Discuss park gauge trains and large scale miniature railways having track gauges from 8" to 24" gauge and designed at scales of 2" to the foot or greater - whether modeled for personal use, or purpose built for amusement park operation or private railroading.
Forum rules
Topics may include: antique park gauge train restoration, preservation, and history; building new grand scale equipment from scratch; large scale miniature railway construction, maintenance, and safe operation; fallen flags; track, gauge, and equipment standards; grand scale vendor offerings; and, compiling an on-line motive power roster.
Adirondack wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:11 am
C’est fini!
.
C9CB77AC-3A5C-421B-AB28-2F683B329603.jpeg
That is a beautiful print! And that printer is surprisingly affordable, I might have to look into one myself….. Thanks for killing my budget lol.
I’m going to be curious to see how this goes. For some reason I never thought about 3D printing a pattern, only ever really be around old school wood pattern making.
Harold_V wrote: ↑Tue Jan 11, 2022 2:47 am
Thanks for the links. I was thinking that the printer might not be affordable, but it certainly is. Not fast, but neither is making a pattern from wood.
How will your pattern be used? Without being split, it doesn't lend itself well to the typical sand mold.
H
Hi Harold. I've made several dozen wheel patterns at this point. The foundries we work with are okay with using loose patterns, especially for the small runs we typically need. Even with the core for the axle, this won't be an issue for greensand. BUT, if a split patterns is needed, it would be very simple to split the CAD model and print out the two halves with a locating pin in the center. CAD created patterns are truly the most versatile.
Chris
Last edited by Adirondack on Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Adirondack wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:11 am
C’est fini!
.
C9CB77AC-3A5C-421B-AB28-2F683B329603.jpeg
That is a beautiful print! And that printer is surprisingly affordable, I might have to look into one myself….. Thanks for killing my budget lol.
I’m going to be curious to see how this goes. For some reason I never thought about 3D printing a pattern, only ever really be around old school wood pattern making.
After 3D printing more than a hundred patterns for both greensand and investment casting, I can honestly say I'll never go back to the old ways again. Draw it once, output a pattern in multiple scales-easy peasy. Print a pattern, have UPS lose it-print it again exactly the same. How can you beat that?
One thing to keep in mind, I have tweaked the settings on that machine and calibrated it higher than any factory ever could. Patience is the "secret ingredient" to good prints.
Chris
Last edited by Adirondack on Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Adirondack wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:11 am
C’est fini!
.
C9CB77AC-3A5C-421B-AB28-2F683B329603.jpeg
That is a beautiful print! And that printer is surprisingly affordable, I might have to look into one myself….. Thanks for killing my budget lol.
I’m going to be curious to see how this goes. For some reason I never thought about 3D printing a pattern, only ever really be around old school wood pattern making.
After 3D printing more than a hundred patterns for both greensand and investment casting, I can honestly say I'll never go back to the old ways again. Draw it once, output a pattern in multiple scale-easy peasy. Print a pattern, have UPS lose it-print it again exactly the same. How can you beat that?
One thing to keep in mind, I have tweaked the settings on that machine and calibrated it higher than any factory ever could. Patience is the "secret ingredient" to good prints.
Chris
You’ve got me seriously looking at a CR-10 now, I may have to pick your brain about the tweaks you did to get prints that nice.