FDM PLA 3D printing - with a model making inclination
- Thread starter Dave Ward
- Start date
And all the software I'm using is freeware - I;ve only paid for one model. the rest are free for personal use, off sites like Thingiverse & Cults. Incidentally, looking for ship models, I searched for 'corvette' - the large number of hits were for 3D printed clips & fasteners for the Chevy Corvette! Apparently a lot of small bits are no longer available & car restorers are turning to 3D printing to replace them, you can print in ABS & Nylon for greater strength..................
Dave
A bit more experimenting, with models that need support - there are settings in the software to allow you vary the support structures, the problem being that it's different for every model, the only way is to try things out..................
I had a struggle getting the supports off the propane tank PLA is pretty tough stuff & the Stanley knife had to come into play!
Much more successful was the German Armoured Rail Car scaled to 1/72 - I'm still getting some irregularities in the surface finish, I think it's to do with the drive belt tensioning, which I'm working on! Slowing the print speed down will help, but this of course increases the print time.
This is about an hour into what will be the longest print so far - about ten hours by the slicer software prediction.....................
After several failures of models sticking to the build plate, I've had to start using a glue pen to pre-treat the plate ( like Pritt stick ). I have to wash the plate, every couple of days, in warm soapy water & get the nailbrush on it to remove the glue build up - being removeable helps, I was worried that the warm water would effect the plate magnetic material, but of course the plate heats up to 60C every time you print!
Dave
I had a struggle getting the supports off the propane tank PLA is pretty tough stuff & the Stanley knife had to come into play!
Much more successful was the German Armoured Rail Car scaled to 1/72 - I'm still getting some irregularities in the surface finish, I think it's to do with the drive belt tensioning, which I'm working on! Slowing the print speed down will help, but this of course increases the print time.This is about an hour into what will be the longest print so far - about ten hours by the slicer software prediction.....................
After several failures of models sticking to the build plate, I've had to start using a glue pen to pre-treat the plate ( like Pritt stick ). I have to wash the plate, every couple of days, in warm soapy water & get the nailbrush on it to remove the glue build up - being removeable helps, I was worried that the warm water would effect the plate magnetic material, but of course the plate heats up to 60C every time you print!
Dave
Looks like you are having a lot of fun with this Dave. I know you don’t have the room for one, but I bet you’ve had the occasional thought about a resin printer now 
The plate is probably a ferrite magnet so should be good to temperatures well beyond boiling water Dave. It will lose magnetism as it heats up, but regain it as it cools again. This only becomes irreversible if the Curie temperature of the material is exceeded (about 180DegC for ferrite). Rare earth magnets, like neodymium, are much less robust, but I wouldn’t think your build plate is made from that.
The plate is probably a ferrite magnet so should be good to temperatures well beyond boiling water Dave. It will lose magnetism as it heats up, but regain it as it cools again. This only becomes irreversible if the Curie temperature of the material is exceeded (about 180DegC for ferrite). Rare earth magnets, like neodymium, are much less robust, but I wouldn’t think your build plate is made from that.
As Tim says it does sound as if you are enjoying this. Tank and rail car look good
This was the result of 11 hours and 22 minutes - the software prediction was a bit off
This is the hull of the Matilda I in 1/35. It looks like a Lego model at the moment, as it has all the overhang supports still attached. These will be carefully removed, as you can't be absolutely certain which is model & which is support. A lot of the internal support will need digging out to accommodate the turret - which is printing out at the moment. I quite like the red filament, it seems to print very nicely
Dave
This is the hull of the Matilda I in 1/35. It looks like a Lego model at the moment, as it has all the overhang supports still attached. These will be carefully removed, as you can't be absolutely certain which is model & which is support. A lot of the internal support will need digging out to accommodate the turret - which is printing out at the moment. I quite like the red filament, it seems to print very nicely
Dave
This took the best part of 3 hours to print!
Needs a bit of sanding here & there, but not too bad - although blown up like this it looks rough!
There is an alternative turret with the hatch open, I might have a look at that...............
Dave
Needs a bit of sanding here & there, but not too bad - although blown up like this it looks rough!
There is an alternative turret with the hatch open, I might have a look at that...............
Dave
G
You must be so pleased with the progress you have made Dave, I'm intrigued when you say you changed the scale ! Impressed very !
John,
It's just a matter of altering a software setting - you don't actually have to do anything, just work out the ratio - for example if the file model is 1/24 scale, then to get 1/48 scale you have to use 0.5 as the setting ( 24/48 ). The difficulty comes if there isn't any scale quoted, which means a lot of trial and error! Which is OK, but sometimes it takes an hour or so of printing before you can see it is wrong!
This is what you find when the printer runs out of filament halfway.................
It's actually very strong - it can take my not inconsiderable weight! You can adjust the percentage 'fill', and the shape ( this is triangles ) - this is way overkill, but it's the default setting ( 20% ). Obviously the higher the fill, the longer it takes, the more filament it uses & the heavier it becomes - PLA doesn't float! . It's a matter of looking at the part & knowing what you can use, just one of the many settings you can play around with........
Dave
The original home 3D printers were produced by Josef Prusa, and his PrusaSlicer software is still popular - he has a site https://www.printables.com/ there are some amazing free models and this caught my eye:
The USS St. Louis 1905 protected cruiser in 1/150 Scale! this will be 80cm long
All the models on the site are printable with FDM machines like mine & it looks an interesting place to visit. I'm not saying I'm going to have a go at this, but it looks very tempting!
Dave
The USS St. Louis 1905 protected cruiser in 1/150 Scale! this will be 80cm long
All the models on the site are printable with FDM machines like mine & it looks an interesting place to visit. I'm not saying I'm going to have a go at this, but it looks very tempting!
Dave
Go on, you know you want to!
Pete
Pete
The USS At Louis at 80cm would take an age to print. I assume that something that size is printed in sections?
That's a very good print,if it IS a print and not a rendering. Must have taken a LOT of post processing...
I know the Prusa is a good printer, so maybe it's genuine
This is a 1/56 model from Thingiverse by user 'W_Rec', blown up to 1/35
This shows a problem with upscaling.... what is OK in 1/56 isn't really detailed enough in 1/35 the underside is devoid of any detail. Printed in 12 parts ( 6 of them wheels ), with supports that came away easily - I think I'm getting the hang of supports finally
Dave
This shows a problem with upscaling.... what is OK in 1/56 isn't really detailed enough in 1/35 the underside is devoid of any detail. Printed in 12 parts ( 6 of them wheels ), with supports that came away easily - I think I'm getting the hang of supports finally
Dave
Looks good Dave, but really shows it’s origins as a gaming piece, a bit simplified and made more robust for handling purposes.
I was right-LOTS of post processing, but it looks bloody good!
I love the guy's accent too!
Very inspiring, and proves what I have been saying all along-this is the next stage in our hobby.
How much is the file to buy? I bet it's a lot cheaper than a kit and theres' nothing to stop you printing it at 1-72 scale if you have the patience!
Yes,
I've done that - my computer really struggled to open the hull files in PrusaSlicer - and even longer to slice! At 0.15 mm layers it would take nearly 2 days to print. I did use Bambu to slice the same part at 0.2 mm layers & slightly less fill, and it would still take nearly 10 hours to print. With 5 sections, that's a long time & that's just the beginning. The instruction manual has 20 odd pages.
This would be more in the line of a group project, or one person with multiple printers!
One of the Ultra-Fast Delta Printers may improve on this. The hull itself is too large for consumer SLA printers, but the small parts would be ideal - just pack as many as you can on the build plate.
It's certainly an impressive model, but probably in the future! I did look at doing a 1/350 waterline version ( there's a full hull .stl file provided ), but even that would take about 12 hours to print, and there are so many small parts that you could probably treble that!
Dave
The Matilda has turned out to be a non-starter - the hull was impossible to clean up, and the tracks, road wheels & suspension, being all in one piece are only suitable for a resin printer. My computer struggled opening the track files, so at least I've learned what can't be done!
As a consolation, I looked at the 1/150 scale USS St Louis again. I decided that 1/150 was too big, so I have scaled it down to 1/250.
The hull is in 5 sections, joined by rectangular connectors. The first part I printed was the bow section ( left ), this took about ten hours - I realised after it had finished that the % infill was too high, the thing weighs a lot!
The second section, I reduced the infill from 25% to 18%, it took 11 hours 12 minutes! The next section is the largest, and the software is predicting 13 hours. I'll have to change my filament spool, as I want to be sure there's enough filament - I don't want to run out of filament after 12 hours!!!!!!!
Dave
As a consolation, I looked at the 1/150 scale USS St Louis again. I decided that 1/150 was too big, so I have scaled it down to 1/250.
The hull is in 5 sections, joined by rectangular connectors. The first part I printed was the bow section ( left ), this took about ten hours - I realised after it had finished that the % infill was too high, the thing weighs a lot!
The second section, I reduced the infill from 25% to 18%, it took 11 hours 12 minutes! The next section is the largest, and the software is predicting 13 hours. I'll have to change my filament spool, as I want to be sure there's enough filament - I don't want to run out of filament after 12 hours!!!!!!!
Dave
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