|
Here are some of the 3D parts I have printed so far.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...db6616b4e1.jpg SSYMS Complete Framework with Bed Side plates and end plates https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...60b96b1c38.jpg With Bogie in place https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...b275b4aa0a.jpg Upper & Lower Framework with Inner Support below https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...6702aadc7d.jpg Upper framework with Inner Support in place https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...56aa848899.jpg Buffer End Plate with Handrail supports and mounts https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...8715b17535.jpg Brake control Handrail and end plate mount https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...fa8815259b.jpg Prototypical coupler hooks and adjustment https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...9a78de9f48.jpg Closeup of Coupler with M3 threaded rod for adjustment https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...21323a0632.jpg Reprinted coupler parts using stronger Polymax Filament https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...00f1c7beb9.jpg End plate hooks for tie down cables https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...469ed61f1b.jpg Bogie side plate with leaf springs and Interconnect parts https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...d03bed8455.jpg Bogie Axle Boxes with 00-90 hex bolts for assembly https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...d8957a6615.jpg Sectioned Bed sides with Piano wire for alignment and joint strength Once all the parts have been cleaned up assembly will begin with the Bogies . That's all for now. |
I am kind of surprised over 3,500 views and not many comments.
Anyway after perusing the parts of the 1/35th scale Sabre SSYMS kit I had purchased for this build and some deliberation, I decided to redo the few parts I had downloaded that I hadn't already redone. Because of this it became necessary to modify some of the parts I had created from scratch. For example, I was never really happy with the Bogie Axles they were just 12 mm posts, I had modified them originally to take a sealed bearing on both ends of the shaft. After looking at the axle in the kit, it was anything but a straight shaft, it is contoured from narrow in the center to wider at the ends just before where the wheel is located, then it narrows down for the wheel and the ends are narrower still to go into the axle boxes in the bogie side plates. A picture is worth a thousand words. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f3d5a3e322.jpg New contoured axles, split version with holes and new wheel with smaller hole. I created the axle to match the kit design, but adjusted it to match the bearings I had already used, I also split the axle in half to print easier, I added a center hole to screw the two pieces together with threaded rod. The axle is not load bearing except at the ends where the sealed bearing is located, we'll see how it holds up. Printing it vertically requires no post processing of the part except joining the two halves. Consequently I modified the wheels I had created with a smaller center hole to match the new axles. Incidentally, because of all the additional parts I have created, there will be two of the SSYMS 80 ton rail cars built, one with the original parts pictured in the beginning of this post and one using all the new parts I have created and printed using the Polymax filament. The SSYMS using the older parts printed in standard PLA will get some of the detail parts I created added to it. Ultimately that SSYMS 80 ton car will get donated to either the AAF Tank museum in Danville Virginia or to the Bay Area Blitzkrieg tank club I belong to here in Largo Florida. Here are some of the new parts I have modified or created, I have test printed them but I still have to print the quantities required (read Bogie wheels and axles) Some of the parts I modified because of the details the Sabre kit provided me. I found out that the fish plates used were actually contoured to match the recess in the rail profile, I had originally thought they were just flat plates. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...31ce8527f2.jpg New Contoured Fish plates. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...55a2ae30dc.jpg New Axle Box bottom end plates angles cut. The Axle box bottom end plates were cut at an angle on the prototype, so I modified these as well. Others parts were modified because of the changes I made to other parts. Some changes I tried were rolled back due to the complexity of the parts and the necessary changes to be able to 3D print the parts. One example was the supports that go between the Bogie cross brace and the end plates. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...cd3de2aa34.jpg Bogie support beams joined, top and bottom view. The prototype has these as small "I" beams, I attempted to recreate these but due to their small size was unable to get them to work satisfactorily. As with all the 3D printed "I" beams they have to be created in two parts. There was not really enough material to be very strong when they are made to scale, (remember they are still only plastic). Consequently, I scrapped them and stuck with my original design of a beefier "U" channel beam. I did modify the "U" channel beams so the two beams are more like the kit part and joined at the end. I'll post pictures of the printed parts as soon as I get them all printed. Steve |
After looking over the Bill of Materials I have compiled for this build, there may not be anyone else crazy enough to print this project or worse have it printed.
At last count I had about 354 parts in total including the Rail Road track to display it on. That doesn't include the the plates for mounting the track to the RR Ties/Sleepers, which I have yet to design and print. Of course many of the parts are small and many can be printed together at one time which is good because you need multiples of many of them anyway. The largest pieces, the main framework and the sides of the Rail Car are each split into three or more sections to allow easier printing. I will look into reducing the number of parts if possible, but it mostly has to do with the printing aspects of the parts. I find it much better to make the part easier to print and assemble them, than to print parts that are complex that require supports that have to be removed after the fact. Filing and sanding the parts is the least fun part of 3D printing so I try to keep it to a minimum if possible. I finally am finishing printing the last wheels and axles, I am finding some parts have to be printed at .10 or .15 layer height, otherwise because of their shape (contour) the layers are more exposed and they turn out looking terrible. Anyway almost all of the original parts that did not redesign have been reprinted with the stronger PolyMax PLA filament. That stuff is great very strong. I am hedging my bets on one point, that is I am making accommodations for reinforcing the framework sections where they join together and elsewhere. Until I glue them together I don't really know how much of a load they can handle, so my modifications will allow me to bolt in steel plates to strengthen the joints and beams. Martin, (Ex_Pat_Tanker) had suggested this with the original bed I was going to use, which I had 4mm threaded steel rod to attached the sections together. That bed was much beefier, the new redesigned bed is more scale, hence more lightweight and not as strong as far as I can tell at this point. We'll see how it goes. Now I just have to verify my parts inventory to make sure I have enough of the parts I need to assemble it together. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That is it for now. Steve |
Well more than a month has passed since I last posted anything here and what a month it has been!Well I have been back at it on the SSYMS, the lock down hasn’t changed my situation much, as I have been working from home for a couple of years now.
In fact we got a flurry of orders for the streaming systems we sell, since many have to stream to their clients, students and congregations. I’ve been busy building systems, so no additional free time, but some additional funds for the cause. Anyway back to the SSYMS, I decided to recreate a more prototypical track mounting plate as the original one I downloaded with the track were a bit oversized and looked kind of chunky. So I redesigned the track mounting plates to resemble some I had seen in some photos. So I designed them to match the track I had already printed. After looking at the RR tracks I had printed they looked a bit large for 1/16th scale, So I resized them as close to scale as I could get away with, my main consideration was that I needed to have them big enough to have the mounting plates large enough to print. I found that the track plates were difficult to print at exact 1/16th scale. BTW In researching I found there are about as many sizes and profiles of Railroad track as there are countries on earth, finding the proper profile and size they used back in Germany in the 30's and 40's was no easy task. The track varied depending on where it was located, between large cities with a lot of traffic it was a more heavy duty track than elsewhere. I am sure model railroading guys are rolling their eyes as this information is probably obvious to them. Consequently I stuck with the profile I was already using and just scaled it as close as I could to 1/16th and what would allow the mounting plates to be printed properly. I think I got it pretty close. The pictures shows the original size on the left and the new smaller one on the right I reduced the track by about 3mm in height and 3mm in width from the larger size. The picture of the printed parts shows them in reverse with the resized track on the left and the original on the right. I also designed some printable railroad Ties with a wood grain texture on the top surface as well. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...55200c8171.jpghttps://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...8750c55bf0.png Track Comparison printed https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...dbb940d6bc.jpg Railroad Ties with mounting plates Since I was working with the new track I decided to engineer a Railroad Buffer End Stop, you have probably seen these almost every siding has one of these or at least something similar. After looking at some pictures on line I designed mine to resemble some of them. Mine is engineered so that it is almost entirely built using short track pieces cut to fit together. It seemed that this would be common practice back in the day, as it would be an inexpensive expedient to getting one which had been manufactured . https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...72adbbae15.jpg End Stop Buffer 3/4 view https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...ef8a5932de.jpg End Stop Buffer front view https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c392caede5.jpg End Stop Buffer rear view https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...2f27a8fd83.jpg End Stop Buffer side view https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...9448444a29.jpg End Stop Buffer top view I recently printed out the wooden parts I had created, the ladder the crates and the chocks. I also had to create hinges for the crate lid which are quite small. I was able to print them, we'll see if I can make them functional at the miniscule size I had to print them at, I hedged my bets and printed some static versions to use if the crates need to remain closed. I am not exactly sure what the crates were used for maybe storing tarps (Zeltbahns) and ropes to be used to cover the tanks once loaded. Surprisingly the eight wheel (track) chocks fit inside the crates perfectly, so those may have been stored in there as well. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c1494541ed.png https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...a9fea35b8f.png https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...0cc9725544.png I also did one in Gray https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...e23c5213fb.png Anyway that is all for now. I had to purchase a disc sander to finish the mating joints on the different parts, doing it manually would be way too time consuming, especially since I now have two of them to assemble and finish. Once the sander arrives I can get to work on the parts and doing some assembly. Steve |
That is some very impressive work there.
|
Panther F,
Thanks, I am glad you like it, it has been sort of learn as I go situation, sometimes it makes my brain hurt! I can't wait to start assembling everything, I haven't decided whether to document the assembly with video or still images. When I get the SSYMS cars done I plan on donating one to the AAF museum battlefield if they want it. Hopefully I can deliver it in person once things get back to normal. They have a nice G-Scale layout around the battlefield and an armed armored train car (self powered) they might be able to pull it with. They did have a flatbed rail car at some of the meets, I think Willy Loewer of customrcmodels provided it as well as a real nice engine to pull it. Steve |
I think they would welcome that! (If not, I'll display it!) :o Getting back to the battlefield one more time myself is MY goal, this time being totally prepared. I have this feeling the virus isn't done with us yet.
Also, this may have been asked before but is this going to be something anyone could order/purchase... you know the general public. |
Originally Posted by Panther F
(Post 12601605)
I think they would welcome that! (If not, I'll display it!) :o Getting back to the battlefield one more time myself is MY goal, this time being totally prepared. I have this feeling the virus isn't done with us yet.
Also, this may have been asked before but is this going to be something anyone could order/purchase... you know the general public. I haven't decided on how I would offer it to others, I would probably offer it as a semi-completed kit, where it would just require joining the main bed sections and assembling the bogies and adding details. The reason is there is a lot of post processing required (Read filing and sanding) before things can be assembled. Some of that is due to my inexperience in designing parts to fit together properly. I have been learning as I go how to compensate for material shrinkage, but not always successfully. On some pieces I wanted an interference fit, the best way to achieve it was to sand or file the two parts to fit, not the best way but short of printing three or four iterations of a part, the only way to get those tolerances. Many who might want it are not modelers so unable or unwilling to spend the time involved to get the parts ready to assemble. For example almost all the holes designed into the model are undersized, I did this so that they could be drilled out for whatever fastener I had on hand or could get easily. In some cases I plan to just use piano wire to attach parts together. If you are not a modeler with the proper tools cutting piano wire can be a real PITA! I would hate to sell one to someone and find out later that they gave up on it because there was too much work fitting all the parts together, compared to their expectations of what they thought the assembly would be like. Sorry for the long drawn out answer but I just wanted people to know what they were up against if they want one it will require some work, so my suggestion non-modellers need not apply. I'll keep the thread updated on to what I decide, I may offer just the STLs at some point, heck other than test fitting I haven't even assembled mine yet, still waiting on the disc sander to arrive. Steve |
Martin, Thanks! I have a Creality CR-10S printer I have modified the chassis with holes that I will install 2mm and 1mm steel rods that perform two functions alignment of the parts and reinforcement of the joints. I also have two 4mm stainless steel threaded rods with metal reinforcement plates where they pass through and sandwich the multiple plastic beams with nuts on either side. Additionally I will JB Weld (Steel Epoxy) the component pieces together. I think it should hold. If not I will reprint the Chassis in something else either PETG or ASA or as a last choice ABS. Steve |
What broke exactly? I've not yet found anything that couldn't be easily replaced with another part.
|
I agree, practically every part for the CR-10 series of printers is available on line.
From power supplies to control boards, I have found every part I have ever looked for and they are usually very inexpensive. As far as new printers I have been looking at the new CR-10 V2 and V3 printers as my next printer, they have improved the CR-10, added some new features and the price is lower than what I paid for my CR-10S two years ago. The big difference between the V2 and V3 is the V3 has a Titan direct drive and I believe a V6 hot end. Steve |
Wondering what the major advantage of the CR10V2 is vs the CR10S? Most of the features are already available as upgrades for the CR10S and the blurb on the Creality page compares the V2 to the original CR10, not the 10S?
|
Martin,
You are absolutely right most features on the CR-10 V2 version can be added to my original CR-10S I have done some of them. The CR-10 V2 has the dual Z axis stepper motors like the original CR-10S and is available with both the BL touch and the Titan Direct Drive. The V2 also has the quieter stepper drivers and the frame reinforcement. My original CR-10S already had the dual Z axis I believe the BL touch and Direct drive can both be added to it as well. I wanted a second printer that I was familiar with and I was hesitant to upgrade my existing printer beyond a certain point, without a backup in place, in case I had any issues doing the upgrades I wanted. Additionally I wanted to increase my ability to print more parts faster. I find I spend half of my print time printing things for other people, so I will soon be able to do my projects full time and still print stuff for other people. Steve |
It has been a while since I have posted any update, The pandemic has made me very busy, you see I sell and build video streaming systems, as you can imagine everyone needs to stream nowadays, schools, churches, corporate entities are all having to start streaming to provide service for their students, congregations and their employees and customers in order to do business.
Consequently I have not had as much free time as I need or would like to complete some of my ongoing projects. My belt sander finally came in, as did my new printer, I haven’t even taken the time to assemble and setup either one yet. With what little free time I have had I spent designing and printing the loading ramp that was used to drive the tanks onto the SSYMS rail car. Here are some pictures of the parts I have designed so far using photos of the 1/35th scale ramp made by trumpeter for their SSYMS rail car. It would have been nice to have plans for this item to ease the designing process, but I manged to muddle through. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...728924773a.png https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...1ab1c8b849.png https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...831265efdc.png https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...4ae5967deb.png https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...7749cafe3e.png https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...0d6edf5b99.png Above are the exploded views of some of the parts. The only things missing in the pictures are the cross bars which support the diamond plates and the hinge that joins the short ramp and long ramp together. I cheated a little on the cross bars, as compared to the Trumpeter kit parts, as I did not want to have 15 cross pieces to print so I only have nine and some are duplicated by making mine rectangular, they pull double duty as each bar has a different height and width so I only have to rotate them to use them in another position. I think I got pretty close on the dimensions, I shortened the long ramp a little to fit the print bed, of course after I printed the ramps I realized I could just rotate it diagonally to fit the bed in the correct length so I am redoing those parts luckily it won’t affect much else except the diamond plate that spans the space between the ramps. I will just need to reprint some more plates. The ramps I printed will still work just at a slightly steeper angle. I will post some pictures of the printed parts, as soon as I take them. Steve |
Great to see the project was not lost or shelved. Everyone would understand under these circumstances of todays 'new normal'.
Still excited and interested in this one. |
Panther F,
Thanks for the feedback. I have too much time invested to let this project fall by the wayside and I promised myself I would get this done before I would move on to complete my next major project, the16 ton Fries Strabokran and the V2 rocket in 1/16th scale. Steve |
I finally got around to taking some pics of the revised 3D printed ramp parts I designed, the ramp is mostly assembled by this time.
I redesigned and reprinted the long ramp parts so they would be closer to the correct length, they are now 346mm in length, increasing the ramp total length when fully extended to around 500 mm or just under 20 inches. The first picture is the TinkerCad screen showing the parts required, most are duplicated (so not all are shown) for a total of 52 parts including the diamond plates (also not shown in this picture). https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...739d302fed.png Of the diamond plates required there are six for the long ramp and only two for the short. I made the cross bars underneath hollow so I could insert a steel rod to give it more strength in case the tank track happens to run on top of the diamond plates (I am sure at some point this will happen). The other items not previously pictured are the cross bars and the end pieces that attach to the front of the short ramp that are placed on top of the rail cars bed. Additionally for assembly there are several hardware components required the "L" brackets at the front are attached with 2mm button head screws and nylon insert lock nuts as there is no accessing them after the ramp parts are glued together I had to be sure they would not come loose over time, thread lock would have worked equally well but I had the lock nuts on hand. Then there are the 10 steel rods that are inserted into the hollow crossbars. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...cce3880113.png Long & Short Ramps https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...364fff9c7e.png Long & Short Ramp Disassembled https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f25db7eb6a.png Front of Short Ramp https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...8490baef5c.png Ramp Support Ultimately everything will be glued together except for the joint between the short ramp and the long ramp, as I made this able to pivot for different heights if necessary and the ramp to the triangular base will not be glued for ease of disassembly for transport. That's all for now. |
SSYMS UPDATE
It has been a while since I posted any updates regarding my SSYMS 80 ton German Flatbed rail car for Tiger 1 and King Tiger. I have done quite a lot since my last post. I recently acquired a Resin 3D printer and of course I had to reprint some detail parts with it. The main bed endplates and some of the bogie detail parts, the resin printer allows me to combine several assemblies together and print them as a single unit something not possible due to the limitations of printing on my FDM printer. After working on several other projects I have finally come to actually start the assembly process of the SSYMS. I started off with the Rail End Stop. One of my first resin prints, I printed it as one solid component with only the RR ties and the actual buffers as separate pieces which were attached to it using 00-90 screws. The buffers are PLA and spring loaded so they will actually function, the ties are resin to get the wood grain detail. We’ll see how well the resin and PLA plastic hold up under the abuse they will likely get. I previously printed all the parts in PLA separately, so I will assemble those units as well the single resin piece was more of a test to see if I could print it as a single piece, which worked except one of the thinner cross braces did break as I was removing the support structures, it was easily repaired. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...3af1f54ea1.png https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...d59544b5f5.png https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...11bdec8153.png https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...340390b57d.png https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...d263d71c68.png https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...71ebde2db6.png https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...fb43bc5b4c.png I haven't clean up all the nubs leftover where the supports attached to the model. I rushed to put it together to show at the tank club event in Largo. I shot a bunch of pictures tonight so there is more to come. Steve |
Looking great, hope to see more. Hope the V2 is still on!
|
That is looking great! Love the fake wood look on those beams - impressive! Perhaps the bridge chaps could take a lesson there and print the planks!
|
RC BobM,
I can't take credit for the wood grain effect I downloaded it on Thingiverse and cut and sized it to my needs. I have printed some of the railway ties with that wood grain but most of mine will be actual hardwood with only the plastic ties at key places, it takes a long time to print those in 1/16th scale and considering how many are required there are 40 ties per 65 feet which in 1/16th scale is almost exactly 4 feet which is how long the board the SSYMS will be displayed on, so I will need to make 40 ties. On the hard wood ties that I use, I will probably cover them with more ballast to hide the fact they do not have the same texture as the printed ties. I am almost certain I do not want to add texture to 32 ties that are mostly hidden under the SSYMS wagon. When I designed the printed ties I am using, I hedged my bets I made some with the track chairs built in and some without, on those I did provide a depression for the chairs to sit, in order to keep the proper rail spacing, after all I don't want a derailment. Back to the build. My next assembly step was to attach the main “I” Beam grid structure together, again there is piano wire inside the beams towards the ends where they are joined, for alignment and strength. I then bonded the assembled sides to the center grid structure. Lastly I bonded the end plates to the sides and the grid structure. Additionally I added JB Weld to reinforce the structures at specific joint locations. The epoxy was a little runny so controlling where it went was a little difficult, I had to clean off the excess by filing it away after it had completely hardened. I also tried some plastic epoxy putty at several locations this was much easier to apply exactly where I wanted it, once painted it will all be invisible to the eye. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...10f549ae29.png Underside of bed with slip sheets around posts and JB Weld at joints. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...3a30f235dd.png https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...1f71c1f34b.png https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...ef6dbb35df.png It is not pretty but once painted black it will be invisible, since it is underneath. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...dc2b6e618b.png The picture above is where I used the epoxy putty. I was concerned about the rail car’s ability to hold a 13 lb. RC Tank since it is all just plastic with nowhere near the strength of steel, my solution is I will bond a thin piece of aluminum to the top of the bed so it will work like a stressed skin of an airplane wing and spread the load over the entire bed assembly. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...1c60ca03a4.png https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f1e262dda7.png https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...242cc644f1.png At this point the aluminum plate has not yet been cut to size or mounted to the bed. I have not decided what method to rough up the underside of the aluminum to give it a good bite for the JB Weld, probably sandpaper or scoring it with an Xacto knife blade or likely both. Once cut and mounted, there will be a printed frame on top of the aluminum plate, which will hold the wood planking in place. I decided to use bass wood strips instead of balsa wood, as it will hold up better, especially when driving tanks on board with metal tracks. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...e89119bac8.png https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...fc53d9845f.png https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...4684087d02.png The CAD drawing shows the detail of the top frames and where the planks will rest. I believe I counted 48 planks on the Sabre kit of the SSYMS I purchased, mine may have more or less as I cannot seem to find metric 1/16th scale planks of the correct size at the model train store. When I install them, depending on the fit I may let them float and use little if any glue to hold them in place. As long as the planks don't start warping it should be OK. If they start to warp I will have to permanently attach them to the aluminum bed as the plastic frame will not inhibit their warping. This may be a non-issue as it will primarily be an indoor display stand or used indoors, so humidity would be the only thing to cause warping. Well that is all for now, next up is the Bogies. Steve |
Love it.
Iam working on my own 1/16 garden railway and have been looking to do something similar. I love the work and dedication. I am mad enough hehe, but designing some other things first lol |
Originally Posted by Will01Capri
(Post 12691742)
Love it.
I am working on my own 1/16 garden railway and have been looking to do something similar. I love the work and dedication. I am mad enough hehe, but designing some other things first lol If you plan on doing one in the future you might verify the curves on the garden railway you already have are not too small a radius for this car. Taking in to account that this scale is somewhat larger than "G" scale 1/16th vs 1/20th,1/22.5, 1/24th "G" scale (pick one) and due to the length of the bogies and the fact they are nestled under the bed frame they have a somewhat limited travel and cannot negotiate tight turns. I haven't done the math or laid it out on a large enough area to see how tight a radius it can actually negotiate. I looked up "G" scale turn radius and it looks like 24" to 44" is the range offered, the larger should work fine, not sure about the smaller. I have picked up some "G" scale track for testing, I'll let you know what I find out when I layout some curve sections. One other thing if you were to run one of these on your Garden railway, make your coupler hook out of brass or some other metal, as it will have all the stress on it once the car is loaded with a 10 to 20 lb. RC Tank, the mount should probably be OK. Steve |
Next up was to tackle the bogies, there are many parts to the bogies due to the suspension components.
I actually assembled one of the bogies a while ago, not with details just the main framework axle boxes wheels and axles. It was necessary to verify the design would work, since this was the first thing I had totally designed from scratch and had changed somewhat since I decided to do the suspension components and replace the straight axles with the tapered units. The bogies went together as expected everything was bonded together, luckily my interlocking design is somewhat self-aligning so everything is pretty much already square. I used rubber bands and inexpensive clamps to make sure everything was tight before applying glue. I then installed the wheels, axles and inner axle box assemblies and the lower plates that hold them in place, the redesigned axles have a big advantage over the straight axles I printed previously, the wheels are already perpendicular to the axle since they rest up against the shoulder I created on the axle. On the straight axles the wheels would slide up and down the axles, it was necessary to create a jig to get them squared to the axles and to be the correct spread between the wheels to fit the 1/16th scaled track I had created. The disadvantage is I will have to print different axles to fit the “G” scale track in Danville as that track width is quite different. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c6b7b2cde8.png https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...6a2e0a15e3.png I started attaching the suspension components on this one. Onto the suspension detail, I originally decided to use Hex head bolts to join the suspension components together for disassembly purposes, but as it turns out I only had enough for one side, so I decided to go with Button Head screws in black instead. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...d7464d3c36.png https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...fefa123a06.png https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...0ef0c3aa19.png https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...e7e97f1c13.png On the second set of bogies I may just use pins glued in place to hold everything together, that is how the real suspension was held in place with pins and very large horseshoe clips. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...456965be59.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...7c62d1106b.jpg Most of the detail is just for show, although it is designed to be functional with plastic leaf springs it cannot support the weight of the rail car and the 13 lb. tank on top. You may have noticed that only the outside links are in place on the suspension components the inside links not being necessary since it is just for show anyway I left them off, once painted flat black and buried under the bed it will be mostly unseen. Also yet to be added is the alignment pins in the bottom of the leaf spring set that keeps them lined up with the axle boxes below. One major detail I omitted on the bogies is the braking system, it was fairly complex and looked to be a very large PITA and a lot of work designing and printing it. Theoretically it could be added later on, since I made it so the axles can be easily removed, however one would have to make the system somewhat functional so as to allow the brakes to swing out of the way when reinstalling the wheels and axles. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...fb026371e9.jpg This is actually from a four axle rail car but they are similar. When I designed the suspension parts I knew they would not support the weight of an RC Tank so I limited the travel of the suspension to about 75% of the actual movement it was capable of. So it will look like it is correctly loaded but not bottoming out, which it actually will be. While I had printed enough parts for the two bogies I ended up printing some additional parts in resin and some in PLA as I went along and made adjustments. I have still yet to print most of the detail parts for the second set of Bogies. I am definitely a trial and error kind of guy, so it does not benefit me printing all the parts ahead of time, as there are almost always changes to be made or that I will make as I improve things. It is better printing some parts as I go along and just print the key components that I will not change and that other parts will be adjusted to fit those components. Many times I will create and print an alternate version of a part to see if the different version works better or worse than the original design. It wastes a little time but saves in the long run. Common sense tells me it is better to print 12 parts that work well than print 12 that need adjustment or redesign and then print 12 more of the corrected part or rework the incorrect parts with files or whatever. Sometimes I make more work for myself by adding details or functionality which by way of the ripple effect requires changes to other components. The coupling hook and mechanism is an example, I did originally design it to look prototypical of the real type used on the real rail car, however, I decided a little late that I would make it swivel like the original unit as well. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...3fc2a6a69a.png https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...46613589a2.pngThis required some changes to the hook as well as adding the support structure for that to happen, which meant changing the bed end plate sub plate, which I had already bonded to the sides of the bed. This my friends is what the Dremel tool was invented for, I enlarged the hole in the sub plate to allow for the newly created mounting mechanism for the swiveling coupler hook, it ain’t pretty but the alternative would be much worse. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...96b4417cfc.png While I was at it I decided to try to resin print the end plate that the hook passes through, with all the additional parts as a complete unit. As you can see there are many parts attached to the end plate especially the endplate that has the folding handrail. You may have noticed one of the endplate was two pieces joined together, I was unsure at the time that I could print the entire endplate as one piece as it is longer than the build plate on my resin printer. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...681795f437.png Handrail erect, pins holding everything in place temporarily This is a resin print of the handrail assembly, the handrail mounts and all of the detail was printed as one part only the handrail movable parts and buffers are added. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f8a5bf7aa5.png https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...0c8c3d7240.png Handrail folded, Buffers are uneven as the springs are yet to be installed https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...2a9762efc5.png This is the non-handrail endplate there was only one handrail on the rail car https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...000ed2ac0d.jpg From the Sabre manual showing the handrail folded. I opted not to print the buffers as part of the endplate the buffers are printed in PLA for now I may reprint them in ABS or ASA later on depending on how well the PLA holds up, I knew they may get damaged during use, so I made these easily replaceable as is the entire endplate, since it is held in place by the bolts holding the buffers in position. So all the component parts included as part of the resin endplate are the eight mounts for the folding handrail upright stanchions and locking tabs as well as the inverted hooks for the tow cables and the base for the braking handle in addition to the new coupler mount. The original bed that I designed and printed has no accommodation for the swiveling coupler mount so I will rework the ends to accommodate the endplates with the coupler mounts. In case anyone was curious as to why so long between posts, I have been working on several other project while doing this one, here are pics of some of my other projects. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f12e806833.png https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c124d2f19b.png https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...b701962c39.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...3f988da486.png https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c4e8e0e559.png https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...456dcd1453.png https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...d470264896.png Some of these are nearing completion. All for now |
You have been busy! :cool:
|
Martin,
How is your Fries Crane coming along? I saw someone (Tigerfan) on the (RC Tank Warfare) forum working on one as well, his are now finished, he built four of them at once, it looks like he may be selling some of them. I copied his electric motor design when I did mine. The 3D model of the electric motor is big enough to put an actual electric motor inside, which I might do at some point. I would have to design and print the complete drive train for the crane and the generator the Germans used to house the battery. He painted his in dark gray, I think I will do a late war camouflage when I paint mine or at least dark yellow. Steve |
Mine has stalled out due to having too many other projects. My recent experience with first ABS and then PETG on the Bailey bridge suggests that I might struggle to print it at the quality level I want, and glue it together well enough that it will be transportable.
Printing and assembling it in PLA would be easy, but there's not enough structure there for me to have confidence that it wouldn't sag under its own weight the first time I left it out in the summer sun at a show. |
Originally Posted by Ex_Pat_Tanker
(Post 12692133)
Mine has stalled out due to having too many other projects. My recent experience with first ABS and then PETG on the Bailey bridge suggests that I might struggle to print it at the quality level I want, and glue it together well enough that it will be transportable.
Printing and assembling it in PLA would be easy, but there's not enough structure there for me to have confidence that it wouldn't sag under its own weight the first time I left it out in the summer sun at a show. You might try ASA filament it seems to hold up in higher temps and less warping on the print bed than ABS, also less toxic fumes. It looks like mine will be indoors, so the sun may not be a problem, it's only the tankers that melt from the heat here in Florida.:cool: |
Like ASA is just as toxic as ABS as far as I can tell, which means that its only something I can use during the month of July when its warm enough to print with the patio door open - I don't have a separate room I can put the printers in, so they have to sit in my living room.
|
Martin,
I can see where that would be a problem, you don't want the toxic fumes in your living space. What was the issue you had with PETG? |
Its was 2 things mainly - crispness of the detail compared with PLA (and a lot of 'candy floss' everywhere in general), and the brittle nature of the material making support material awkward to remove without breaking the print.
Compared with ABS it stuck to the print bed really well, and paint adhesion hasn't been an issue so far (I used a dedicated adhesion promoter before using an Auto body primer, which probably helped). It seemed to make a lot of fine dust everywhere while printing, which wasn't great, and its very brittle compared with PLA - drilling or dropping parts while I was cleaning them up resulted in breakages. |
Martin,
I had similar experience with the PETG, I believe I wasn't printing it hot enough for it to work well. I have read it can be difficult to dial in printers to print it well. Update: I finally finished assembling one of the bogies completely. Not wanting to leave well enough alone, I made two changes to the SSYMS 80 ton rail car which impacted some other components of course. Firstly, I changed my mind and decided to make the suspension mirror the real rail car. Which meant using pins instead of screws to hold everything together. There were several reasons behind this, one reason was the suspension was not in the correct position to contact the axle boxes in the right place the leaf springs were too close to the bogie side plates. On the real suspension they had recesses manufactured into the bogie side plates (on some) which allowed them to use pins and “C” clips that slid into recesses cut into the pins and kept it from moving. On one of the pictures I posted of the real suspension you can see it. Due to limitations in FDM 3D printing I could not duplicate the recesses in the bogie side plates, besides I had already printed and assembled the bogies and wanted to use what I had printed. So I basically did it without the recesses. I had already printed up a bunch of the small links that join the suspension components. I printed two styles one with a raised shoulder around the holes on one side and one without any shoulders at all. Unfortunately the links without shoulders were still too thick to fit between the backside of the leaf springs and toggle pieces and allow any movement of the suspension. My solution was simple, I just printed 32 thinner links to go behind the leaf springs and toggle parts. I made the pins out of 1.75mm 3D printing filament, inserted into the holes in the links and glued into position, I left them longer than required, so I could more easily work with them. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...9c13922da2.png https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...cac7b6f623.png This picture shows the links behind the suspension components. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...67a7ebd3fb.png The picture above shows the links with the pins that fit behind the leaf spring and toggles. I was not going to be able to notch the filament pins to allow any kind of “C” clip to hold things together, I had some straight pins with eye holes on one end and it turns out they were just the right diameter to fit over the PLA pins. I cut off the excess straight pin and glued them into position, so at least it looks similar to what the Germans did when they built these rail cars. I leave it for you to judge. From ten feet away you could never tell. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...02ef3b0e98.png The middle of the bogie with everything attached. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...46d4924eeb.png The end of the same bogie showing end attachment for the leaf spring. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...6302e4cc53.jpg Above, the real rail car suspension, (a later or updated version), mine won't look this rusty when done and mine won't have any brakes! Yikes! All for now! Steve |
Very impressive progress images!
|
Thanks, Panther!
It's been a long road to get to where I am now. Steve |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Will01Capri View Post Love it. I am working on my own 1/16 garden railway and have been looking to do something similar. I love the work and dedication. I am mad enough hehe, but designing some other things first lol Will, I checked out the rail car with the G Scale curved track I had previously purchased, it makes a 48" circle and it will not work with this rail car, as I suspected the bogies are too long for such a tight radius even without the bed section attached. Even at double the radius it might still be close due to the limited movement of bogies underneath the bed. I might suggest you try to use G Scale "Flex track" for your curves which would allow you to create any radius you require. I read that the Germans had problems with the real cars as well, they said that in the rail yards or elsewhere some of the switches they encountered had too tight a curve radius for these cars to traverse, so careful routing and/or loading was required, in some cases loading had to be performed beyond where the switches were located. Steve |
Good info, thats a shame :(
But all is not lost, maybe for my small layout no good, but maybe have to consider it when i go for 3.5" rail setup for the correct gauge rail for 1/16. Then i can just make track whatever we like using thick up turned steel plate welded every now and then. I have a KofII i printed in 1/16 for 3.5" and its huge. But i probably need something bigger still for one of those rail cars |
Will,
I was going to print one of those KofII for display purposes only, I am sure a motorized one could be used to move the empty SSYMS rail car around, once loaded however, may be too much for it to handle. Even with the electric motors installed to drive it, there would definitely need some serious ballast on board to move a loaded SSYMS with an RC tank in place. Steve |
Originally Posted by Will01Capri
(Post 12694523)
Good info, thats a shame :(
But all is not lost, maybe for my small layout no good, but maybe have to consider it when i go for 3.5" rail setup for the correct gauge rail for 1/16. Then i can just make track whatever we like using thick up turned steel plate welded every now and then. I have a KofII i printed in 1/16 for 3.5" and its huge. But i probably need something bigger still for one of those rail cars You're going to need wider track than that if you want to keep Wayne happy!!! 9.3 should work!! Bwahahahaha!! :p |
Update: The second change I made was to the coupler, originally I used 3mm threaded rod (see earlier picture), to simulate the turnbuckle that is used to bring two rail cars closer together when coupled. I designed and printed the center piece with handle to represent the turnbuckle, if glued in place it would rotate the threaded rod and move the end pieces in the same direction, so not tightening the connection by bringing them together, their relationship would remain the same.
As I understand it, they would tighten the coupler to bring the buffers on both cars into contact which kept tension and minimized the jerking back and forth when starting and stopping the train, since the buffers worked like shock absorbers and these type of couplers have no compressibility, the buffers fulfilled that need. You can imagine a train that was loosely coupled together would beat itself to death and likely derail from the shifting of inertia from all the cars in the train, whenever they would try to slow down or when traveling over a hill, the cars would stretch out going uphill and then once on the downhill slope the cars would catch up and would compress like an accordion pushing on the cars ahead. To update the coupler I was able to locate on line some 3mm turnbuckles that are just like the real thing, right hand threads on one side left hand threads on the other. These are used on RC cars to adjust the steering, this was just what I needed to make the coupler functional. That did bring up two additional problems, the first problem was tapping left handed threads into the component parts. The first one I did by just using brute force, luckily PLA plastic is pretty pliable and the part didn't split, the second one I did with a left handed thread tap, way easier and it works great. The second problem was, I needed to drill a 1mm hole in the center of the turnbuckle in order to attach the handle used for rotating it. Now the Bad News, these turnbuckles are made from Titanium, to make them light and virtually indestructible I guess. If you have ever tried to drill into Titanium you know what I mean, if you ever have to do it be prepared otherwise avoid it if you can. I went through about six drill bits getting the holes into the two turnbuckles I have. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...ddd4eb48ae.png Coupler in fully extended state ready to be coupled to second rail car. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c2fcf14a30.png Coupler in stowed position https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...e5edd3e84d.png Coupler in tightened position, some length adjustment to the shackle end piece may be necessary as it would not be able to tighten down this far with a coupler hook in place. It may not have to tighten anywhere near this amount as the distance will determined by the how soon the buffers contact the other rail car's buffers. Experimentation will tell. The Germans at some point designed and used a double coupler, for lack of a better term it was for connecting cars with extra heavy loads, I think this application qualifies, so I may design and print this and update both couplers to this type. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...b32814084c.jpg Next up will be cutting the aluminum plate for the top of the bed and bonding it to the lower framework. That's all for now! Steve |
Update!
I was finally able to cut the end of the slightly oversized aluminum plate I acquired for the bed for the SSYMS flatbed rail car. In order to give the model of the flatbed rail car enough strength to support a 13 lb. tank I bonded the Aluminum plate to the bed framework using two methods the first method was CA adhesive because the plate was smooth and perfectly flat I was able to lay the plastic bed on the plate and using several heavy weights to maintain pressure on the bed and the natural capillary action of the thin CA adhesive, I was able to run a liberal bead along all the beams and points of contact with the Aluminum plate. Because the bed was so large I did this in three stages, after aligning the plate with the framework and starting at one end, I made sure the weight was positioned so it would hold it all in place no matter how far the CA ran down the beam. After completing all three sections I waited a full 24 hours for it all to cure before applying the second bonding method. The CA adhesive seemed to have worked quite well and made the rail car very strong, as I knew it would. I probably could have settled with just using that method, but engineering wise anything worth doing is worth doing to extreme. The material chosen for the second method of bonding was Liquid Nails. I ran a continuous bead along all of the joining surfaces, much like a weld bead. After that had set for a day I placed a couple of RC tanks on board (about 20 Lbs.) for testing and it does not flex at all. I am satisfied that there will be no issues with the rail car supporting the weight of a tank or two, or possibly a 1/16th scale V2 rocket. At this point all that was left was bonding the framework for the planking to the aluminum plate’s upper surface and cutting the wooden planks themselves. For this I decide to do a similar method to attach the plank framing. First I bonded the three sections together with Plastruct Bondene as I wanted to be sure the frames were all aligned properly then I used a small amount of CA to fix them in place. Next I used a silicone based adhesive to adhere the upper framework in a semi-permanent fashion. The reason to make the bonding semi-permanent was so that if a section of it got damaged by the tank’s metal tracks I could replace it by simply printing another framework and replacing the damaged framework with a newly printed section. Next I had to cut the required hardwood planks to the correct dimension to get them to fit into the raised edges of the printed framework. In the 1/35th scale Sabre SSYMS kit I had purchased as a guide for my build they have 56 planks on the top of the flat bed rail car plus two thinner planks and a gap, originally I was going to use ½” wide hardwood strips for the planks which is closer to scale of the actual planks size used, but I did not have enough of them to complete the job. Maybe on the second one. Instead I used standard ¾” wide hardwood strips as that was what I had on hand. They look pretty good and have some nice flaws in the woodgrain. The dimension of the planks was almost exactly 200 mm. In order to speed up the cutting process I strapped several of the 24” long pieces together and cut them with a crosscut saw and a miter box leaving them a bit long in order to achieve a tight fit using my disk/belt sander I got at Harbor Freight to adjust their length. There are still some small details left to add like decals which I will have to make up myself, scaling up the 1/35th scale decals that came with the SSYMS Sabre kit I purchased. Also painting is soon to be addressed, I had planned on painting everything black but I read these rail cars were sometimes red or gray. I am undecided, I may paint the bed black and the bogies dark gray. I have not considered red as an option, as in wartime I am betting they would not have stayed red for long as it is not a very good camouflage color. I am planning on staining the planks for the rail car as I believe they will look better because it will show the variation in the wood and hold up better with them stained rather than painted. The next big step is to complete the railway, I believe I have printed enough of the hold down plates for the track it is just a matter of cutting the ties/sleepers and bonding them to the plates https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...2f497fec2d.jpg Railway & Bed with minimal Ties https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c76b8085d9.jpg Track and Flatbed Angled https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c193fa88b7.jpg SSYMS no Ramp https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...5d9565699d.jpg Buffer end closeup https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...68bd80b3a7.jpg SSYMS unloaded Handrail End folded https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f3f8078a13.png SSYMS unloaded Handrail End folded Closeup https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...843d47e0b4.jpg SSYMS Unloaded Hand Rail angled Closeup https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...5c3b63c67c.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...9d1da32d7a.jpg SSYMS Ramp End no load https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...7da4016df0.jpg SSYMS unloaded As you can see everything will be attached for display on a four foot long board/shelf that will be portable for me to take to shows and my tank club meets. I still may print some more ties and hold down plates I only have about 22 and I need about 26 more to finish it up. The photos taken are from an event this past weekend, the Military Vehicle Preservation Association First Florida Chapter invited my local Tank Club “Bay Area Blitzkrieg” to give a demonstration for the attendees. It was well attended and I think we caught the imagination of many of our audience especially as some of them were unaware that these Radio Controlled armored vehicles were available, we handed out club business cards and let many of the children (young and old) drive some of our tanks. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...5062db9479.jpg SSYMS shaded side Loaded https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...ff51ec299a.jpg SSYMS Loaded top view https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...63b07f230f.jpg SSYMS Loaded sunny front https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...2ee27f7c4e.jpg SSYMS Loaded backside https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...bc4573e390.jpg SSYMS Loaded sunny front with ramp https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...2896d4faaa.jpg SSYMS Closeup coupler buffer end https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...9858da1d61.jpg Loaded SSYMS Shade side https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...803e7069c6.jpg Ramp & Buffer detail That's all for now, more pics after the painting and staining. Steve |
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:50 AM. |
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.