3D Resin Printing 00 Model Trains #15
3D Resin Printing 00 Model Trains #15
3D printed bogies!
It’s Been a While
Lot’s of stuff has been done, not much I want to show though. Apart from my bogies. I’m reasonably happy with them. They’re a bit a bit basic but I’m working my way up to more complex prints.
My bogies are designed specifically for my prints. Of all the production stock I have, every bogie had some form of clip attaching it to the chassis. Why?
It’s not like model trains are will be doing 360 loops or 45 degree angled bends at a scaled 100 MPH. So why do bogies need to clip in? I don’t like systems that have the possibility to fail and hamper functionality.
My bogies loosely slide on to a T-shaped spike. You fit them on so the wheels are facing outwards, then rotate 90 degrees. They will never fall off while the train is whizzing around.
A lot of production models I’ve seen have blocks designed to prevent the bogies rotating too far. Again, why? A train won’t be changing direction at a 90 degree angle. Not even 45. Once of my production carriages won’t allow a rotation more than about 20 degrees. Train tracks don’t have sharp bends. Adding a blocking object on the chassis looks cumbersome and makes bogies that little more effort to remove.
My bogies are more likely to fall off when picking up the train. Deal with it. Just place your fingers slightly over the bogies when lifting so they can’t shift. If they do come off, put them back on. They won’t shatter if falling 6 feet off a desk. Guaranteed.
The T-spike is thick and I can’t imagine it ever breaking. Nowhere near as much as a plastic clip anyway. The spike could be fitted on the bogies instead, which would make them cheaper to replace if they did break. I didn’t do that. No reason.
If the T-spike did ever break, I’m reasonably confident even the most amateurish of hobbyist could think of a way to rebuild it. It couldn’t be simpler.
Here’s how my bogies fit to my rolling stock. I have printed this large hopper, however there were a lot of minor errors when printing. Don’t really want to show it yet. Not that there’s much to see, it’s quite basic…
Bogie Time
These aren’t meant to be realistic. Creativity is why the hobby is on its death bed.
I don’t have names for any of these bogies. They’re numbered in folders with a preview image. Surprisingly, they all printed perfectly first time. Near enough. I printed a couple of tests early on, but the final prints all came out perfect first time.
It seems resin printers are only happy when printing small things and organics. Anything with a remotely flat surge will have a decent chance of failing. Which sucks.
My green 3D prints look terrible with my camera. The details don’t come through and all the lighting I tried didn’t help show details. I didn’t clean up the prints much either, but smoothed them out enough for what I need. I’ll add photos, but they printed very close to how they look in the renders.
The hooks in the middle may look inconsistent between renders and photos because I’ve been tweaking them as I print to find a good balance.
Large Bogie #1
The tiny bolts printed perfectly, as too the holed areas. I was concerned that the rear blocks would be too flimsy and snap. They seem fine after spending a little longer than normal in curing machine and a day left in direct sunlight. Even if they did snap off, functionality wouldn’t be affected.
Large Bogie #2
This one had some layer stepping towards the front of the mesh. Thinking this was because I printed at 0.03 MM, flat (like in the picture, no rotation) and with no anti-aliasing.
Large Bogie #3
I like the way this one flows. The horizontal bars connecting the circular wheel hubs nicely compliments my large hopper at the top of this post.
Large Bogie #4
This was the first bogie I designed. The rear axle housing felt a little flimsy to the rear bar was added to strengthen the frame.
The weakness would only be an issue if repeatedly swapping wheels out. Not going to happen often. Plus I don’t think the difference would be anywhere near enough for the axles to fall out. I like both designs so saved them both.
That’s All For Now
I’ve been working on a few more designs but these things take time and this is just a hobby.
Next time I might have some fully printed models to show off. If I can get them to print reliably!