GMK Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 (edited) Happy new year for 2022. Let’s hope for a happier & more prosperous year for everyone than 2021. 2022 has so far presented opportunities to overcome (self-inflicted) adversity on the modelling front. Huzzah! Modern 3D printers now include features to account for power outages & running out of filament. But any interruption to a print is a risk. Having cunningly & inadvertently switched the printer off while preparing for a filament change, I turned it back on. This the option presented: Managed to resist pressing resume more than once…and also managed to successfully press the correct button! Having started a 900 gram print with ~400 grams of filament, the filament runout was inevitable. Having loaded a 1kg spool of filament, I hit the go button for the rest of the print. Here’s the current piece at around the 28%/87 hour mark. Wall thickness is 2mm, infill is set at 15%. Due to some complex shapes around the running gear, I chose not to attempt hollowing out the shape before slicing. I will be for the front of the drive module. Two biggest differences between “solid” & “hollow” shapes are how they’re filled in. Solids use infill - seen here as the crosshatched pattern - of varying percentages chosen prior to slicing. Hollow shapes use support structures, which use less filament and print at a faster rate. The step to hollow out a shape is generally made during the design phase. Sometimes the decision between the two comes down to processing power of the computer being used! eta: Here’s some context for the print. The combined mission module/rear drive module is upside down on the print bed. Instead of the standard kit turret/hull interface of two tabs at 12 & 6 o’clock, I’ve stolen/borrowed the idea of a pop-in turret from a 1/72 Stryker Dragoon kit. Anyway, thanks for the continuing interest & comments. Edited January 2, 2022 by GMK dodgem37, chukw, Uncarina and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 On 1/3/2022 at 3:02 AM, MARU5137 said: Just gets more and more Inspirational. Your details are very precise. you have an eye for everything in minute detail...Good !! Incredible workmanship. Too kind, @MARU5137 , thank you! While the 3D printer hums away, preparation for the real world model has commenced. I’ve upcycled the Bushmaster’s build baseboard, a 15mm thick chunk of MDF, with four M10 nuts & bolts in drilled and countersunk holes. Also visible are some aftermarket tyres, a 30cm/1ft steel rule, & the alignment peg (front left) that’ll connect the front & rear hulls. This is a large vehicle, especially in 1:16! Thanks for looking in. chukw, BiggTim, Uncarina and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Great work so far! I just went back and looked at all of this from the beginning, and it is very fascinating to watch it all progress and come together. If you dont mind me asking (and maybe you already covered this) but what program are you using to design the CAD in? GMK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 32 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said: Great work so far! I just went back and looked at all of this from the beginning, and it is very fascinating to watch it all progress and come together. If you dont mind me asking (and maybe you already covered this) but what program are you using to design the CAD in? Thank you! It’s definitely been a bit of a journey. I’m using Fusion360 for the design. Like any program, it has its foibles, but I’m enjoying the learning process. Here’s the design as of this morning. Bringing the front half of the hull/drive module up to print ready standard. Always a bit tedious. The back half of the vehicle is 44% printed, with almost seven continuous days of printing elapsed. Cheers. Uncarina, BiggTim, LSP_Matt and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 (edited) Progress on getting the front half of the Boxer ready to print is ongoing, as is the print of the back end (~70% complete). Adding recesses for the front towing eyes, as well as some scribed/swept details gets us very nearly there. Here’s an in-progress print pic that gives an indication of the print progress, as at 69% completion/260 hours elapsed. The grid lines on the print bed are 50mm x 50mm/2” x 2”. This is not a small model! As always, thanks for checking in. Edited January 8, 2022 by GMK Uncarina, patricksparks, BiggTim and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 9, 2022 Author Share Posted January 9, 2022 The front of the drive module design is mature enough to create a .stl file to get an idea of what the print will entail. Here’s the model, with all of the appliqué & suspension elements stripped off. You can see the recesses for the M10 bolts that’ll support the model when assembled. In this view, the recess for the alignment tab is visible close to the bottom edge of the rear face. With a 90% draft, I imported the model into the slicer to generate the .gcode. This’ll take ~272 hours/~11 days to print with 2mm thick walls & 15% infill. It’ll also take 80% of a 1kg roll of filament, or cost about $20 in materials. All going well, this part will start printing this week, meaning that the core of the model will be printed before the end of January. Then the real work begins! Cheers. chukw, dodgem37, BiggTim and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 Midweek update! First big print done. Only took ~14 days. Here are some views of the raw print of the back end of the Boxer, upside down. Happy enough for this to act as a substrate for the back end. Thanks for looking. Uncarina, panzerrob, Starfighter and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Good show. With how rough this prints, maybe it would have been better to print/scratch the details separately, then glue them on. Not a criticism. Just an observation. Sincerely, Mark GMK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 4 minutes ago, dodgem37 said: Good show. With how rough this prints, maybe it would have been better to print/scratch the details separately, then glue them on. Not a criticism. Just an observation. Sincerely, Mark Thanks Mark. It’s actually a lot smoother than it looks, thankfully. The appliqué armour will be printed on the resin printer, and will cover most of what you can see here. Uncarina 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncarina Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 I had no real idea just how massive this beast is until I saw your printing photos. Epic! Cheers, Tom GMK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 5 minutes ago, Uncarina said: I had no real idea just how massive this beast is until I saw your printing photos. Epic! Cheers, Tom Thanks Tom, you’re not wrong! Here's a pic that shows just how large the 1:1 vehicle is (on the left) compared to the M1 Abrams (second from the right). Kinda wish that the “large scale” for military was 1:24 rather than 1:16. Would make things more manageable. Uncarina and LSP_Matt 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 First clean up pass of the back end of the truck complete. Here’s what it looks like: Nothing that’s visible of the part from this angle will be visible on the completed model, so the finish is more to ensure a good fit. Seen here with a 1:87 counterpart: Cheers. Shawn M, BiggTim, Starfighter and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggTim Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Just catching up on this - really fantastic work! Fusion 360 or Rhino? GMK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 5 hours ago, MARU5137 said: GMK, Fascinating work. Very inspirational and informative build. Thanks, @MARU5137 , glad you’re enjoying it. 3 hours ago, BiggTim said: Just catching up on this - really fantastic work! Fusion 360 or Rhino? Cheers @BiggTim, thanks for the feedback. I’m using Fusion360 for the design, Luban for the slicing, & Snapmaker to print the larger components. The print of the back end of the vehicle weighs 950 grams/2 pounds! Cost of 1.75mm filament is $25 a kilogram/2.2 pounds, so the current bill of materials cost is $23.75. The front end is currently 13% printed. As can be seen from the screenshot in the slicing software, its dimensions are 181 x 115 x 249mm/7.1” x 4.5” x 9.8 “. Thanks for checking in. LSP_Matt, patricksparks and BiggTim 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 This week on the Block 1 Boxer CRV was more printing in the background, plus ongoing design work to get parts to production standard. Here are some more images of the rear drive module + mission module print, this time on inch square grids. The commander’s independent sight is visible bottom left, with a 1:87 version of the prototype front centre. A view of the right side of the big print. The addition of a “filament run out” feature on the printer removes the stress & wastage associated with having to have exactly enough filament on the roll at the start of the print. As anticipated, the printer ran out of filament in the first third of the print. No stress, reload the printer head with new filament and hit go. In regards to wastage, here’s the unused lengths of 1kg/2.2 pounds of filament. Those squares are 10mm x 10mm. The details of the roof of the Block 1 mission module differ from that of the prototype/hand finished Risk Mitigation Activity trucks. References are thin on the ground. The RMA one is bottom left of this collage, with the very German green that is like neon in the Australian bush. Lots of work to do! Thanks for checking in. TankBuster, BiggTim, dodgem37 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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