Highland Railway Drummond 0-4-4T Passenger Tank

Hi Andy

My exposure for 0.05 is 2.4s for normal layers and 40s for bottom layers, so I dropped it to 1.8s and 30s respectively.

Only the center ones stuck to the FEP this time, so I have increased the bottom layer time back to 40s.



The detail on the completed prints was good. I will post picks up later.

The new test print has all the Vacuum pies, Sandboxes and whistle.



2h28m to go

Dog walking time

Paul

 

Yippeeeeee !!! it worked

Vacuum pipes

Sandboxs and whistle

Back to masking the main body, then spray with Railmatch SR Dark Olive Green for a Drummond II period (1905 - 12) as built condition.

Paul

 

Hi Andy

Pick some small detailed parts to try first, especially if you already have some printed at 0.05 layer height to compare it to. Small parts = quick print time, and a less expensive fail cost.

The reason for 0.025 rather than 0.02, is the Anycubic Mono X pixel size is 0.05, so if yo print at 45 degrees to minimise stepping the 0.025 layer height is a direct divisable of 0.05, whereas 0.02 is not and give rise to the stepping effect. As a side note the Original Photon has a pixel size of 0.047, so I should really do some sxperiments with a modified layer height of 0.047 and see if there is an improvement in layer definition.

Paul

 

I think I need another coat or two of gloss ...... but here goes

Both periods

Lefthand loco the Drummond II 1905 t0 1912 period - Dark Olive Green (using Railmatch SR Dark olive green) , and the Righthand loco the Cumming 1915 to 1922 - Dark Moss Green (using Tamiya X26 Deep Green).

Drummond II

Cumming

I have several sheets of old HR transfers (approx 25 to 30 years old) that I will try out.

Paul

 

Cheers Rob.

I'll see how I get on, just have to decide which loco's to number them as - oh the stress , at least there were only 4 built, and I have two of them so far

Paul

 

Hi Andy

Been there many times

I've found most of my failures have been down to a) bed leveling, b) base layer exposure times and c) support settings either thickness or quantity. There have been other reasons but these are the most frequent.

I'm trying a roof print @ 0.025 layer height, sliced using the Lychee slicer, with anti-aliasing enabled, I'll post pictures etc once completed.

Paul

 

Now I'm really impressed

Not sure if the photo's will show up how good the 0.025 layer height is over the 0.05 layer height.

The black roof was printed at 0.05mm layer height, and has been sanded, and has had a filler primer and two coats of black paint.

The Grey roof was printed at 0.025mm layer height, and has been taken from the printer, washed and cured, no sanding or any fillers applied.

My print times are now set to double

Paul

 

Yippeeeeeeeee ..........

This is the Drummond II period loco - number 45

and it works

Body not secured to chassis just yet as I may have an issue with the plugs fouling the bulk head, not a real issue as once run in the decoder will be hard wired in.
I also need to add weight - smokebox, tank sides and bunker below the coal.

Brake gear to be fettled, and the wheel centers painted.

I'm applying transfers to the other body - Cummings Period, and will be number 46, I avoided the other two loco's as they were named up until approx 1920.

Paul

 

Thanks Mark

With two bodies, I now have a second chassis to build, fortunately I will only have to order a set of Roxey 40:1 gears, as I have a second set of wheels, and can print the rest. I also have a spare printed chassis, but now is the time to evaluate the chassis and make any changes, including maybe printing with a 0.025 layer height.

This has been a great project and a rather steep learning curve, this is my first 3D loco build project, I have made up a few items before, but mainly modified other people projects. Plus due to lockdown and a difficulty in obtaining some parts I decided to make as much as possible from 3D printed parts, resulting in only, wheels, motor, plunger pickups, final worm wheel drive gears, sprung buffers and the smokebox door handles being bought in, the rest was hand made by a 3D printer.

My next 3D loco build will be a HR Barney 0-6-0, but I think I need to build some rolling stock first, and also complete some of my already started kits.

And I suppose I need a small test track to run it on - sorry test it on - sorry dear in case you are reading this, it was just a typo honest

Paul

 

Hi Andy

I tend to make the holes the correct size on the model, then broach / drill and ream out to the correct size.
Now this may be due to my cure times being too long, and some playing / refining of settings maybe required - probably for each resin and layer height.
I have found that any hole less than 0.35 radius tends to be filled in, 0.4 radius has a hole.
External radii seem ok it just appears to be holes, so I have been building up a collection of reamers - so far imperial 1/8, 3/16, 3/8, metric 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 & 12 (the 3 - 12mm reamers were a cheapo set from ebay), plus a few tapered reamers.

Vinylelpea, Pete & Mossy (Andy is already a convert, way beyond my abilities)

Thanks guy's for the kind comments and compliments, this has been an interesting project and a great learning curve, it's not that difficult - do I hear "easy for me to say", before this project my models were at a very basic level. And to be honest, so is most of the bits used to make this loco. But having a project to work on made the learning process more focussed, and gave many small successes to keep the momentum flowing.
3D printing is definatley a very useful tool in the box, and will only get better / easier, but like machining, welding etc, etc takes time to hone your skills - not even I would let me loose with a welder, especially and arc welder.

As for cost, the initial outlay is not for the faint hearted, but it is now starting to earn it's keep, I'm not selling models, but if I work on the basis that even for this loco, a kit would cost between £150 & £300 for a small tank loco (not including wheels and motor), as I now have two of these loco's and use maybe a litre bottle of resin developing this loco, so if we allow a litre of resin then each loco has cost me approx £40 in materials, so roughly between a £100 to £250 saving per loco - at least that's what I tell SWMBO. For a wagon the saving isn't as great, but I reckon a ball park figure of £10 for wheels, and maybe £5 for resin, and allow £5 for any extras, so approx £20, about half price (I am basing my figures on O gauge).

As for buildings just look at Andy's beautiful models to see the potential.

Suppose I need to get back to some work to finish off these loco's

Paul