FDM PLA 3D printing - with a model making inclination

[Dave Ward]

After the Merchant Navy, eventually I ended up at Lister-Petter, in South Gloucestershire. This was an odd factory in that it was about 2 miles long, but nowhere more than 200yds wide,sitting in the bottom of a valley. Moving stuff around was a major problem - but it was solved by using something called a Lister Auto-Truck

This consisted of a twin cylinder diesel mounted in a ring, which swivelled the whole engine around for steering, with a single driven wheel underneath.

Even a passenger version - Not at Listers, I couldn't find a picture!
These were made from the 30s to the 70s in large numbers including versions that ran on narrow gauge rails, had hydraulic lift platforms, used as tractors, in the military, railways & generally light transport. They'd been out of production for about ten years, when I went to work at L-P, and they were still in use, but gradually dying of old age and overwork, being replaced by fork lifts! The Auto-Truck had become non street legal, which was why production stopped. There are still a lot around, maintaied by enthusiasts
The first time I saw these odd little machines was as a kid, on holiday. Quite a few seaside resorts used these on their promenades to move stacks of deckchairs etc. I can remember them at Bournemouth and Bridlington!
Dave

[Tim Marlow]

Nice picture Dave. The rail versions were similar to the WW1 simplexes I believe.

[Dave Ward]

I've been revisiting some of my earlier models, to see if different settinfs, especially in the model supports can make a difference. In some it has, others not. It has allowed me to retry a model, which I never managed to complete. due to varoius problems.
This is the Dingyuan - a Chinese 1881 Ironclad battlwship

Apart from the two masts, it's one single print - I have lost two pairs of fragile boat davits, but easily replaced.
This is blown up to 1/350 from a 1/700 free file from Thingiverse. It took about 10 hours to print. One major thing I've taken to heart is that printing at slow speed works best. I've no doubt that later printers can do this in probably half the time, but I set this running overnight, so time isn't a factor. There are details missing, the designer has separate generic files for the ships' boats - they apply to others of the models this guy produces. I've printed some of them before, but there's one I want to have a go at - although the hull will have to be printed in two pieces, as it's too long for the build plate in 1/350
Dave

[Dave Ward]

In 1/350, the French Armoured Cruiser ' Gueydon' of 1903

The hull was printed in 2 pieces, the funnels, turrets & bridge being separate parts, The boats & davits have yet to be added. The only casualty was the spotting top on the bridge - it broke off on clean up & the carpet monster got it. I'll print up a replacement.............
This is a 1/700 print of French Battleship 'Charles Martel' of 1897

Single piece print - blown up, the model is about 20mm to big to print in 1/350 on my build plate. I've split it in two - but I think the detail may be a bit too heavy in the larger scale, we will see.
These are all printred using the organic ( tree ) support function in PrusaSlcer 2.6.1 & using my standard Geeetech PLA filament in silver
Dave

[Dave Ward]

It's very easy to make mistakes - I'd split a model in two to fit it on the build plate, sliced them & then printed............................ first one was OK, took about 7 hours to print - I decided to print the other part overnight. As is usual, I watch the first few layers be printed, to make sure it sticks & the filament is running smoothly. before turning in. Next morning, print is finished, but looks odd! I try the two halves together.........................one is bigger than the other! A scratch of the head & a few curses! After a brief ponder I realised that I'd fouled up my carefully calculated scaling factor - I'd even written it down! For one I'd used 87% ( correct ), but for the other 78% ( NOT correct ) - all too easy to dyslex the numbers......................
Another model too big to print in 1/350 is the Charles Martel ( previous post ), so the model was split & the larger parrt printed overnight - this took 13 hours - this is the result, stiill on the build plate

This is using the organic ( tree ) supports - it looks a complete mess, but a carefull clean up with sprue cutter, pliers & dental probes will reveal the model beneath. This is the aft part - the front part will follow!
You have to decide where to split the model, the obvious place would be in the middle, but this would coincide with the side turrets & give a really nasty joint line, so I moved it forward to a cleaner area, so now its not two halves, but a third, and two thirds..
Hopefully tomorrow, I'll have the two bits prepared, and the Charles Martel will be revealed in all its' ugliness!
Dave

[Dave Ward]

A modification that I made to my printer was to replace the build plate with a PEI spring steel plate. This improves the.print sticking to the bed & aids removing a finished print. There are two sorts, those that are magnetic & those that are held on by clips. The magenitic plates are over twice the price over the clip sort. Naturally I went for the cheaper! It has a disadvantage, I find - unless you place the clips carefully, there is a possibliity that the nozzle can come into contact with them. This happened on my print of the Charles Martel. it resulted in a slight chip, or nick in the nozzle, so that the filament came out an angle, not at 90 degrees. I watched the first level go down & stick to the plate - it seemed to be OK, so I left it. Next morning, it had finished, but looked terrible, the layers didn't stick together properly - it felt like a sponge!
It tool quite a while to figure this out, but a new nozzle was the solution. I managed this for the first time without burning my fingers. After a nozzle change, the bed has to be re-levelled -not a problem, just takes time. The printer is now happilly cuckling to itself.
The nozzles are brass, and they do wear out, they are cheap, and can be considered a consumable, I do have a small box of spares, like nozzles, drive belts, fans - all simple replacement parts. I get them from China, where they are all made, it can take a couple of weeks to get them, hence my spares. You can get them a lot faster in the UK, but they are still the same Chinese made parts at a substantial premium!
Dave

[Dave Ward]

The aft part of the Charles Martel cleaned up nicely................

.........but revealed a problem. .stl files are a large mesh of triangles - the larger the number of triangles, the better the definition, but the larger the file. if you have too many triangles, the slicer programme won't work. The Charles Martel was designed in 1/700, when I blow it up to 1/350, the size increases, but the number of triangles stays the same. The surface definition is the same as at 1/700. When you look carefully at a round obfect ( like the turret ), it's actually a polyhedron, with facets
Nothing you can do about this - printing at it's original scale is fine, but there is a limit on how far you can blow things up. Angular objects, no problem. Curves are the limiting factor.
Front part of the Martel, with supports still attached - they cleaned up nicely
Dry assembly of the two parts, the jointiiing faces need to be sanded smooth

This battleship was completed just 3 years before HMS Dreadnought made it & all its sisters obsolete............
Disappointed with the final result - things don't always turn out the way you thought!
Dave

[Gary MacKenzie]

Dave , this may be of interest to you

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BT9HNN71

[HEADING=2]Black Friday Deals : eSUN PLA Filament 1.75mm, 3D Printer Filament (7 colours available) [/HEADING]

[Jim R]

This is using the organic ( tree ) supports - it looks a complete mess,

I looked at the photo before reading this. It really looks weird. Cleaned up it looks good though.

[Dave Ward]

Dave , this may be of interest to you

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BT9HNN71

[HEADING=2]Black Friday Deals : eSUN PLA Filament 1.75mm, 3D Printer Filament (7 colours available)[/HEADING]

I'm not a Amazon Prime member, so the price would be £17.99 + p&p - I get my Geeetech filament from an Ebay shop at £12.99 delivered, although my favourite silver filament seems to have vanished - I'm now going to use black. I'm using the same brand, hoping that this reduces any tweaks I may have to make, with the change
Dave

[David Lovell]

All good stuff thanks for sharing all your highs and lows ,please keep it coming. Dave

[Dave Ward]

I can still print, but painting with only my left hand isn't that succesfull!
This is a PACV, blown up to 1/72 from 1/100


No interior, solid windows - It needs more careful painting - which I can't do with my left hand! The upcoming 1/35 model from Gecko will be quite a beast. I couldn't blow this up to that size - too big, and the detail would become too heavy
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Still coping one handed - I can still print, though
I printed out an aircraft assembly jig..................
I attempted to print the M6 bolts & nuts, but that was a failure the bolts either didn't print, or sheared straight off - I replaced them with nylon fixings, actually bolts that fix on car number plates. Fully adjustable from 1/144 up to a 1/32 single engined plane, I reckon
Dave

[Tim Marlow]

Looks good Dave.

[Dave Ward]

I have revisited a model I printed earlier this year - l'Orient the flagship of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile 1798 ( Also known as Aboukir Bay ). She caught fire and was destroyed n a huge explosion.
The model is blown up from 1/700 to 1/350 - it's printed in my customary Geeetech filament - black, cos' I cant get silver! Layer height of 0.15mm - it took nearly 18 hours to print. I used organic support, which worked well for this type of model

Still on the PEI build plate - this has a great advantage, it doesn't need glue to grip the print & simply flexing the plate releases it
I also printed out the masts, which I hadn't tried before

The black filament doesn't lend itself to photograhy




I printed a new to me, model - HMS Indefatigable, a heavy frigate, commanded by Sir Edwatd Pellew, one of the naval heroes that Hornblower & Jack Aubrey were based on!

A bit smaller, this took 12 hoirs to print.

After the print, all the supports are carefully removed, very easily in this case





There are masts for this, but they have billowing sails attached, which when printed would be visibly overscale, so a little poking around will be needed.
As usual, when blown up, some of the details look poor, but in real vision they're fine.
Dave