First play with an Anycubic Photon

[kipford]

This I hope compliments some of the stuff Roger and Simply Loco are doing with 3D printing. Aside from building my Aspinall I have a long history of 4mm scale modelling in EM gauge (18.2 mm nearly to scale track gauge as opposed OO 16.5 mm which is miles too narrow). I scratch build a lot of stuff for both modern image and LNWR pre-grouping and have used Shapeways for a while now with their FUD material which give very high fidelity on small sizes and minimises faceting.

Roger and Simplyloco use FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) printers where the model is built up using a filment wire melted onto the build plate, these printers rely on X, Y and Z axis control to lay down the build material. These printers are very good as you can see from the parts Roger and Simplyloco have produced, however they cannot handle the very fine detail that some modellers require. Enter the DLP (Digital Light Projection) printer. In many ways these work in a similar way to the original SLA (Steriolithography) printers. A Vat of resin sits over a light source. The resin is light sensitive, The light source cures a layer of resin, the bed moves up it cures another layer or resin exactly the same as an FDM but upside down until the model is complete. Here X, Y dimensions are controled by the light source curing, only the Z axis requiring any mechanical movement.

Last year Anycubic released their Photon DLP printer. It has had great reviews and what’s more the price has been falling all the time. What was nearer £400 last year, I finally gave in last week when they reached £234 complete ready to rock and roll, also I persuaded my wife to buy one for my birthday.

Now there are negatives with these printers. The build area is not huge, although I could get a 5” double inside cylinder block in it. The resin is messy, you need to clean the machine and prints after use, The prints also need a post print UV cure.

Photo 1 shows the difference between a DLP and FDM print.


Capture by Dave Smith, on Flickr


So what do get:

Photo 2 shows the box for the printer and the el cheapo UV nail polish curing machine to cure the prints in when it is not sunny.

IMG_1218 by Dave Smith, on Flickr

Photo 3 shows the box contents. It is very well made and does not have the flimsy look of a lot of the FDM machines. The only thing you have to do is remove all the protective films and level the build plate, very simple. It comes with its own Slicer software, which a cut down version of slicer called Chitobox. I am using the full version of Chitobox which is free to download anyway.



IMG_1219 by Dave Smith, on Flickr


Rather than use a test model as a first print I thought I would jump straight in at the deep end and printed something useful. My son is building a modern image layout in OO and needs some Armco barriers, we have not found any yet to buy. So an hour or so on the CAD produced this, straight sections and the fishtail end piece. It took me 3 minutes to find the dimensions on the internet. For the test I decided to make two straight sections and a fishtail.

Photo 4 shows the CAD model of the straight section.

Barrier 1 by Dave Smith, on Flickr


Photo 5 shows a screen grab from Chitobox showing the 3 parts and their support structure. The machine settings I used were from a thread on RMweb. This part of the exercise took about an hour as I am learning the software. From slicer you create a file which contains all the ‘g’ code to produce the part, the is saved onto a memory stick.

Capture 2 by Dave Smith, on Flickr


Photo 6 shows the printer in its new home.

IMG_1222 by Dave Smith, on Flickr


Photo 7 shows (badly) the completed prints on the build plate.

IMG_1223 by Dave Smith, on Flickr


Photo 8 shows the parts after cleaning in IPA to remove excess resin, but still on the supports.

IMG_1225 by Dave Smith, on Flickr

Photo 9, sorry about the quality of all photos, shows the part after a very rough and ready coat of primer. Note the bolt detail this is around 0.3 mm in diameter, the parts themselves are only 0.2 mm thick. I am very happy with the results considering the price of the kit.


IMG_1233 by Dave Smith, on Flickr

Hope you find it of interest.

Dave

[JonL]

Astonishing level of detail there. An interesting post, thank you.

[kipford]

Not had much time since last week, because of unplanned "sick" baby sitting for my son in Bristol. However while I was there I prepped some more files printing. Over the last couple of years I have been developing a mixed media kit for 4mm scale of the LNWR 4' shunting engine and it sister engine the crane tank, this will eventually be marketed by London Road Models. Any way the chassis and body are in etched nickel silver and brass. The boiler is destined to be cast in resin with buffers and smaller parts like gear wheels, buffers etc will be lost wax cast in brass. To speed development and eventually provide casting masters all the cast parts were 3D printed by Shapeways using their FUD material. We have an ongoing issue with the resin boiler casting supplier! I need some more boilers to complete the first prototype build of the crane tank. The boilers are being cast in one piece with dome, chimney etc these cost about £40 a pop from Shapeways. So lets try it on the photon. The stl file from the CAD file was imported into the slicer software and angled at 15 degrees. The stock support structure was used, which gave a print time of about 4 hours. So what did we get?


Photos 1 and 2 show the prototype. 
scan0017 by Dave Smith, on Flickr
Crane 4 by Dave Smith, on Flickr

Photo 3 shows the first shunting engine prototype complete before painting using Shapeways parts.
IMG_0056 by Dave Smith, on Flickr

Photo 4 shows a comparison of the original shapeways boiler (in white) and the photon print done yesterday in green as removed from the printer with no fettling.
Photon Shapeways comparison. by Dave Smith, on Flickr


Photo 5 shows an enlargement of the chimney area, these are very cruel photos as the rivets are 0.3 mm diameter. The results are very comparable. The shapeways print has slightly better definition on the rivets of the pannier tank and the chimney bolt heads, but you will never notice it in real life. With a bit of tweeking of the print angle and other settings this will probably be improved. 
Photon Shapeways comparison 1. by Dave Smith, on Flickr

While I was at it, I printed a loco number plate and tender makers plate for 5" gauge Aspinall. Again as a first attempt not bad, in this case I think printing the plates flat will be beneficial to remove the faceting. I am off on holiday for a couple of weeks so it will have to wait until I return. One thing I am not good at though is getting good photo's I will have to get my wife to do them!
IMG_1242 by Dave Smith, on Flickr

Trust this is of interest. By the way the Aspinall is progressing just need to take some photos of progress.

Dave

[JonL]

Very interesting, keep it coming please.

[uuu]

I like the low-slung wagon in photo 1.

Wilf

[kipford]

Wilf

The wagon is an LNWR well wagon with seating and a roof added, sometimes known as a Crewe cab. They were used in Crewe works to transport people around the works site. There is still one in existence see the photo below.
Crewe Cab by Dave Smith, on Flickr

Dave