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3D athearn car interior on Thingiverse Locos and rolling stock
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New member 22 posts dcyale New member 22 posts
dcyale

I have been designing and selling 3D models in various scales on Shapeways for a while.  Is more a Hobby than a business, and I enjoy it.  Recently, however, I bought a home 3D printer kit for $168 from China- an Anet A8.  It's made with the cheapest parts available, and I've had to spend about $40 in repairs and up grades,and for the first two weeks all I did was print parts to make the printer better.    

There are certain models that are as good on the PLA printer, and a lot cheaper than the Shapeways alternative.  

One set of models are interiors for some old Athearn Bluebox heavy weight pullmans.  I have uploaded the first file to Thingiverse:   https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2378452  

It prints at home for a buck or two.  The detail isn't as good as the Shapeways model, but this is an interior- how well is anyone going to see it?  Of course you need either a 3D printer, or a friend with one.  And don't ask me why I bought purple PLA, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  Print time on this model was about 3.5 hours, but I run my printer slow.    

I will be uploading more interiors as I get time, and aslo an interior for the Bachman Amcoach cars, which will include mounts for holding the electronics to convert them to anti-flicker LED.  

I am working on the underboard mounting hardware for an Arduino board and servos to operate a set of working 3D printed crossing gates (the gates I had printed at shapeways).  I'm hoping to keep the costs down to $60 for the whole set up.  I'll post a "how to" if I ever get it finished,.  

After that I'll be looking at foundations, and maybe interiors for some DPM buildings- with some furniture and LED mounts and wiring brackets built in,  

A cheap home 3D printer like I have will never do fine detail, but the are lots of things it can do.  Hopefully there will be some people out there that will benefit from me making these files available- I payback for all the people that have helped me.  

 

Dave Yale

http://www.dcyale.com

 

Dave Yale
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Warflight Prolific poster 3,008 posts
Warflight

NICE!

I'll be watching! (it's hard to get interiors for the 50' cars)
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trainmaster247 Prolific poster 2,041 posts
trainmaster247

Pretty cool! Probably could

Pretty cool! Probably could get these to work in some of the old rivarossi cars to.

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Janet N Prolific poster 1,168 posts
Janet N

Thanks for posting the file

Thanks again!  Folks like you are an inspiration.  I picked up a Monoprice Mini a couple of months ago and have been following along the series on Tranmasters as well as a bunch of YouTube videos.  While the low-end printers can't approach the level of detail on the high-end printers used at vendors like Shapeways, there are loads of things that can be printed out for 'filler'-level scenic objects.

On Thingiverse and 3DWarehouse there are quite a few models that can be used as is, or with minimal modifications, even in HO scale.  I've found barrels, crates, Tortoise mounts, containers, soda machines, gas pumps, industrial generators, rooftop and window air conditioners, some nice vehicles... all of which are useful at the 3-foot or greater viewing distance most of a layout will be seen from.

I've been experimenting with Sketchup to try and create a few other things, mostly pallets and crates right now, but I've learned enough to be able to modify some of the files I've downloaded for my own use.  In the future, I'd like to be able to create more complex items myself.

Again, thanks for sharing your work with us.

Janet
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JohnF Active Member 78 posts
JohnF

Subway Structure

Good morning all

I'm considering the purchase of a 3D printer. I have been learning Sketchup to help determine if I have the design skills to justify a printer.

My initial project is a modular elevated subway structure having each major part as a component. It's a work in progress but i think a good start.    Flex track will be placed on top of the supports and walkways need to be created.  I think the hand rail will be wire.

Because i do not have a printer I'm assuming the parts will print and no surface is less than 1/32 inch.

If the components are of value to anyone you are welcome to the files.

John

tructure.jpg 

mponents.jpg 
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