Hi guys, I went to a trade events the other week for tech products and 3D printing was huge in regard to coverage and the number of suppliers. Is anyone using 3D printing to make parts and bits for their builds? There is a lot of home type setups now so keen to see what they are being used for. Cheers, Gav.

Yep - I use 3D printing to make conversion bits for my models, printed at Shapeways.com because home printers are a) not cheap, and b) too crude for the details I need. And by offering them for sale I've just about managed to cover my own printing costs...

My stuff can be seen here.

Beware the steep learning curve required to create the CAD files for 3D printing!

Good feedback Tom. Interesting to see what you are doing. I am sure like any tech it will come down in price and the home use will become something a lot of guys can do at some point. The fact that there is a lot of CAD plans out there for items already is what had me thinking. I wonder at what point this takes a front seat.

I can see it becoming the go-to way to get custom detail parts if/when we finally get good enough affordable home printers. I saw recently that somebody was trying to get Kickstarter funding for a machine that printed in traditional styrene plastic!

Beware those available CAD models. Most of what I've seen free or for sale on the likes of Turbosquid aren't designed for 3D printing - they are "render" models for use in games etc. Printing an object requires a kind of solid geometry that is very different to video-game graphics, where things can be impossibly thin, or are smoothed by rendering a "skin" over a blocky frame instead of shaping the actual parts. Also, good designs cost money, so designers (like me!) won't be giving them away any time soon...

Pretty slick stuff Tom. Do you think it would be possible to do earth augers/drills like the ones on this Canadian M113 Engineer vehicle? Might have to get in touch...



Maybe some Israeli armoured M-48 air cleaner boxes too?

Cheers,
Jim

I'd like to try my hand at doing some CAD. What program would you recommend. will 123d do ok?

Jim, they look do-able, if you have measurements etc. The blades might be a tad thick (realistically about 0.7mm for structural reasons) but some judicious sanding to taper the edges might disguise it! I assume you've already rejected using drywall screws?

Stevie, I'm an AutoCAD driver, but there are plenty of other packages out there that folks use - some are even free! The big thing is getting really familiar with the tools in your chosen software - there are forums on Shapeways where folks ask all sorts of techie questions, so plenty of info out there. I haven't tried 123d, but there are folks using it... (Blender, Maya, & Sketchup are other favourites with big followings - again, I don't use them myself.) The main thing is to get a "solid" or closed surface mesh defining your object, so it can be uploaded in one of the acceptable file formats like .STL or .OBJ - look at the website for details. Some software is good for "mechanical" things with straight edges and simple curves, while other packages are better at "organic" shapes like faces or soft stowage.

Hey,

A very interesting topic!

I was using Blender 3D for jewelry design a while ago and I must say it is excellent for a free piece of software with LOTS of quality tutorials around and a huge user base. It won't come close to pro tools like AutoCAD or 3D Studio in most features but still a very solid tool to start with.

Let's keep this discussion open as I'm interested what you guys would use this for... My first thoughts were diorama accessories like cans and jars and the like.

These guys have a few items already to go it seems https://www.click2detail.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

My stuff on Shapeways is Here

Matt I didn't know you did 3D design...???
I will pm you soon!

Guys,

I noticed an issue with pricing on my stuff.... it was WAY OFF.

Prices are now way more reasonable than what there was.

What are you guys using for your design program? I think it was Tom that pointed me to Blender.

Seeing what you guys are doing is really building up my anticipation of what I'd like to do.

I use Unigraphics NX 6 (upgrading to 8.5 next week) But I use it day in/out at work.

Guys,

I've uploaded some more models. Including some wheel/tires to fit the MENG Hilux kit at Gavins' request.

Matt's Shapeways Wheel & tire section

I'm sure I can cast them for less than what they'd want for a set of 4 or 5.

Sir, so to under stand this process, someone just gives you a pic of a vehicle and for example a M944 shop truck and says want the back of the truck. You make it and the customer just pays for the product.

In a way, yes. something with dimensions is preferred. Now, as a shop owner on shapeways I have the ability to add markups. I've only been doing things that would be incredibly time consuming to scratchbuild. With the tires, I know for a fact I can cast them for less than half of what shapeways wants to print them, which is what I'm doing with these. I'm still working on the cleanup of the parts, but the best chemical isn't available locally.

I present some of my recent scale model work, CAD designed and produced by 3D printer. By clickinh the following pictures, you can be redirected to the WIP and have a look on detailed building article.

1/18 scale Wallis WA-116 Agile autogyro scratchbuild model








1/18 scale Instytucie Szybownictwa IS-A Salamandra 53 glider scratchbuild model








Nowdays, I am building a 1/18 scale Flettner Fl-282 V21 Kolibri helicopter scratchbuild model and also have an additional 1/18 scale Bleriot XI-2 1912 era monoplane scratchbuild model. Both of them designed & produced in huge 1/18 scale, will be soon (hopefully around late September or early October 2014) available for sale as full 3D printed kits, produced on high-precision 3D printers by using best available polymer plastic material to ensure the best printing results & highest possible quality on kit parts. Interested collectors, scale modelers & hobbyists could follow the building process and have a look on Work-In-Progress detailed pictures.











Right this moment, the 1/18 scale Bleriot XI-2 1912 era monoplane 3D printed kit sample is under building process on my hobby bench and planned to be displayed forum within following months as a WIP article. During CAD design, I did my best to make the final printed kit easy to built by the average scale modeler. Nevertheless, even if the kit would be offered as a single piece scale model, the rigging procedure would require experienced modelers only. For this reason, my plan is to provide two different versions for the avalable for sale production kits. The "basic" version (with no rigging & with simple rimmed wheels) for beginners and the full "advanced" version for experienced modelers. For the moment, have fun with some teaser pics.

Regards,
Nick

Quality stuff!
Can you tell us more about the hardware used for printing?

Hey guys, I'm looking to get into scratchbuilding my own stuff, mostly figures. Would it be a smarter idea to get into actual sculpting or 3D modelling?

I would suggest developing your sculpting skills as it seems the learning curve is pretty steep for competent 3D modelling, particularly free flowing organic shapes .

Sean

Those are amazing models, but made by a person with a pretty specialized set of skills for sure.
We are just entering the desktop, suitcased sized, belt fed dot matrix computer printer level of home 3d printing.
But today we have wireless color desktop laser printers.
Imagine what we will be 3d printing in 20 years!

Md

How do you think making CAD and 3D printing modern vehicles in a-stan would fare? Because it is a rich topic with hardly any kits, for eg. Pandur, UAV's and UGVs.