discussion FDM PLA 3D printing - with a model making inclination

[Dave Ward]

The gold filament was a disappointment! The first print got halfway through, then came off the build plate - no idea why, but it wasted quite a bit of filament - I'd only bought 5m.. The second king stuck OK, but the gold looks more beige and the layering is terrible, overall a failure........

Obviously the filament settings need tweaking, but I don't have enough filament for another try - I'll forget about this!
Just normal filament, then primed with the pawn

Much better - hardly any layering visible

I saw this on Thingiverse, by user 'deepstatic', and couldn't resist it

I had to use supports under the chin, but they came away without a problem, without even th use of a knife.
There's loads of elves, goblins & space aliens available, but the ones I'm looking for, Medieval Knights, I haven't found any suitable for FDM printing - they may be out there, but not filed under a reasonable title! Chess pieces are small enough to print reasonably quickly, and are varied in their details - although printing out 32 pieces would take quite a bit of time!
I've got a few mods to the printer to fit........................

The blue bit is a brace for the front plate & the grey bits are for a Y-axis belt tensioner - the existing arrangement isn't very good! I do have a spare set of belts, just in case something goes wrong
Dave

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Dave, the metal filament is like using metal powders in casting resin or glass fibre - you need to buff the filament back to expose the metal.
We used to brush with dichloromethane to dissolve the PLA then buff with a scotchbrite.
good luck
N

 

[minitnkr]

Doesn't that stuff make you grow a third eye?

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Doesn't that stuff make you grow a third eye?

I thought that was carbon tetrachloride?

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Doesn't that stuff make you grow a third eye?

better stop using TET then

 

[Steven000]

Nice experiments Dave, looks like you got the hang of it, cheers

 

[minitnkr]

That too, used to use it back in the day like a "dry gas". Another was trichlorethane for cleaning parts, nasty stuff.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Both nasty chemicals Paul, yet Diclo was once used as an aerosol propellant…….

 

[Dave Ward]

I thought that was carbon tetrachloride?

better stop using TET then

Carbon Tet can turn into phosgene if exposed to heat in air - not something you want to mess with. I used to handle Dichlorodifluoromethane may years ago - more commonly known as Freon ( R-22 ) for fridge systems - nasty stuff!
Dave

 

[David Lovell]

Not interested in the chemical tech but wow your really beginning to put it together now thanks for all of your journey so far looking forward to your next installment. Dave

 

[Tim Marlow]

Carbon Tet can turn into phosgene if exposed to heat in air - not something you want to mess with. I used to handle Dichlorodifluoromethane may years ago - more commonly known as Freon ( R-22 ) for fridge systems - nasty stuff!
Dave

Carbon Tetrachloride was used as dry cleaning fluid and a refrigerant (among other things) for many years. Its worst property is that is extremely toxic to the liver and kidneys. You don’t need to heat it, just breathe it in.
To make phosgene you need to heat it to 50-150DegC. Probably achieved by smokers breathing it in while smoking, but not common in general use. Phosgene is degraded at about 200DegC, by the way, which is why Porton Down disposes of phosgene shell stocks found anywhere (usually dug up) by incinerator.
It’s also an extremely potent greenhouse gas with an atmospheric dwell time of 85 years. This is why it was removed from use as a refrigerant.
Basically, I’d leave it well alone unless you really know how to handle it.

 

[minitnkr]

Great looking knight BTW, Dave.

 

[Dave Ward]

One of the problems with printing is supporting the parts, obviously it can't print in thin air, the printer can cope with gradual overhangs, but not gaps. The slicer software can provide supports, it can depend on the angle you choose to put the part on the build plate. The gun barrel & mantelet could be printed vertically without support, but such a small diameter is very fragile towards the top. I laid it horizontally, with automatically generated supports
- the camera flash highlights any slight imperfection on the build plate & part!

The support material under the barrel & the overhang under the mantelet are only loosely connected & should come off with little effort & leave minimum marks on the part

In this case it came off very easily :thumb2:
I had to change filament, as I didn't think there was enough blue on the spool to print this
Panther A turret with zimmerit from Cults by user 'Alainkif' - it was in 1/50, so I scaled it up to 1/35. This filament seems much tougher & the supports had to be cut off!
The barrel fits - it's just missing the side cheek pieces

The detail is a bit too uniform - the zimmerit looks like a brick wall!

If you're wondering about the lurid red - the seller offered a discount for a random colour............
The turret took about 5 hours to print. I have the files for the complete Panther, but the tracks look more suited for resin printing. I wanted to see if I could print a supported part & a turret with fine detail.
I originally thought that I'd stick with free models, but seeing how this gone I'm going to have a look around to see what models are available in the period up to 1939 - I'd especially like a Matilda I , but that may not be possible....................
Dave

 

[langy71]

That looks very nice indeed Dave, a bit of minimal clean up / tidying and a coat of primer it'll look just fine, and besides who says all Zimmerit was applied perfectly without any variation ?..(most of us are only going known of pictures of zim application), and during the time periods involved I'm sure there was plenty of variation that we aren't aware of..

 

[David Lovell]

As I said before all the techie stuff goes straight over the top but do so enjoy your journey with it all I hope you go back to the start and look just to see how far you've come well done. Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

On the slippery slope now - I've paid for the files of a Matilda I This is actually in 1/56 scale, but I can upscale it to 1/35

This cost me 8 Euros, + tax - so not a vast outlay! I've yet to look at all the files, the hull & turret will probably be OK, but I think the tracks will be a stumbling block - This is probably more suited to resin printing than FDM, but we shall see. IF It can be done, I'll start a build log in the appropriate section
Dave

 

[minitnkr]

Were you just teasing us with the Bailey? I'll do mine if you'll do yours.

 

[Dave Ward]

Were you just teasing us with the Bailey? I'll do mine if you'll do yours.

I really need something to be going over the Bailey Bridge, and at the moment nothing in the stash is really calling out. I do have a Churchill AVRE, but I've looked at that many times in the past & put it back on the shelf. A point I hadn't really thought about was the total size of any diorama that holds a river wide enough to need a Bailey Bridge. As an aside, I've found a pontoon bridge, but in 1/35 the pontoons are just a bit too big to fit on the build plate - I may have a look at that later with a bit more printer time under my belt!
Dave

 

[Valeron]

Fascinating thread Dave. So interesting. Thanks for the hard work and research you're doing for us all.

Mike

 

[Dave Ward]

Fascinating thread Dave. So interesting. Thanks for the hard work and research you're doing for us all.

Mike

Thanks! - Just as well I'm retired, the 3D printing, software etc. really eats time - I've actually moved my clock to the side of my computer to remind me how fast it goes. I have to say that it is a pretty cheap project so far, OK, the printer cost a fair amount ( think a big Trumpeter kit ), but the running costs are pretty good - so far, I've gone throgh 2 X 1 kg spools of filament at around £11 a spool ( say 3 pints of beer )- that's in nearly 2 months of usage. I've had a fair amount of wastage so far, but that is decreasing.................
Dave