3D printer for making models

Muttleysdad

Muttleysdad

Active Member
Hello Everyone

I stumbled onto a thread in the props section regarding the use of 3D software and 3D printers for model making. The qestion was asked if it is going to replace old school techniques.
I have been using 3D software (solidworks) to make models for a while now and being lucky enough to have limited acess to a good quality 3D printer through work this has seem the logical way to progress.

I'm a past master at the Build from scratch or the kit bash but always find that at sometime after the event you always stumble across a picture or photo that has something on you missed, the only options are a teardown and start again or live with the error (I wont embarrass myself by telling you how many times I've built the Proteus from Fantastic voyage over the last 40 years) I'm finding with 3D modeling its easy to incorporate changes.

THese are some pictures of my favourites.

The Endeavor from Marvel's Comic Micronauts.
The submarine Hydronaut that was borrowed for the 60's movie Around the world under the sea.
I have also attached A picture of the 3D file for my latest file, Lockheed Martins DSV Deep Quest (that was used in Raise the Titanic) this one will be on the 3D printer Shortly,

What can I say I'm Hooked on the whole 3D revolution.



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Not having any real experience in 3d printing I suppose my opinion holds little weight, however, I could definitely see how 3d printing could easily overtake classic methods. Being able to produce something in a day or less that might have taken weeks, is a pretty powerful motivator. Also, as far as I can tell, 3d printing technology is certainly not slowing down, if anything it is growing exponentially. I only just heard about 3d printing a year or so ago, and now it is reasonably affordable to have one in home. Crazy!
 
3D printing is the wave of the future but they need to get it to a decent size, these look great but they are appear to be tiny. Get to studio scale then count me in!
 
Captain April said:
3D printing is the wave of the future but they need to get it to a decent size, these look great but they are appear to be tiny. Get to studio scale then count me in!
Click to expand...

Yes size can be a problem, the Hydronaut is 1/144 scale About 116mm long (fits in nice with my collection of 1/144 subs)

The Endeavour is approx 1/250 scale - 130mm front to back.

The printer we have has a footprint equivilent to an A4 piece of paper, anything bigger and you're in to making in sections and kitting up.
 
Wow, your Endeavor looks great! I had the toys and loved the comic when I was younger. Too bad they never had an Endeavor in the to line-- but the Astrostation filled the role nicely :D
 
Fireball Joe said:
Wow, your Endeavor looks great! I had the toys and loved the comic when I was younger. Too bad they never had an Endeavor in the to line-- but the Astrostation filled the role nicely :D
Click to expand...

yeah I had all the toys as well but desparately wanted an Endeavor. I have attached photos of what was probably one of my first proper scratch builds.
Its been wrapped up in the loft for Decades its nice to get it out again and look at it.
I've also pictured it against its newer counterpart.
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DIY 3D Printers and CNC Routers are actually more obtainable/affordable these days than you might realize.
Check out some of the links on my CNC & 3D PRINTING pintrest page for several examples/options.

Planning on building one myself soon. :cool
 
i agree that 3D printing can be the way of the future for some things, but i find that in most cases you lose a sense of realism with just printing something out. not everything is straight lines and perfect circles in real life and i think that needs to be used in the world of model making as well. If you use a printer to make a really detailed piece of something very specific that you know you can't kit bash then yes i get it, but it's when you just print out the whole thing and paint it that i think the art form of modeling is lost. I don't have any real say in the matter seeing as i'm relatively new to all this and no one really cares what i think, but i got into making models because i was able to bring a soul into a tiny little object that i made from scratch. For some people i'm sure that's different, but I wouldn't feel the same sense of accomplishment by throwing down a piece of printed plastic and saying "tada!"

Just my two cents...
 
damienjameswebb said:
i agree that 3D printing can be the way of the future for some things, but i find that in most cases you lose a sense of realism with just printing something out. not everything is straight lines and perfect circles in real life and i think that needs to be used in the world of model making as well. If you use a printer to make a really detailed piece of something very specific that you know you can't kit bash then yes i get it, but it's when you just print out the whole thing and paint it that i think the art form of modeling is lost. I don't have any real say in the matter seeing as i'm relatively new to all this and no one really cares what i think, but i got into making models because i was able to bring a soul into a tiny little object that i made from scratch. For some people i'm sure that's different, but I wouldn't feel the same sense of accomplishment by throwing down a piece of printed plastic and saying "tada!"

Just my two cents...
Click to expand...

While I think that's a perfectly reasonable opinion, I feel compelled to note that comparing building something yourself from scratch to printing out someone else's 3D model is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison (at least imo).

As a 3D modeler, if I'm getting something 3D printed, it's going to be something I've modeled myself, and completely my own work, and while it's a very different process to hand-crafting something, that model will still have the research, time, and personal touch that a physical model has put into it. Obviously the technology makes it easier in a lot of ways, but that only extends so far.

If someone is only using their 3D printer just to print out other people's work, then yeah, the art is lost there, but depending on what you're doing with the printed piece, it's sort of like getting a cast off someone to use, and there can still be a lot of work in finishing off a piece (especially with the current quality of most home 3D printers).


I guess what I'm trying to say is that it comes down to the people using it, and is a case by case thing, and not an inherent loss of art due to the technology itself. It's just another tool that can just as easily be used for "good" as for "evil". :thumbsup
 
I'd love to have a 3D printer... ok... who has links to some printers that we can use? Would love to know prices, pros, cons, software to use, pitfalls, prep etc.
 
BlobVanDam said:
While I think that's a perfectly reasonable opinion, I feel compelled to note that comparing building something yourself from scratch to printing out someone else's 3D model is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison (at least imo).

As a 3D modeler, if I'm getting something 3D printed, it's going to be something I've modeled myself, and completely my own work, and while it's a very different process to hand-crafting something, that model will still have the research, time, and personal touch that a physical model has put into it. Obviously the technology makes it easier in a lot of ways, but that only extends so far.

If someone is only using their 3D printer just to print out other people's work, then yeah, the art is lost there, but depending on what you're doing with the printed piece, it's sort of like getting a cast off someone to use, and there can still be a lot of work in finishing off a piece (especially with the current quality of most home 3D printers).


I guess what I'm trying to say is that it comes down to the people using it, and is a case by case thing, and not an inherent loss of art due to the technology itself. It's just another tool that can just as easily be used for "good" as for "evil". :thumbsup
Click to expand...

I totally get it, no worries :D
 
MakerShed and Make magazine have published a buyer's guide to 3d printers that's available as a PDF download for ~7 bucks. There's a lot of good information in there about 15 different makes of 3d printers. I thought it was worth the price of admission. Learned a lot of stuff, and thinking about buying an Afinia H series after reading about each one. They have a description of the various print plastics and their plusses and minuses and a run down of the available software for model creation and slicing for print. Worth a look.
 
Captain April said:
3D printing is the wave of the future but they need to get it to a decent size, these look great but they are appear to be tiny. Get to studio scale then count me in!
Click to expand...

Hi Guys ,
Thought I might throw my 2 cents in on this topic.
I have been a modeler for over 30 years and a producer now for the past 5 and I can say that without fear of contradiction that 3D printing is the way to go.
You really aren't limited by size only budget. What it comes down to is if you scale is to big for the build plate area you have to part it up to accommodate the surface area of the build plate. The price is what limits mot builders.
There are companies out there that make affordable printers that have high resolution and do great work work.
I came across the Form 1 printer a while back and got in on it with a partner and it should be delivered soon. It was on a kickstarter promotion so we got in at a real good price .
This is the link to it Formlabs - High Resolution Desktop 3D Printer
I don't work for these guys ...and im not getting any kick backs ...i just think its the best ive seen so far for the cost and the resolution.
Your other option is to get you parts made by other companies ..i can recommend Shapeways . Ive used them before and they do good work.
Lastly ..you can offset your cost of making the parts if you cast them and sell copies...keep in mind to have a product that has a fan base to support your product. You can make enough to cover costs and finance you next project.
There are guys out there also who you can contract to do mesh work ( the 3D model) for you with it parted up and offsets to allow for it to go back together like a kit. You can spend a lot of money in this hobby but you can also have the kind of kits you always wanted. Thats why i got into it ...
Heres some links to kits ive produced on a 3D printer .. Enjoy
ImageShack Album - 8 images
ImageShack Album - 12 images
ImageShack Album - 13 images
ImageShack Album - 12 images
ImageShack Album - 13 images
ImageShack Album - 27 images
ImageShack Album - 15 images
 
TZY:
What has been your experience in working with the various plastics used in the 3D print? ABS has been sort of a standard for a while, but now there's this PLA that supposedly does not really need a heater in the print plate like ABS does. I'm also wondering about gluability, sandability, drilling, whatnot. I've been investigating the Afinia H series, but I don't have any experience in anything except doing the computer modeling.
Nice pics, BTW.
 
Martimous said:
TZY:
What has been your experience in working with the various plastics used in the 3D print? ABS has been sort of a standard for a while, but now there's this PLA that supposedly does not really need a heater in the print plate like ABS does. I'm also wondering about gluability, sandability, drilling, whatnot. I've been investigating the Afinia H series, but I don't have any experience in anything except doing the computer modeling.
Nice pics, BTW.
Click to expand...

Hi,
I had a look at the Afinia... Its an extruder 3D printer .The draw back I see there is the layer thickness ...your resolution will be ok but for another $1000 you could much better and go from .15 to .002 ,much heigher resolution and better detail. Again this depends on the amount of detail your looking to get in you prints and the amount of time you want to put into clean (sanding) of the parts and how much you want to put into you hobby.
Ive used SLS and SLA printers ...one workes with a a photo reactve polymer resin and the other uses a laser to melt plastic ABS powder layer by layer .Ive also use the powder printers by Zcore ..resolution isnt as good as the other two but its a lot cheeper these have to be epoxied also...You will have to spend more time cleaning ,sanding and using putty to smooth the surface.Both SLS and SLA are strong depending on your wall thickness. Wall thickness is another thing you need to take into account when you part up the model partly for strength and mostly for cost. Do you have a hollowing option on your software?
You dont want to have part SOLID if you can avoid it . Usually a wall thickness of .125" to .25" is sufficent. Both glue well using Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue. You want to make sure the part is sanded and cleaned up well first. If you going to paint these parts Primer them first with somthing like Krylons primer. Its a good primer that sits down , doesnt deminish the surface detail and is inexpensive.You might need more than one coat and I would sand between coats...again that depends on the surface detail.
When it comes to drawbacks with these materials ..HEAT ...is always a problem. Try not to put it in direct sunlight on a hot day.. again wall thickness is a factor here...the thinner the part the faster it will be affected .You could try coating the part withan epoxy resin to strengthen it first .... a this airbrush coat.
What I have done with the use of RP in my models is to use them as the masters and the parts that are cast are resin which gets you around all these problems.

Heres a link to the SLA way of printing from Shapeways
Shapeways

Always willing to help if you need it .
Tony
 
Last edited:
Tony:

Thanks for the rundown. I appreciate you sharing your experience. For the amount of time I spend scratchbuilding stuff, I would just as soon put the extra cash in up front and not be regretting it later. I had thought that the SLS and SLA printers were a little out of my price range, which is why I had been looking at the extruders.
Using the printed parts as a resin casting master seems like a reasonable way to go for the finished parts.
Thanks again for the advice.
 
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