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Occasional Random Thoughts and Stuff

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  • adminadmin
    IMG_0058

    Happy little soldiers fresh from the printer. A bit of post processing and they will be on their way to new homes tomorrow. Exciting to be able to create resin, metal, and 3D printed parts. I don't believe anybody else is producing details in three different mediums.
  • EmeryJEmeryJ
    A pasture full of Texas Longhorns.... LOL.
  • adminadmin
    EmeryJ said:

    A pasture full of Texas Longhorns.... LOL.

    Hook em' Horns....
  • trains4ms
    Hi Brett,

    Those look really fantastic. From the pictures it looks like you have solved the layering that shows up on 3D printed parts. Great job.

    Are you including them in current kits that are shipping now instead of your current tanks?

    Mike S.
  • adminadmin
    Yeah Mike, layering/banding - no issue.

    Never shipped a 3D part in a kit, until tomorrow that is. I have been shipping resin castings whose masters were 3D printed since August. HO and O.
  • kebmokebmo
    exciting times.
  • adminadmin
    IMG_0060

    Thought I would take this full circle.... O Scale O'Neills part one casting assortment with 3D printed gas bottles. Took five months to get where I wanted them to be in order to be included in a kit... December 2020 marks a first for SW after 25+ years of shipping "traditional" resin and metal castings. HO Scale 3D parts will be shipping in 2021. Cool stuff...
  • MountaingoatMountaingoat
    And we are the beneficiaries of your efforts. Looking forward to the River Front and other future kits......Rick
  • ALCOALCO
    Appreciate that you are not sending out the 3D parts still on their spruces. I’ve had such parts on spruces fly away and never to be found.
  • MuddyCreekRRMuddyCreekRR
    Brett...have you come up with any different techniques for painting or detailing the #D stuff? I would think they should be just the same as the resin stuff. I have just started working with other 3d details and haven't seen any issues as of yet. I'll get more practice with the details I will see in the next part of the O scale Foundry.
  • adminadmin
    ALCO said:

    Appreciate that you are not sending out the 3D parts still on their spruces. I’ve had such parts on spruces fly away and never to be found.

    I will definitely be shipping some parts without sprues but some small, fragile items need the sprue structure to protect them!
  • adminadmin
    MuddyCreekRR said:

    Brett...have you come up with any different techniques for painting or detailing the #D stuff? I would think they should be just the same as the resin stuff. I have just started working with other 3d details and haven't seen any issues as of yet. I'll get more practice with the details I will see in the next part of the O scale Foundry.

    One of the attractive properties of the resins I chose to print with is that they are quite similar overall to the resin I have been casting with for years - so same techniques and materials apply!

  • TomMich
    Brett, that's what makes Sierra West the best kits on the market. You are always striving to come up with innovative techniques, and materials. Thanks for your commitment to the hobby.
  • ALCOALCO
    ALCO said:

    Appreciate that you are not sending out the 3D parts still on their spruces. I’ve had such parts on spruces fly away and never to be found.

    Make that “sprue”
  • adminadmin
    Thank you Tom, your support is much appreciated!
    "Spruces" works just fine this of year - auto correct tried to grab my "sprues" too, hah!

    So I had a customer ask me this morning what makes the 3D parts good?
    Specifically for gas bottles, HO or O Scale:
    Perfectly round - not squashed like a part from a traditional mold
    Perfectly flat bottom - no need to file to get it to stand up straight
    I just press the play button on the printer and two hours later have handful of perfect castings... ok oversimplified but you get the idea!
  • EmeryJEmeryJ
    Just curious.... would the 3D printed parts be any less fragile than say the tiny laser cut ones like fan blades or similar?
    Also, would it be any faster printing them as opposed to the slow process of the laser? Most importantly, would the end result be as good?
  • adminadmin
    Emery - specifically for the fan blades the 3D parts would be too thin to package and ship. Laser is quite a bit faster than the 3D printer actually.
  • adminadmin
    IMG_0067

    Been mixing and pouring resins for well over 25 years. Why in the last year can I not find a stupid cheap plastic bottle that doesn't leak? Very frustrating to have to start every morning off cleaning the tint bottles... Never had this problem before.
  • EmeryJEmeryJ
    Try www.webstaurantstore.com (Local would be Acemart store)
    They have those ketchup, mustard, etc bottles that look about like these. Rather cheap.
    I have ordered other things from them in the past and have been very pleased.
  • TomMich
    Everything gets "New and Improved"!
  • MuddyCreekRRMuddyCreekRR
    Just 3D print some gaskets for the bottles.......seriously.....Gasket material can be cut to help seal the bottles one would thing...
  • adminadmin
    edited December 2020
    Thanks Emery, I appreciate the suggestion.
    Art, duh on me... gonna laser cut a gasket - thanks for the reminder, hah!
  • adminadmin
    IMG_0069

    After a minute of thought I was like crapola.... this just too easy. Thanks for making me use my brain Art.
  • MuddyCreekRRMuddyCreekRR
    Brett...been there....done that.....
  • ALCOALCO
    Brett, I wonder if plumber’s PTFE thread seal tape would work with less mess when refilling the bottle?
  • Robert.GRobert.G
    I make sealing rings for these kind of bottles out of old rubber inner tubes . Works super and at no cost
  • nemmrrcnemmrrc
    Groovy.

    Jaime
  • Jerry
    If you made people we could get a little Brett in every kit!!

    Jerry
  • MuddyCreekRRMuddyCreekRR
    Assorted tools.....a railroad onion style lantern.....actually anything that you could get better detail from 3D printing as opposed to casting...
  • Joel
    Amazing details. Just when we all convinced your kits couldn't get any better.
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