3D Printing Matter

[Anglia105E]

I have purchased and assembled an Anet A8 3D printer that I picked up on Ebay as a DIY kit of parts. Having gone through the process of learning how to use this printer, I have successfully 3D printed a 1:43 scale Ford Anglia / Popular 103E body and wheels. My question is regarding the company, Hum3D...... they are ready to sell me a .STL file for a 1:24 scale Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, which would cost me 95.00 Euros, or £85.22 or US$. 112.39....... Hum3D say that this .STL file is not print ready, which I understand, but for them to sell me a print ready file they would charge me 300.00 Euros, or £269.13 or US$. 354.86

However, if I was to purchase the .STL file from Hum3D and then import the file into the Cura software, as I did with the Ford, surely I could slice the file to produce the Gcode ready to print the Rolls-Royce model? What worries me is that if Hum3D have somehow rendered the file non-editable, then I would not be able to slice it and also wasted my money. I really would like to try 3D printing this Silver Cloud, and I don't mind paying that sort of money to obtain the .STL file, as long as I am not buying a less than perfect file. Don't worry if this is something you have no knowledge of, but I cannot afford to pay 300.00 Euros for the Hum3D version of the Gcode print ready file.

I have dealt with Shapeways of course, but not had any dealings with Hum3D previously.

The following photos show the size of both the Ford and the Rolls-Royce on the 3Dprinter build platform, which has the dimensions 220 x 220 x 240 cm.

David Watson (England) - Anglia105E

[Anglia105E]

Sorry, I forgot to include the link to the Hum3D product in my previous post, so here it is......

https://hum3d.com/shopping-cart/?add=ec7cedf9faa5b9e75a5ce2fb8b4a4017

David

[my66s55]

You can alter Hum 3D files any way you choose. They aren't 3d printable as they are one face, or one layer thick. They also are made of many cad files for parts. This file of their 40 LaSalle is an example and is not fully broken down.

I have altered their 57 DeSoto and 55 Dodge to create the following prints. I haven't cleaned up all the support nubs yet as these are test prints.

Also be aware that some of the Hum 3D files are not accurate. The 55 Dodge is a good example. This is the file before correction.

And after. I ended up having to correct much more than. this. I also changed it from a 4 door Coronet to a Custom Royal Lancer convertible. 

I myself, wouldn't do what you are considering. Too much money to create a model on an fdm 3d printer. 

[Anglia105E]

Thanks a lot, Doug..... and your reply post helps me a great deal. You have done some excellent work there  with the Dodge, and I do take your point that the files include all the component parts of the car, not just the body shell.

I agree actually, that this would be too much money for my cheap Anet A8 printer, so I have managed to find a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III body shell on the Cults3D website. The file to download was only £8.97, which is US $. 11.83, and the object when imported into the Cura software that I am using is massive. I calculated the scale is 1:3..... so I resized the object down to 1:43 scale and sliced the file for printing. When I tried to 3D print the body shell the printer produced a perfectly flat raft that was only 4 cm x 2 cm, and then the nozzle just wandered around the bed not printing anything. When this file is opened in Cura it gives me an error message, which says...... "Model errors..... Your model is not manifold. The highlighted areas indicate either missing or extraneous surfaces." ( There are lots of highlighted areas actually. )

Is it possible that perhaps the downloaded file is somehow corrupt? The Silver Cloud III does have twin headlamps, but I could modify this to the single headlamp version for the Silver Cloud I

Three photos for you.

David

[my66s55]

The file has errors. This is a problem with files found on the net. A must have program to find and possibly fix files like this is Netfabb Basic. It was discontinued a few years ago, but is still available for download here: http://julesgilson.com/index.php/2017/05/08/download-the-old-netfabb-basic-free/. 

This screen will appear when you open it. Check the box as I did and click on "Later" after the count down.

Now that you've gotten the 3d printing bug, you might consider moving to the next level and purchase an msla resin printer. You can read up on the different types of printers here: https://all3dp.com/1/types-of-3d-printers-3d-printing-technology/.

I have 4 different msla printers. There all made by Phrozen which is based in Taiwan. Their second to latest release was this one: https://www.phrozen3dp.com/products/phrozen-sonic-mini-4k-61-lcd-3d-printer. They released it for order August 15th and their not done shipping all the orders yet. It should be available be on Amazon as early as December. Their Facebook pages are : Phrozen 3D Printer Group and Phrozen Sonic and Sonic Mini Group. I paid $329 and change for mine and it included 4 day shopping from Taiwan.

[Anglia105E]

28 minutes ago, my66s55 said:

The file has errors. This is a problem with files found on the net. A must have program to find and possibly fix files like this is Netfabb Basic. It was discontinued a few years ago, but is still available for download here: http://julesgilson.com/index.php/2017/05/08/download-the-old-netfabb-basic-free/. 

This screen will appear when you open it. Check the box as I did and click on "Later" after the count down.

Now that you've gotten the 3d printing bug, you might consider moving to the next level and purchase an msla resin printer. You can read up on the different types of printers here: https://all3dp.com/1/types-of-3d-printers-3d-printing-technology/.

I have 4 different msla printers. There all made by Phrozen which is based in Taiwan. Their second to latest release was this one: https://www.phrozen3dp.com/products/phrozen-sonic-mini-4k-61-lcd-3d-printer. They released it for order August 15th and their not done shipping all the orders yet. It should be available be on Amazon as early as December. Their Facebook pages are : Phrozen 3D Printer Group and Phrozen Sonic and Sonic Mini Group. I paid $329 and change for mine and it included 4 day shopping from Taiwan.

Thank you, Doug..... I have used Netfabb previously, when I uploaded my design for a Rolls-Royce engine to Shapeways in Holland...... my design file had errors in it, and they suggested that I try Netfabb before they finally fixed further errors. Certainly I will make use of the old Netfabb link that you have sent me, and hopefully the Silver Cloud file will become printable at some stage.

My Anet A8 printer was described as a Prusa i3 on Ebay, but of course it is not an Original Prusa i3, so merely a cheap Chinese knockoff, as they say! However, it does seem to be a reasonably competent machine, which I enjoyed assembling myself. This is a good way of understanding how the technology works, I think. Myself, I am a self employed technical support engineer, having working with computers for almost 40 years now. The satisfaction of building my first 3D printer was just as scary and exciting as when I built my first computer.

David

[Mike 1017]

One day we maybe able to buy a Revell 3D printer and just download any model from their  catalogue .

Mike

[Anglia105E]

55 minutes ago, Mike 1017 said:

One day we maybe able to buy a Revell 3D printer and just download any model from their  catalogue .

Mike

Now THAT would be interesting, Mike...... or even Tamiya.....

David

[my66s55]

David, I've been into the d.i.y 3 printing since mid 2011 and when Prussa came out with the I 3 design that year, I built one and proceeded to teach myself cad drawing with Blender. Prussa was a well recognized contributor in the early days. The I 3 is an open source design and available for anyone to build and use. Sometime during 2011, a Spanish guy built the first d.y.i. dlp resin cured printer. The detail was amazing, but it never caught on. Fdm and msla printers came from the d.y.i. open source community. In 2015 a dlp d.i.y resin printer was designed by Tristen Budel(sp) and posted for all to use and improve on. They became the main printer of use. I built mine in late 2015. In 2016, msla became the printer of focus in the d.y.i community. That became a Wonhoo D7 commercial printer, followed by Phrozen and others.    

[Anglia105E]

Fascinating stuff, Doug..... and I am very much in favour of the open source concept, especially when it concerns 3D printers. The CAD software package that I use is the one called FreeCAD, and I quite like the way it works. Once I had taught myself how to use FreeCAD there was a 2 year period of uncertainty, while I waited for the price of 3D printers to come down. At that time during 2017 - 2018, I could not afford even an entry level printer to get started. Then I saw the Prusa i3 being assembled on a YouTube video, by Thomas Sanladerer and I decided to see if there was a Prusa on Ebay...... As it was, I ended up with an Anet A8, but it's okay because I still cannot afford a genuine Original Prusa machine.

David

[Anglia105E]

Just to let you guys know, that I did succeed in printing the 1:43 scale Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III model, and I was really pleased with the result as the window apertures were all open. I was expecting them to be flashed over. It was necessary to add a rectangular base under the car. which forced the raft to extend 3 mm all around the car body, and also supports were essential because the front of this car was not printing at all.

On a different subject..... I have started preparing a 1:24 scale Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III for 3D printing, and as the car will not fit horizontally onto the printer bed, the obvious solution is to print the model vertically. My question is this.... although my model car body is straight up vertical at 90 degrees, I notice that most 3D printed 1:24 scale cars are at a slant from the vertical. Can someone tell me what the reason for this might be, please? Will I have to slant my object before printing, or is it safe to continue with the absolute vertical stance?

Many thanks, David

[my66s55]

It was Prusa who came up with printing on a slant way back circa 2013. He discovered that slant printing gives the best detailed print. By printing at 90 degrees, you are subjecting you car to support contacts on its front. You want to avoid that. Slant the car like this.

As you can see, the frame is too large. A slanted print will give much better detail.

This slant is at 22 degrees. Notice how I leave a small edge at the ends.

Then add supports.

[Anglia105E]

Thanks a lot, Doug...... your clear explanation is just what I was looking for. Are those ' Tree ' supports in your picture?

David

[my66s55]

5 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

Thanks a lot, Doug...... your clear explanation is just what I was looking for. Are those ' Tree ' supports in your picture?

David

Yes they are. Chitubox is used on many 3d resin printers. This was a test print of the frame for the 55 Dodge. All of the supports were generated by the software. Usually I will make adjustment to them, but didn't because it was a test.