Brushs Laser Cutting and 3d Printing workbench

[BrushType4]

I was recently asked if I could cut out some slates on heavy paper and this got me thinking about the slates I need for my own projects. After a bit of research I've settled on Bangor Countess slates as these were generally the most popular roofing material used up and down the country and used on many railway related buildings.

The size of these are 20in. x 10in. A quick calculation later and at 7mm scale this is 11.66mm x 5.83mm. 5 mins on Qcad produced the attached;

I started to think about how they should be overlapped and a google search told me the lap should be 3in. Or 1.75mm. Great, job done. It was only when I was making a sample that I realised that the look of 11.66mm slates with the 1.75mm overlap didn't look right. Looking at countless pictures of slate roofs just informed me that I had something wrong.

Back to google...
The lap is correct at 3in. but I need to do a further calculation.

11.66mm less 1.75mm lap then divide by 2. The resulting figure of 4.955mm when laid out made much more sense.


So sorted. The positioning of the next row in real modelling terms is 4.955mm, let's call it 5mm.

Using the prototypical information for ordering slates for a project, you should know your headlap ahead of time and order the slates accordingly. For our example, a 20in. x 10in. slate requires 170 slates per square (a “square” is 100 square feet of roof coverage) when installed with a 3in. headlap.

With my drawing an A4 sized sheet of 7mm Bangor Countess slates gives you 650 slates or about 4 squares worth. A square remember is a roof area of 100 square feet or an area 70mm x 70mm.

I've ordered some grey/blue 150 GSM card and will experiment next week. My main concern at the moment is the laser kerf is about 0.2 - 0.4mm (3/8in. - 3/4in.) and I'm not sure yet if this gap will look bit wide when modelled.

Today has been an education for me. Who knew model railways could be so educational.

 

[BrushType4]

Well the trusty HPC has moved to a fresh home and fellow thunderer and I hope to see the work it will produce pop up on WT in the future

It was with a sad heart to see it go but onwards and upwards. So the new laser finally installed. A little earlier than I’d planned but the garage cum workshop will have to be drylined around it.


With my mojo slowly coming back and patience wearing thin for some of my customers it was time to put the new machine to work with an outstanding commission.


This will be built and painted by Martyn Welch. I’ll be looking forward to seeing those build pictures.

 

[BrushType4]

I got a 3d printer sometime ago and recently I got it out of the box..

Having a little dabble in 3d software, I've settled with onshape. Its free, its full featured and its easy to use. So ticking all my boxes I've started designing odd bits. Gutting, Finials, fencing , door handles. Already I've a few bits and some of these will be available to buy via my website and some items are listed on Modelu3d as well.

I find tutorials a bit hard to stick with and find I learn best when I'm interested in what I'm trying to do. So in that tradition, I wanted to get to grips with the software, and I found a turntable drawing that had some interesting features that would keep me interested.

I chose the wheel first.


I had all the key dimensions and nothing was left for me to guess. So I drew the above drawing flat in my favourite 2d cad package Qcad. I really recommend this to anyone starting out in CAD. Its cheap (free) and fully featured and easy to use.

Once I had my DXF file drawn to full size. I imported this to onshape. Simply using the extrude tools, I made this in about five minutes.



Feeling that it was going in the right direction, I did the whole assembley for this section of the turntable.


So this represents about 30-45 minutes work at my novice level so I'm sure those of you who are expert can knock up this sort of thing much faster.

I've exported to a 3d printable file and I'll print these wheels out this evening.

 

[BrushType4]

A preview here of a project we've been working on. Not a building kit this time, not even a kit as this is supplied fully built.

Our Rolling road. This one is scale7 but all scales will be available.

The prototype will be at the Scale7 show on Saturday 29th if you want to come and see. There will be some great layouts and a scale7 and finescale test track.

Anyway back the rolling road.

Cradle for stand alone running.


Straddle. These will fit over most track but look awesome when paired with the cradle for stand alone running.


Pricing to be confirmed but I’d welcome any offers of interest so I can gauge how much material to buy in. We’ve a little for a handful currently in stock.