OO one next Design done in 123D Design Sliced and converted in to an x3g file in makerware and now printing, hopefully in half an hour and I'll have one for testing Paul
Is the material subject to much expansion and contraction with temperature changes Paul? Reason I ask is that most of the commercially available ones I've seen advertised (and the one I've bought) appear to be brass. Ed
Hi ed The filament I have used for these prints was PLA - from the wiki page Polylactic acid (PLA) is a bio-degradable polymer that can be produced from lactic acid, which can be fermented from crops such as maize. This makes it an ideal candidate for use in certain energy rich, cash poor areas of the world. PLA is harder than ABS, melts at a lower temperature (around 180°C to 220°C), and has a glass transition temperature between 60-65 °C, so is potentially a very useful material. It appears moisture may be something I may need to check in the future, but no details on thermal co-efficients, as the O gauge version has 25% infill and the OO version 15% infill, the inside is approx 80% air. version 1 just off the printer measures 14.2 to 14.3 mm for 14.5, worryingly its a perfect fit for my Hornby wheels, but the 4mm slot doesn't clear the center bosses on the wheel, back to the drawing board Paul
Everything Hornby I have has been 14.3mm when I've checked it, for whatever reason. Runs OK through pointwork so I've avoided changing them and my digital micrometer is only (allegedly) accurate to 0.1mm anyway. The 14.5mm brass B2B gauge I have is definitely wider and won't go between the wheels Ed
Hi ed Version two finished - measuring 14.46 to 14.50, when pushed over the Hornby axel, very tight at first, but by the time the gauge hit the axel it felt good. Big and little brother Paul
Paul we are at the beginning of a new age of production and your gauge shows that quite clearly. When these 3D printers and laser cutters advance a bit more and become main stream and quite cheap, there will be a revolution in home made production by artistic new entrepreneurs. Design your own car and print it out at home.........preferably in the garage....don`t want to ruin the carpet in doors..... http://www.clickGormo
Hi Gormo I think the Laser cutters and home CnC machines are probably ready, but price (especially the CnC) and safety issues (my son has his doctorate in lasers, but wont build or countenance me doing it), if the laser is in a sealed box then it is a Class 1 laser and reasonably safe (fume extraction aside), however if there is an opening to allow the material to pass through then its immediately a class 4, and fume extraction even more important, and replacing a cutting head for a laser head was described as ing dangerous, the laser only has to touch a reflective surface and anyone's eye in the resultant path is blinded instantly. 3d printing for general purpose items is almost there, and you can even build your own http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap for fine detail, though the newer SLA process (UV curing of a resin in a bath) offers great hope, unfortunately currently between £1000 and £4000, but makers have been having good results using mobile phone screens to act as the light source, so a price crash may happen soon. But you're right Gormo I think we are close to these devices becoming mainstream, imagine a part fails you go to the manufacturers web site download the part file and print it, even online traders couldn't supply it that fast. Paul
Further devlopments with the OO gauge B2B gauge setting For commercial wheels use 14.4mm http://www.doubleogauge.com/standards/commercialwheels.htm DCC Concepts B2B gauge is 14.5mm Finescale track and wheels use 18.8 http://www.doubleogauge.com/standards/finescalewheels.htm C&L B2B gauge is 14.8mm Generally summing up lots of threads on forums etc ..... Peco Track both code 75 & 100 are considered coarse scale so use the 14.4 or 14.5 B2B setting. Paul
Finally chipped a 7mm loco The victim - an Ixion Fowler 0-4-0 deisel mechanical shunter. The body comes off with 4 screws and reveals I was intending to fit a LaisDCC 8 pin decoder with stay alive, but room is very limited and there was no room for the stay alive, and the decoder would probably end up being glued to the motor. Toto had said he had removed the plastic assembly. However on closer inspection, that square block of plastic on the right hand side of the picture covers an SMD LED, for the front lamp. Raking through my decoder box (see there not all lying all over the place) I found a Hattons direct mount 8 pin decoder. Seconds later the loco is on the traverser, and very smooth it is too. And the head light works Simples Paul
Personally I thinks its a little over size - approx 43 times Note to self - if a loco sits on the bench waiting for work - dust it before taking a photo Paul
I thought you may have been building a cement works layout.... Nice little loco and I'm guessing there was plenty of room for the decoder.... Cheers, Gary.
Gary wrote: Paul I found the Photo you wanted for the weathering You can let Kim and Gary know that it's a work in progress and if you leave it in the work shop for another year it will be half done Attached files
Great picture Chris, have seen this a few times. Paul I reckon you could replicate this by emptying a full vacuum cleaner bag over it....it will probably never work again, but hey it will look prototypical
I must say I've never seen a loco before with a 'Tyrolean' finish!!! (For those in the 'Southern Hemisphere', Tyrolean is a wet cement wall finish applied from a hand turned machine!) Keith.
Well the time has come, the 4F has finally got chipped And possibly one of the easiest I've ever done. The body comes off with two screws, carefull of the ballast weight, its not fixed in and is **** heavy. Nice easy access to the pickups and motor feeds I decided to use a Lais decoder with stay-alive (mainly because I didn't have anything else, and as the urge was upon me I thought *** it, just do it). First up the stay-alive was connected to the chip. Then the 8 pin plug cut off. Looking from the cab end towards the front, the right hand pick up wire was traced back to the motor and the wire removed with a soldering iron. The red wire is soldered to the pick up, and the orange wire to the motor. The other wire is then removed, and the black wire soldered to the pick up and the grey to the motor. The remaining wires were coiled up and attached to the decoder with insulation tape. And tucked away into the chassis recesses. Another piece of insulation tape over pick up contacts, then the ballast weight placed back on followed by the body. And it runs - needs a fair bit of tweaking, but that may wait, as I think I will order one of the replacement motors, and fit pick ups to the tender. Paul
You make it look so easy Dundee Paul... I didn't even know what a decoder was until I joined this forum and chips to me were something you eat after a pub session on a Friday night.
Don't know if this helps but this is how I did two of my three Lima 4F's tenders. Proved reliable enough to shunt outdoors so I never livened up the centre pair of wheels. The third one is BPRC to enable running on both my DCC layout and a city 3-rail one. cheers Bob