Model Railroading > 3D Printer (Part 2) – The Price of Admission

This is Part 2 of a series on my recent experience with an AnyCubic “Photon S” 3D printer.  (Part 1  was posted earlier.)
 
A 3D Printer is not like getting a microwave oven.  You don’t just open the door, put stuff inside, push the button, wait a few minutes, and enjoy what comes out.  There is a learning curve.  There are new concepts, new hardware, and new software to understand before even getting to fire-up the printer. 
 
Which 3D printer do I buy?
There are a bunch out there.  Read some reviews.  Do some research.  YouTube has some great reviews.
 
What can I print?
The dimensions for the part need to be in a file with an STL extension, which is very portable between 3D-based software.  (It is like ASCII for text files.  Just about any word processor software can read or generate an ASCII file.)  The STL file can be one that you get from the internet (free or for a fee), or one that you generate.  Put the STL file into the Slicer software, slice it, and export it as PWS, which is a proprietary format for Photon S printers; and the only one it will print.
 
What is Slicer software?
The STL file has the geometry for your part, but the printer can’t understand it.  The Slicer software will translate this file by “slicing” it into layers, which the 3D printer will use to build the part.  For the Photon S, the only Slicer software that can generate a PWS file is their Photon Workshop (free) software.  There is other Slicer software available, but (as of now) they don’t generate a PWS file, so they are not compatible with the Photon S printer.  If you want to print parts on the Photon S, their Photon Workshop slicer software is the only option.
 
How can I print parts of my own design?
You need to know how to create 3D parts in some kind of CAD software that generates an STL file.  Some examples are Sketch-Up or Fusion 360.  The learning curve for this CAD software is the most intimidating of all of the software to learn (to me anyway) involved with 3D printing.  CAD software is not something you just fire-up and can figure-out quickly.  Choose one that has good tutorials, good support, and will be around a long time.  If you know someone that already uses the software, and is willing to mentor you, that is the one to choose.  (If that person is a model railroader, and is willing to generate the STL files for you, so much the better.)  Until you learn CAD software that can generate an STL file, you are limited to print only STL files that others have created.  There are several sites on the Internet that offer the STL files of parts to print, but unless you are into trolls carrying an axe, there isn’t much from which to choose.
 
Get a free copy of the CAD software and start to learn it.  Create parts with it.  Out-source the printing of the parts to a vendor (such as ShapeWays), if you wish to delay the cost of a 3D printer purchase.  A 3D printer can be purchased later.  In the mean while you will be gaining the knowledge to create your own parts, with minimal outlay.  Eventually paying $50+ to have each part printed will justify a 3D printer purchase.
 
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/20 07:33 by tmotor.

Observations.   I saw a part made from a filament printer back in december that is making me take a relook.  None of those layering lines appeared.  Excellent print quality. Which surprised me. That tech has greatly improved recently.  The gave me the name of the printer.  Like you, i have been watching the 3D market. With a list on shapeways that  could easily justify  2000 dollar printer.  And that isnjust first prints to make sure the designer did thier homework. (Which,by the way for those not in the know, shapeways does print in brass and carbon now.).   My only issue is the small print area on printers like anycubic.  An HO 40' car at best size wise.    For a modeler on a tight budget,  it is worth the investment of time to look into them and get one.  Or just learn the cad and outsource printing to shapeways or other.  If you did a good job, you could make the design sellable so others could purchase the printed part and you get some layout funding.

The printer itself is really the easy part of the process.   There are some great reviews online, as well as some good support groups on Facebook.   One thing is there is A LOT of over-engineering and snake oil techniques that pop up from people that buy them that have zero modeling or mechanical sense or experience. 

I initially learned using SketchUp and made a bunch of parts for various projects.   I started to sell through Shapeways, which was great – except Shapeways kept increasing their prices, taking bigger cuts, and the quality was dropping.   For most of us we are getting materials called Frosted Ultra or Frosted Extreme, which is a multijet printer, and uses support wax with the layers.  Now, it can make a nice piece, but where that wax hits, is a very rough surface, and can be a pain to clean up.   Personally, seeing a model with layers, ruins it for me.  I really don’t know how some guys can praise models, when it looks like a block of carved soap.  Almost as bad as filament printed models – which for me, have no place in modeling. 
 
With the new UV cured resin printers coming online, and being really affordable, I picked up a Photon.   I converted my Sketchup files into my own .stl’s, and away we went.   The program most people use as a slicer is called ChiTuBox.   You use this to orient, as well as add supports.    Unlike the Shapeways stuff, these use a fixed support, that have a zillion settings.   THIS, is the hardest part, as is learning orientation and supports.   The printer itself only has a handful of settings, which re based upon which resin you use.   I have been able to print down to .010” thick! 

After a few months my Photon took a dump, and nothing I could do would bring it back from the dead.   I simply replaced it with an Elegoo Mars, which I like SO much better.  It has been running flawlessly from day one.  No releveling issues every other print, the cover is much easier to work with, its quiet.   Very happy.   I have had ZERO print failures outside of my own model issues since I went to a Mars.

A friend of mine convinced me to start using Fusion 360.  It is a very powerful program, and it has a very steep learning curve.  I cant imagine jumping into that with no previous CAD experience at all (which I had none – I taught myself Sketchup, which is very basic compared to this).    But, there are some very, very good videos to walk you through just about everything.  

The other thing is post printing – The models need to be cleaned, which you use a staged system with typically 99% alcohol, and then after you remove them from the “sprue” you post cure them using a UV light. 

It really is great when you can make your own parts for projects, and then…Sell them!  While I do not think 3D tech is there for mass produced items, it is going to fill a major hole for specific details and smaller items, and runs of things like cabooses and such.   The technology is jumping rapidly, so who knows where we will be in a few years.  

https://gothamrailmarine.com/3d-printed-parts/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/20 10:23 by sixaxlecentury.

So where is the remaining piece of the puzzle:  The 3D scanner, in which you put your handmade etc master on the rotating turntable, that creates the files necessary for the 3D printer to make the resin / plastic copies -- or replicas, since ideally the operator should be able to adjust the scale within reason [ to make a 1/87 part from a 1/45 sample, and vice versa ] ?  Do they exist in economical [ by model rr standards ] form ?  Obviously in a further generation this unit and the 3D printer would be an "all-in-one", as some 2D units are now.........

SZ

sixaxlecentury Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The program
> most people use as a slicer is called
> ChiTuBox.  

That does seem to be the industry standard, and is open-source, so it is not proprietary.  It is also has more features than the Photon Workshop slicer.

> I have been
> able to print down to .010” thick! 

Impressive!

> After a few months my Photon took a dump, and
> nothing I could do would bring it back from the
> dead.   I simply replaced it with an Elegoo
> Mars, which I like SO much better.  It has been
> running flawlessly from day one.  No releveling
> issues every other print, the cover is much easier
> to work with, its quiet.   Very happy.   I
> have had ZERO print failures outside of my own
> model issues since I went to a Mars.

Anyone with a Mars printer seems to like it.  If my Photon S takes a dive, I will most likely replace it with a Mars.

> https://gothamrailmarine.com/3d-printed-parts/

Very nice parts!  Professional packaging too.

I use a 3D scanner at work to scan 1:1 and compare to a 1:1 CAD model. You can make a model from 3D scan data, but I have a feeling there is a lot of hand work involved in correctly meshing the points into something useful. More useful for diagrammatic type of work like piping layouts where the precision required is a different level. From my semi limited experience, it may be less work to just use a scan for measurement data and draw the model from scratch.

You can buy a pretty nice new car or SUV for the price of 3D scanner. Renting one for a day will set you back a few nicely detailed DCC engines.

Jeff Eggert