Stevers' Stall of Shame

[Stevers]

Make sure the FEP is taut, sort of "soft drum skin", and make sure the retract height is sufficient - I think mine is 7mm and I have not had any issues.

In this case it was a new Anycubic resin vat with pristine factory tensioned FEP, and I did manage one complete perfectly formed half interior.
With very little imagination I can see the pattern the stretched FEP made in the floor of the defective half as it didn't release. The degree of lift required must be proportional to the size of the bed all other things being equal; is your machine the same sort of size as an Anycubic Photon Mono? Even 6mm of deflection on that drum tight FEP would require a fair bit of force, but that would seem to be "wur 'tis"!

To aid separation I've increased the second stage of lift to 4mm (7mm total) and slightly slowed lift speed to 4.5mm/s from 6mm/s. I've also upped the exposure to 2.3s. The models have been rotated on the plate so that the previously defective half is now on the candidate 'good' side. I just need one more good half or just one that I can patch with seats and tables I already have.

I'm washing in water laced with IPA, and am using IPA in a spray bottle for a final rinse and any cleaning. I'll switch to Bio-Ethanol (from an actual shop I can walk to) when my free bottle of IPA runs out.


The flash really shows up that bright yellow interior. This being a test fit of one good half and one repaired half glued together and fitting perfectly. It's a relief that the headrests are visible after so much trouble! If anyone else is about to do one of these and is reading this - make sure all those bits and bobs under the underframe are perfectly straight before the glue goes off! There are some Preiser seated passengers on the way to me to help bring it to life.

 

[simond]

is your machine the same sort of size as an Anycubic Photon Mono?

Saturn 2, its a good bit smaller 218 x 123 compared with 298 x 164.

I don't expect the FEP to deflect anything like 7mm...

 

[Stevers]

Saturn 2, its a good bit smaller 218 x 123 compared with 298 x 164.

My Mono 4K bed is just 135mm x 80mm, the halved interiors are 132mm long. I was staggered when I found that I could print accurately right up to the edge! Nothing else I've cooked up so far is a) so large, or b) lends itself (IMHO) to being printed flat on the bed.

Incidentally in terms of basics (and not seeing to them) I realised when I saw resin pooling at one side of the raised bed that I hadn't checked that the machine was level - it wasn't and by about 2mm in one corner.


Actually looking forward to messing with supports and getting away from the problems of printing flat. This Beattie 1950g tender has knife edge supports on the bottom of the W Irons and base of the buffer beam. I'll start with one of the earlier iterations of dialled in resin settings rather than that required for the Class 156 interiors. This is more like a three hour print and there should be room for a set of revised crane frames (from the 'Brighton' photos) and perhaps a Stevens & Sons lever frame or two.


A previous effort at the tender by someone that really knows what they're doing. So far so perfect...
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But then I realised that it had inadvertently been tilted the wrong way for my thoughtfully positioned knife edge supports! Though that wouldn't have saved the bottom edge of the tank from doing whatever that is. Looking at it now I reckon it may need to be buffer beam down but level from side to side. Anyway it's my problem for the moment!

 

[Stevers]

Doing the same thing again - expecting a different result - a definition of something...

This was the whole plate rotated - so inner end where the cab end had previously failed. It did manage another pair of seats and this time the final clean was in the ultrasound machine. Because I have another complete inner end from the last print I have an excellent supply of seats and tables to make this good. This is such an odd failure condition in print runs that have otherwise worked extremely well, that I'm going to run it past Anycubic Support.

With enough Class 156 interiors to last me a lifetime, it's time to move on to an attempt on my 1950g Beattie Tender. This is buffers down at 20 degrees, but this prioritises the cab end detail, so it might be better to print it buffers up and change the edge supports to match. - the more I think about it, the more I like it as this puts the back slope of the hopper at a very poor angle for printing.

 

[Stevers]

This orientation brings its own set of challenges, but two of these at opposite ends of the plate (one rotated 180 degrees) are in the process of being printed. The supports were auto generated in Lychee. Those that seemed pointless were removed, and I added some that I thought would help. In the middle of the plate there was room for me to attempt two Verwood and two Semley crane frames (as revised).

 

[Stevers]

Well it clearly got off to a very bad start, but made a good recovery as both front steps are complete! I have been able to cleanly remove my knife edge supports (one at a time by careful cutting of posts or grid to separate them). It's a poor photo, but the only record of how it was. Everything straight and true, but there is the expected layering and slight artefacts visible. The tender body at the other end of the plate - not so lucky and has mangled steps. The proposed solution is to add heavy supports to the knife edge grid for a second attempt later today.


And mounted on the etched chassis not quite in focus and looking quite translucent - though it's an excellent resin in terms of flexibility, workability and accuracy. Final wash was in the ultrasonic cleaner and all holes appear clear. I had thought that the Mono 4K pixel size would be acceptable, now I'm not quite so sure.


And on what is clearly an out of focus day - a second complete (and repaired) Class 156 DMS interior.

 

[Stevers]

Supports all working as expected this time, and with the Lychee default 'smooth surface' anti-aliasing. There are suggestions that the Mono 4K may not be capable of this, and certainly the layering on the front of the tank above the footplate is fairly obvious, much less so elsewhere.

The lever frame printed at the same time using Lychee supports was an unmitigated disaster partially detaching from its raft and left flapping in the resin. It was in the centre of the plate where I have had problems with the Class 156 interiors. This set me to thinking - not always a good thing!


What I reckoned was needed is a cradle to restrain the levers whilst they were printed, keep them straight for washing and curing, and then protect them in transit. 'Privett' is on the left and 'West Moors' is on the right. There's a knife edge support along the bottom and bent supports through the middle of the levers. My idea is that these should be removed from the middle outwards and then the lever frame can be folded forward snapping the knife edge support. A bonus of this approach is that it may be possible to print the levers a little thinner than before.

A Verwood Frame in its cradle, with a rear view of the West Moors cradle showing the curved bars that will protect the release levers and the two sets of braces to provide support as the print grows. The lever frame is configurable for number and types of levers and the cradle is programmed so that it grows as the number of levers increases.

 

[Stevers]

How it panned out for the West Moors frame.


Some changes to the West Moors frame for a print session tomorrow.

 

[Stevers]

Progress with the base, and otherwise heading in the right direction. Washing with neat IPA didn't do one batch any favours as these are very delicate before curing. The 'Evans O'Donnell & Co Ltd' is just about legible - boding well for me 3D printing the BR(S) style smokebox number plates that I need.


A simple paint job for a sort of artistic impression of the BR era interior. Red oxide for the floors, Rail Grey for partitions, table tops, seat backs. Still to do a warm grey for the seats and black for the top of the arm rests. The bottoms of the raised arm reats should probably also be Rail Grey black. The Preiser passengers are here, but nearly all would require amputation at the knee to fit, so there are 60 Noch amputees on the way that look very period correct for the early nineties.

 

[Stevers]

In looking to bottom out the problems with printing in the middle of the bed/FEP I thought I'd print a couple of the cab ends of the Class 156 interiors that had always failed. Before I did that it occured to me that it might be a good idea to check that my flexible build plate was actually flat and the result was that it wasn't very flat at all, at least since I'd released the last prints. It was duly trued up against a straight edge and the print was started.

The result was the usual problems with the motor void delayering, but every seat and table came out exactly as it should! An extra step before every print will now be to ensure that my not so springy no-name build plate has been returned to absolute flatness.



On the left are West Moors frames in 4mm and 7mm scales 'as it was for most of the day'. The 7mm frames using a narrower profile for the levers than is necessary in 4mm scale so do look better. On the right is a Verwood 7mm frame in what was supposed to be as it was when receiving a train from Salisbury. Sadly lever 5 shouldn't have been pulled for this as it was 'normal' to enter the loop as with most passing loops and I'd never noticed that before! The best pose for Verwood (for much of the day) would just be to show lever 4 pulled for the FPL. There's an FPL at the other end of the loop operated from the ground frame which brings me to...


What I need for Verwood and what probably needs to hang out of the back of it (as at Alton). I'll add a representation of the locking frame and have a go at printing one. These levers being much shorter may need less or even no support.

 

[Stevers]

The backside of a four lever ground frame (later SR plates) and a longer knee frame as found at Lyme Regis. It took much longer to do the changes to add the locking frame and tails, than it took to simply configure the Lyme Regis knee frame! I'm not expecting to print the tails, these will be flattened wires that I'll provide the holes for. I'm looking to tackle printing these next.


I've also spent many happy hours in short bursts painting the Class 156 interiors using my collection of Humbrol enamels and thus bringing them to life. There were so many armrests that needed to be carefully painted Dark Grey! The table tops, seat backs and partitions are now Light Stone - more like an 80s magnolia/beige and a nice contrast to the upholstery in 'Light Grey'. The carpets are 'Rust', but that needs another coat that I'll extend to the table upstands. 60 Noch amputees have arrived, all beautifully painted in Vietnam, and I am getting close to installing them.

 

[Stevers]

The front of the Lima Class 156 fitted with the Hurst models 3D printed corridor connections and BSI coupling (no not that BSI). The resin lamp irons have so far proved surprisingly resistant to handling. I found that with a steady hand I was able to apply a touch of 'eyeliner' to the cab windows and also black in the yellow surrounds to the marker light blocks. What a difference, and well on the way to removing the 'Limaness' of the front. Since then I have blacked in the horizontal glazing bars, the Black Beetle wheels have been painted and the bogies installed after painting the Hurst Models underframe detailing.

A painted interior in place and the Noch passengers being fitted. This process requires radical reduction of bottoms, backs and knees. The seats are a little smaller than they should be, the size having been set by the headrest position against the window. My suspicion is that as with the Lima Met-Cam DMU the floor is not where it should be. I'm thinking that from fifteen to twenty passengers conspicuously placed will do.


On the left a 7mm scale ground frame with locking frame tails installed. On the right a reject ground frame with coat of Humbrol Dark Grey bring it to life, with Privett frames in 4mm and 7mm scale with just the FPL levers reversed, as these frames were for most of the day waiting for something to happen.


On the left the lever frame for Verwood in the final version of the support cradle. As with the 'Privett' frame on the right, just the FPL is pulled awaiting the next train. The Privett frame was fairly easy to release from the final version of the support cradle with nicely aligned levers. It looks like some of the supports for the Verwood frame went AWOL but recovered just in time!

 

[Stevers]

The back, bottom and knee surgery continues ending in the much reduced passengers being arranged next to windows in the Class 156 coaches- a slow process when mixed with gardening now the better weather is here. Slim women are much in demand for pairing with the smaller men, the big guys and gals really losing out in that department! I've also painted the engine, transmission and exhaust carpet colour so that I can tone it all back with my weathering mix once the interiors are sorted and the roofs are on. I do need to pick a suitable passenger to tog out as a late 80s period driver and then pick out the controls and dials in the Hurst 3D printed cab interiors so that he can see what he's doing. The motor bogie has been revisited to fit much thinner tails as it wasn't always able to move freely enough to stay on the rails.


This is the underframe for the 1859 Brake Coach split from its body so that I could print it with axleboxes dangling in the resin. To see what would happen I let Lychee Slicer put a lot of apparently random supports in and then added a few really obviously needed ones. I didn't expect much, and I wasn't disappointed! The foot boards are reasonably robust but I'll make them a little thicker with knife edge supports to keep them straight until cured. With those added in OpenSCAD I'll then add a support grid via Blueprint and try again.


West Moors was a signal box that started out as a perfectly standard LSWR Type 2, but after being moved and rebuilt partly in brick ended up a one off - wrongly classed by those that 'should know better' as a 'Type 3B'. A good first attempt at printing he front with supports via Blueprint and sliced in Anycubic Photon Workshop. The bottom edge is curved, but everything else looks pretty good. A knife edge support to the bottom edges to get it started properly (applied in OpenSCAD) should correct that. The Blueprint supports were easy to remove before washing, drying and curing. The final prints will need to be measured up for a set of laser cut sashes.

 

[Stevers]

This is going to be 'interesting' - body and underframe together with knife edge supports to the footboards added in OpenSCAD, then supported in Blueprint before slicing in Anycubic Photon Workshop. It will be a three hour print in my Mono 4k.

 

[Stevers]

Well, the 1859 brake van definitely not the disaster it could have been, but a number of lessons learned and revisions in hand.


Pros:
- It's undoubtedly an 1859 style LSWR Passenger Brake van with body and underframe printed in one piece.
- On top the brake wheel, platforms, steps, desk, sorting rack, glazing pockets (now all glazed) came out perfectly.
- Underneath the Newall brake shaft could be installed and all the bits of the complicated brake mechanism were created correctly.
Cons:
- The panels between the frames (and sides overall) are clearly too thin, so 0.2mm has been added internally all round.
- Water was trapped in the sorting rack causing it to distort when cured despite hours of drying time on a radiator.
- The footboards left much to be desired, these have been amended to be wedge shaped (thickening towards the rear) and have an extra couple of supports not on the real thing as this is preferable to wavy footsteps. The knife edge supports for the footboards were too light and themselves distorted so they have also been beefed up.
- The 3D printed W irons are too delicate. and two have broken off. To thicken them I'll need to move guides, axleboxes, springs and possibly other items out to maintain a credible look. They cannot be thickened inwards as there's already only room for 25mm axles in the etched suspension units.
- It was not possible to drill out the holes for the horizontal handrails along the side - so the holes will need to be enlarged and their mounts simplified.


Sadly, this was a perfectly formed roof when left to dry overnight. The roof with caboose was always going to be a challenge, so I've run some beefy knife edge supports down each side that should keep it aligned for curing and give it the strength needed for the glazing to be fitted. The roof sections and ribs have also been beefed up. Despite this the knife edge supports will almost certainly be needed until the glazed roof is ready to be glued in place. This style of support gobbles up resin, but there is just enough resin left to attempt the revised roof tonight.

 

[Jon Nazareth]

Stevers
This is a surprise as I didn’t think that other folk made early stuff. I scratch built one of these in G3 a little while back. Looking forward to seeing yours painted.

Jon

 

[Stevers]

I didn’t think that other folk made early stuff

We're out there, though it's not my normal modelling period! Once I've mastered 3D printing the 1859 van, there are 3D CAD models of an 1864 van and one each of 1st, 2nd and 3rd class coach waiting for the same set of mods. To haul them will be a Lion Class 0-6-0 and a Vesuvius Class 2-4-0.

This is the Beattie 1950g tender for the Vesuvius Class. The Lion Class tender will be printed without the external brake cylinder. I've designed and had produced the etched and 3D printed parts for Lion Class, and have made a start on the loco chassis. The two vans and six coaches were made up into a fixed rake with two close coupled '3-sets' within. As such it will represent the train that left the rails at Downton in 1884.

 

[Jon Nazareth]

I’d be very interested to see the engines once they’re finished. What a small world,
I too scratch built a 1st, 2nd and 3rd class, all in G3. If you pop over to the G3 section on this site you’ll be able to see them all there.

Jon

 

[Stevers]

What a difference a day makes! This was left on the built plate overnight in the printer so that I could keep an eye on it as it dried. This morning after washing almost all of the Blueprint supports were removed, and it was left to dry on my knife edge supports and grid. Once thoroughly dry there were no problems with curing it. In front of it are the N/S templates for the glazing that I made using paper templates printed out of QCAD. These were adjusted for final fit on the 3D printed model.


Some supports were left in as they weren't in the way of painting or glazing and might actually help retain the shape. The glazing templates are in position paper side in. I'll get some double sided tape in the morning to fasten the templates to the glazing material so that I can cut round them accurately. I'll paint the roof a nondescript grey as even if white lead paint had been used, it would have got grubby pretty quickly, and the roofs certainly don't look white on a photo of one of these sets taken at Salisbury. This roof won't fit the the body from yesterday as the thicker roof, and extra ribs will have changed the fit.

 

[Stevers]

Lots of 3D printing resulting in one of the close coupled '3-sets'; this one two Thirds 'piggy backed' to a First. The close coupling is via a single normal length buffer and a pad. Each Third has full length buffers one end and a pad the other making it possible to add a coach whilst maintaining the correct orientation of the assymetrical Newall brake shaft - I don't know if this was the actual arrangement but it seems most likely to me. The buffer housings are all 3D printed and the sprung buffers AGW coach ones turned down in my cordless drill to wagon dimensions. I had thought that the foot boards would need shortening, but that's not the case. A tad wavy for my liking, if they are to be 3D printed then they could benefit from an extra (unprotypical) support at each end. The first and third class coaches are the same length and it's astonishing that what is effectively a whole extra compartment has been squeezed in. Running on pinpoints the coaches vary in their free running, but are so short that propelling them through my crossover works well.

3D printed steps for access to the oil lamps and fillers are provided at one end of the unbraked First Class coach. The intention is still to fit suspension to my train via my own W Iron etches, so these are really test prints to iron out any problems with the CAD models and limits of the resin material and my 3D printer. This side of the coach is partially unhinged, but I can't remember if the central bottom hinge didn't print, or has just pinged off. Unfortunately, with the drier weather, the garden has kicked off with a vengeance, and the ongoing reorganisation of the basement that gave me my large workshop is also impinging on my modelling time.