7mm Mickoo's Commercial Workbench

[mickoo]

Filtration is pretty meaningless, because filtration removes particles and we don't have (m)any. What we have is a solution of resin in IPA.

I think the only use of dirty IPA is precleaning in a two-stage washing process.

Michael

Thank you! Finally a sensible prose on the situation and confirming I'm not going utterly insane.

3D Resin is a liquid, it's very hard to separate it from IPA because they're homogeneous, a filter will remove particles of cured resin or broken supports but they do no harm in the solution at all, we're not spray painting with it.

If you really must try and clean your IPA then decant it into a clear jar, preferably glass and seal it, stand it outside and the majority of resin will migrate to the bottom and harden in the natural sunlight. When clear decant the liquid and use again, but, chances are it will have an oily slimy feel to it. A quick test is to smear some on a resin part and blow quickly over it, if it dries matt, it's good to use, if it's satin or gloss then it's still impregnated and junk.

For what it's worth, it took my jam jar test several weeks to clear up and even then the resultant IPA was not good enough to clean prints and left a tacky glossy finish to the parts.

I like Adrian's idea, reuse it in garden heaters, brilliant solution and I get to enjoy it's twice. Mind I'd leave it to settle in the sealed clear container first before using it; the resin that does remain might clog up the ceramic burner, depends how big the ports are.

 

[michael080]

If we have any moonshine distillers here around, they might use their eqioment to clean the contaminated IPA by destillation. However, this might have an impact on quality of the next schnapps.

 

[James Spooner]

And, in my ignorance, I thought IPA stood for India Pale Ale, which was brewed, not distilled… (reaching for tin hat and leaping into nearest trench…)

Nigel

 

[mickoo]

Simon, thanks for the answer on the signals. I thought they might be something along those lines, but I couldn't figure out who the user would be. In North American practice, trains usually sit well short of signals when they are forced to hold for whatever reason.

As far as I know it's mainly used on the Southern Region suburban lines, short block sections and long trains mean they often have to draw right up to the signal to maintain sufficient clearance behind.

Many stations were built for shorter trains which could hold back further and see the main aspect. More modern (mid 30's electrification onward really) 10 and 12 car sets had to draw right up to the platform end and almost under the signal to get all of the stock doors accessible from the platform face.

 

[mickoo]

If we have any moonshine distillers here around, they might use their eqioment to clean the contaminated IPA by destillation. However, this might have an impact on quality of the next schnapps.

Only mine, but I tend not to tell anyone about that

 

[simond]

Well, it looks to me like a suspension of very small particles, and I hoped/expected that it would filter out. My conclusion was that it did take out some stuff but the remainder was still grey, and far from clean.

I guess I expected that an hour or so in the sun would polymerise anything in solution, but I think that only worked in part.

I suppose that, given Mick’s thoughts about letting it evaporate, one could distill the mix, and condense clean ipa from the dirty, but it would require equipment, time, experimentation, and frankly, I got to the “can’t be bothered” stage…coupled with which, it’s likely to be a somewhat risky business!

 

[simond]

Only mine, but I tend not to tell anyone about that

Ha! Beat me to it!

 

[mickoo]

Just a casual update, more to check what part built models look like with the new backing paper.

The rendition has the new smoother, and in this case final, roof. It still needs some cleaning up before fitting permanently, one thing i did with this version was reduce the layers to 20 microns just at the final tip of the print which happens to be the cowl.





It has removed the final layering in that area which you get from shallow curved objects but interestingly it leaves a tide mark between the two sections, you cannot feel anything tactile but it's clear to see the closer 20 micron layers make the surface much smoother.

I'll try and blend it in with wet and dry and cut back to the natural rivet line joint in line with the smoke box front. The only other option is to print the whole lot at 20 microns, something like 47 hour print time though.

 

[mickoo]

With all the attention focused on the Bulleid I've been a bit lax in the JLTRT King updates which bimbles along in the background.

Not really a lot to say other than it all fits, cut, clean, fit, repeat. You do need to take a little care with the upper side sheets as they join in the middle at the rear, always better to trim a fraction too long and the constant test fit and fettle until the joint is nice and close.

Next step is to flood the corner fingers with solder and dress back to give a nice smooth flared corner, then the tank top and remaining plate work.

 

[chigley]

did i read that correctly ? flood with solder!! from the invisible solder man & i bet you still wont see it

Ken

 

[mickoo]

I was going to call this done but realized there are no tank vents, nor are they in the box, they've gone Crocodile Dundee

I'll draw some 3D ones up tomorrow, scoosh some paint on and fit.

 

[mickoo]

The King tender finished just as the revised Bulleid etches turned up (as planned), the idea was to continue with that. However...I well and truly left all the doors and windows open for C'tain cock up and his merry band to gain access and do merry. In short two sets of overlay etches straight in the bin, sometimes shit happens. I could have done a few bits more to the cab or backhead, or even started the 2nd one but I know all the signs as to when to leave something alone for a while.

New etches have been ordered and checked thrice over, but it'll be weeks before they get here. Therefore I decided to tackle something really simple from the backlog pile, an LMS 0-4-4T from Gladiator.

It's my first Gladiator kit and so far it has all fitted well, a long day at the bench resulted in a nice free rolling chassis, tomorrow I'll add all the sundries and hopefully start the body on Monday. I have to say I'm also impressed with the first quick look at the castings, all nice and clean, flash and warp free, most are white metal and most are keepers.







I took the springs off as I forgot to laminate the inner parts before assembling the chassis, it was just too much hard work to laminate then and clean all the cusps off, more so as I have 3D examples already drawn.

I've gone simple is as simple does for the front axle, the rear driver is rigid and the front one has the slot extended down by 1 mm, a small piece of spring wire will be used to give it some pressure. I'll also add two small strips of brass fore and aft of the top hat bearing to ensure there is no fore and aft movement later life. Once that's done a cosmetic 3D hornguide and axle box will cover it all up and make it look pretty. I'll also add a 3D ashpan to give that area some bulk, maybe even a simple cylinder block if I can find a half decent drawing or GA.

Hopefully this and a very large slice of the King will be done by months end when the revised BLP etches arrive.

 

[david duxbury]

Wish I had your Bulleid Bin!

 

[mickoo]

Wish I had your Bulleid Bin!

You don't, they're trash, just a simple error and both overlays are inside out, just useless.

Mind I can use them to work out how to uncurl them effectively from the large half etch area, it was that I was trying to counter by being smart with the orientation, didn't make a blind bit of difference and screwed up the etch to boot.

 

[mickoo]

Small update on the 2P, nothing untoward so far, I've swapped a few bits out, mainly because I wanted to and added a few other details.

The only part that didn't really fit was the rear sand boxes, they're quite narrow. They may actually be to scale, but the narrow frames for fine scale mean that the outlet lines up directly over the brake rodding (which in itself is slightly wider to give room for side play) where as it needs to be outside for the sand trap and pipe to pass the rodding. I also wanted different lids so a 3D print copied off the original but 3 mm wider was whizzed up.

There's quite a large gap between the bogie and chassis frames, photos show some sort of beam or additional lumpy bit under here so need to find out what that is and try to replicate it but meantime I'll plod on with the upperworks.

 

[mickoo]

Small update on the Gladiator 2P 0-4-4T, as previously the upper works fits where it should and goes together easily and quickly, then we come to the watery bits, oh dear. I was already forewarned that the boiler has been to weight watchers, and indeed it has, worse yet the smokebox and firebox suffer the same issues as does the tank inner pieces, aka tank width.

Essentially you're left with a 2...and a bit mm gap between tank and boiler/firebox (they're the same width) but it's both sides. You really need to deal with both, leaving the tanks makes them look too tall and narrow from the front aspect, plus the boiler would be too fat if left alone to fill the gap.

New tank top and fronts were added and the smoke box being too small required a new one, frankly it'd have taken all day to cut one out from brass sheet, solder up and fettle.

Forty minutes later in CAD a 3D model winged it's way to the printer, like the 3F it worked well, remarkably well truth be told, it's not been painted as it has some tiny defects so it'll go in the bin and the production one run off tomorrow. Smooth as it is, it'll get better once the filler primer is on and burnished.

Tempting as it is to print a boiler and firebox I won't, the fret saw will be out for those now that I have two fixed points to aim for.

 

[mickoo]

More Gladiator 2P meanderings, the 'to do' list is getting smaller, or was until the LMS book turned up, I preferred it when I didn't know anything But, the remit is an out of the box build as far as is reasonably practicable.

The cab'll get a new lower rear wall and shelf and the tank extensions at the front, cab doors and roof will complete the basic structure. Up front I'll need to fabricate the Auto control gear and work out how to replicate all the buffer beam attachments. The tank tops need a few details, some lifting lugs which are not in the kit and I'll tweak the tank straps a bit more like the prototype.

 

[Matt.S.]

lovely, neat build into a really characterful little loco.

 

[michael mott]

I marvel every time one of your builds come together.

Michael

 

[BR Tony]

Truly amazing, as usual!