Garelochhead

[Chris Veitch]

Machines is the obvious thing, with Templot we are getting great results from both the Neptune 4 series and The Bambu A1 & A1mini

Secondly its the filament with both Sunlu PLA+ and Bambu Labs PLA basic coming out top

It would be interesting to hear a bit more about your experiences with various FDM machines. I currently have an ancient resin printer and I'm looking at whether or not a small and fairly inexpensive FDM would be a worthwhile addition for functional prints (e.g. servo mounts, TOUs, etc. - stuff that requires strength as opposed to detail).

 

[Hayfield1]

It would be interesting to hear a bit more about your experiences with various FDM machines. I currently have an ancient resin printer and I'm looking at whether or not a small and fairly inexpensive FDM would be a worthwhile addition for functional prints (e.g. servo mounts, TOUs, etc. - stuff that requires strength as opposed to detail).

Chris

Advances in both machines and filament in my opinion are making resin printers less and less attractive, In fact the main drawback is the print speed, but as the machine chatters on its own in the background, its not an issue

I use a Neptune 4, Bambu Labs A1 and A1 mini are really the next generation , but both the Neptune 4 and Bambu Labs Mini are inexpensive and just forget the time it takes to clean resin prints, the potential mess and smell of the printing process and the fact that PLA resin is more brittle than PLA filament

In 7mm scale I can print track bases with chairs, something not really doable in resin printing, I can also print a set of chairs direct to the build plate, in 4mm this is also achievable using a 0.2mm nozzle, though this is still a bit experimental

Have a look on the Templot Club website

John

 

[Chris Veitch]

Advances in both machines and filament in my opinion are making resin printers less and less attractive, In fact the main drawback is the print speed, but as the machine chatters on its own in the background, its not an issue

I use a Neptune 4, Bambu Labs A1 and A1 mini are really the next generation , but both the Neptune 4 and Bambu Labs Mini are inexpensive and just forget the time it takes to clean resin prints, the potential mess and smell of the printing process and the fact that PLA resin is more brittle than PLA filament

Thanks for that, John - yes, it does seem that the gap is narrowing particularly with the advent of Templot plug track which I’ve looked at briefly. I don’t print a great deal and probably 50% of what I do print is functional rather than “scale”, so an FDM printer is really looking attractive given that my main gripes are:

• The mess and smell of resin and the cleaning process;
• A work room that’s poorly insulated and hence prone to problems with low temperatures for a large part of the year;
• My near-neurosis regarding the long term heath risks of resin as I think I’ve voiced elsewhere on the forum. I’m aware that similar but different risks exist for filament but I’m fairly certain these can be mitigated by printing in the garage and using a respirator, and it had the advantage of not having skin contact/dermatitis issues.

Having a quick look at the Neptune 4 and A1 makes it quite difficult to make a decision as the prices and capabilities seem so similar, but I guess a lot is down to personal choice.

 

[Hayfield1]

Thanks for that, John - yes, it does seem that the gap is narrowing particularly with the advent of Templot plug track which I’ve looked at briefly. I don’t print a great deal and probably 50% of what I do print is functional rather than “scale”, so an FDM printer is really looking attractive given that my main gripes are:

• The mess and smell of resin and the cleaning process;
• A work room that’s poorly insulated and hence prone to problems with low temperatures for a large part of the year;
• My near-neurosis regarding the long term heath risks of resin as I think I’ve voiced elsewhere on the forum. I’m aware that similar but different risks exist for filament but I’m fairly certain these can be mitigated by printing in the garage and using a respirator, and it had the advantage of not having skin contact/dermatitis issues.

Having a quick look at the Neptune 4 and A1 makes it quite difficult to make a decision as the prices and capabilities seem so similar, but I guess a lot is down to personal choice.

If you model in 4mm scale then The Bambu A1 mini will be the best option, If I had to choose now the Bambu has newer technology re auto print height monitoring etc, plus the ability easily to switch to a 0.2mm nozzle from a 0.4

As I am printing in 7mm scale the 0.4 nozzles are fine, at this moment if I do change I will go for either the same or larger print bed, whether it being a Bambu Lab A1 or something else, I won't know until I am ready to change

My resin printer will be packed away, as will my Kingroon, but at least I can reinstate the Kingroon quicker if I ever need 2 printers running at the same time

But its not just the printer you use, we are getting better quality prints from Sunlu PLA+ and Bambu Labs PLA basic filaments

I understand at the moment you are only printing items for functional rather than detail in mind, but that's the past, you may need detailed iteme in the future

John

 

[Chris Veitch]

If you model in 4mm scale then The Bambu A1 mini will be the best option, If I had to choose now the Bambu has newer technology re auto print height monitoring etc, plus the ability easily to switch to a 0.2mm nozzle from a 0.4

As I am printing in 7mm scale the 0.4 nozzles are fine, at this moment if I do change I will go for either the same or larger print bed, whether it being a Bambu Lab A1 or something else, I won't know until I am ready to change

My resin printer will be packed away, as will my Kingroon, but at least I can reinstate the Kingroon quicker if I ever need 2 printers running at the same time

But its not just the printer you use, we are getting better quality prints from Sunlu PLA+ and Bambu Labs PLA basic filaments

I understand at the moment you are only printing items for functional rather than detail in mind, but that's the past, you may need detailed iteme in the future

John

Thanks again John, that’s very useful. Having no experience with FDM I’d sort of (naively) assumed that any old filament will do.

It’s somewhat of a digression, but I came across this superb article on engineering design for FDM 3D printing by a German author yesterday courtesy of the FreeCAD daily news and blog mailing. It’s comprehensive, engaging and informative, and very well written in contrast to a large proportion of “maker” material out there. I’m sure there’s a lot of similar stuff out there but it’s best explanation I’ve seen of how best to produce 3D printed products that actually work.

 

[Hayfield1]

Chris

Can I also add keeping your filament in top order is also beneficial to quality printing. If filament is left out in the open it absorbs moisture, which seems to increase stringing and reduce the quality of printing.

Despite the past few months being very dry in my area and my workroom being in the main house and centrally heated. I have had a new reel on my machine for a couple of weeks. This morning I put the reel into a filament dryer for half an hour and stringing is non existent.

Good house keeping as far as both the printer (checking both the level and height) and keeping the filament good order matters

 

[Cransford]

A little more progress, although it is awfully slow it seems!

Having ploughed a furrow with laying plain line, I needed to get some experience of my first turnout as it lies within the platform. Sadly all was not well, but the pain was self inflicted. At the time I thought 'hey if I weather the track first I won't need to go back over it'. How wrong one can be! First attempt finished up with an alignment similar to a dog's hind leg! So, lesson learnt, whilst I've been able to use weathered timbers I've needed to replace all chairs and rails with nice clean shiny ones! Salutory lesson, make sure you don't pre-paint anything for track!

Having now got track laid through the platform area, I'll now be able to position and fix (temporarily for now) the platform). But, before that I need to install the subway, so down line now breached pending works! Hopefully this will be during the coming week.

A quick picture showing platform roughly right and on extreme left of frame infill panel fixed and cut to accept subway'


Hopefully, there will be a better update shortly!

Paul

 

[Phil O]

Paul,

When I first started turnout building, the 1st one was only fit for the bin, the next couple were OK for the fiddleyard, further ones were used for sidings at the rear, as my expertise at building improved with practice.

 

[Cransford]

So, a little more progress. As always the desire to achieve one thing requires the completion of some other bits and this has been the case with the station subway. In order to place the platform and fix I needed to understand the exact position of the subway so it was a case of maor excavations before installation.

Oh, and we now have a name! I'm fairly sure there was a station name board in this position but unsure whether it would have been in brown/white. As it's not going to be readily visible I'm not overly worried.

Subway has been an FDM print, which went really well and has been painted with a dirty concrete texture paint I picked up at Ally Pally. 'Flooring' is a textured tarmac paint. It'll really need weathering but may not be out of place in the long run so I'll wait for a while. I was also pleased with how the staircase handrails have turned out. I FDM printed a simple template to bend correctly and allowed largee holes to permit use of soldering iron on the brass rod used. Interestingly FDM material didn't suffer with my unwieldy soldering technique! I've resin printed and painted the hand rail supports to go round the top but these will be fitted way down the line to avoid damage (I might try to dry assemble for a picture soon).

So, there's now a chance to locate the platform next - along with a few hundred individual copings!

Cheers, Paul

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

'Flooring' is a textured tarmac paint. It'll really need weathering but may not be out of place in the long run so I'll wait for a while.

The best thing I found with tarmac is to look at the nearest road/pavement as tarmac only appears 'black' when either just laid or when wet, otherwise it is a grey colour. It'll all depend upon the weather conditions you decide to model.