. It was an 18 hour print, so not a quick job!
 

The joins between each section will be covered by separately printed stonework strips which are proud of the rest of the brickwork.  I have seen something similar on various real-world examples. 
 

I will also print some separate pieces at the top with low walls to contain the track. 
 

I’m finding mapping the stone textures onto more complex shapes a bit of a challenge, and can cause Blender to slow down and crash. 
 

 

[Andrew Dobie]

I've toyed with the idea of buying a 3D printer many times over the years, this is quite inspirational stuff!

[Neil P]

Finally got round to finishing the viaduct (5 arches) and painting it. I added a few small details that I’d forgotten during the design process using Plastikard. 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Neil P