wunwinglow Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 (edited) There are dozens and dozens of bureau service companies all over the world who will be very happy to check out your designs and build them for you. Just do a search on google, 3d printing services and your local town. There are loads of different processes too, so try and get some samples first before you place an order. materials vary too, some are much more ammenable to sanding, painting, gluing and so on. Also, ask about long term stability. Some resins have nano fibres in them which makes them more stable and strong, but price goes up accordingly. You will need a 3d CAD file of the oart you want as well, either a mesh in .stl format probably, or a surface/ solid file, such as .iges or .step, .stp format. Some bureaus can handle CAD program native files as well, such as Solidworks, Rhino etc. These are usually industrial strength suppliers however, with prices and deliverables to match. If you want to have a go at designing your own parts, there are loads of software packages, from free ones like Sketch-Up, and very impressive, Design Spark, to full strength Pro Engineer, Catia, Solidworks. These tend to be used on 'engineered' products, while Z-brush is perfect for more sculptural organic subjects, and the tools and work flows are completely different. You can get demos of most of these softwares to try before you buy. Whichever, be prepared for a lot of practise!! But when you get your first 3d printed design, it will be worth the effort. Tim Edited November 26, 2014 by wunwinglow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viper Enforcer Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Wow, very impressive work. i'm just finding this incredible S-3 project. Awesome, just awesome. What's your plans for the engines? Mike V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 Thanks for your comments! Mike, the engine CAD drawings are ready (pretty complicated - a fried helped me with finalizing these), I just need to get them printed. I'm just not sure if my solution for the fan is a good one - I've made a spinner which will then be fitted with individual, lasercut fan blades. That's going to be pretty difficult to assemble - we'll see how this will work out. Kagemusha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viper Enforcer Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Yes, that's a complex arrangement alright. How many parts do you plan to break it down to? I see at least 5. As for the fan, well maybe this might work. This is our 32nd A-10 Fan and Inlet correct for the Trumpeter A-10 kit. The fan was CAD Designed directly from the real TF-34 engine fan, thanks to a Crew Chief buddy of mine who was in the MA ANG working the jet at the time. Erik cleaned up and refined the SLA printed fan and also added blade detail to the back. He also re-contoured the inlet and made the fan blade track, which is the same in the S-3. I was thinking as skilled a modeling craftsman as you are, you could reshape the inlet lip and cut in the angle, yet still, retain the inlet. If interested, contact direct. Mike V Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Great work on the CAD stuff! If that SH A-10 TF-34 could be adapted, I would think that would be a lovely solution if it could be made to work Anthony in NZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Simply unbelieveable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 Hi Mike, the screenshots posted above show 2 individual parts. In addition, there is a spinner to fit the fan blades and the exhaust, so there are 4 parts plus the individual fan blades. Your parts look absolutely stunning - sadly, I wasn't aware of them when I drew the engines. Anyway - PM sent! Brian and Anthony, thank you very much for your kind comments! I haven't made a lot of progress during the last days. I've just added a few small details and shot some primer to check the surface details. Still not happy, but it's getting closer to what I call the 'could have been a kit' look. blackbetty, Iain, Nic C.D. and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainer Hoffmann Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Stunning work! It looks so precise, crisp and clean. Can't wait to see more of this,. Cheers Rainer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerculesPA_2 Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Greeeat my friend!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 The engine parts have arrived! Pretty happy with how they turned out. Big thanks again to my good friend Bekim who has helped me a lot with the engine CAD data. Next step is cleaning up the parts and cast them to get a second engine. Zero77, HerculesPA_2, Tewika and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 That's awesome! I hope when I get around to tackling Tigger's Tunnan vac kit, this stuff is affordable enough for me to try. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 woah, looks amazing! I really need to get into this kind of stuff myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 (edited) The biggest issue is the software, Kevin. And honestly, I don't see the prices for these drop to a 'normal' level soon. As the powerful tools are intended for the industry, they are very expensive. On the other hand, it seems to be possible to obtain very good results with programs such as Sketchup which are rather cheap or even free. Hope to see a build log of your Tunnan here soon! Edited December 11, 2014 by Starfighter Lee White 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radders Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Saw these on Facebook... lovely job! I still haven't got my head around how they print it/how it prints? I need to learn CAD.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 There you go, Radders - as already mentioned, my parts are SLA printed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereolithography Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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