There are some great designs out there. I love that generally I can shrink anything down to N scale
I shrunk the design of this down to N scale- to use a 5/8" copper pipe for the main tank part
https://www.printables.com/model/272682-unibody-tank-car-for-your-garden-railroad-129-scal
I have always wanted a long (15 cars??) train of pretty much identical tank cars. Printing out these would work
I've had some problems with printing it. First of all, the LCD screen in my pretty new Elegoo is busted (they're sending a new one, from China). What I have printed I used a mix of resins- pretty much the Siraya Tech Blue resins, mixed in with other stuff. The other stuff that I think might be causing some of the problem is this superflex resin I'd bought to make another soft item. Its probably under 10% of the resin mix, but it is a quite flexible. (plus its hard to get it cured without leaving the surface sticky)
The parts print out fine, but getting them off of the supports deforms them. They're simply too fine of a thickness/diameter with the shrinking of the G scale to N. I'm pretty new to this 3d process. Changing some of the parts might be easy- the flat ones, stretching the vertical axis to make it double the thickness is easy. Its things like the ladders that are the problem
Probably they're better done with wire, but I was kindof hoping with 15 of them to be able to fast and dirty print them.
Any suggestions on what resin would be best for these? Its hard to know if I need more strength, or less or more flexibility. Any other suggestions (going HO is funny, but won't really help)
Thanks
Try modifying the tips of the supports in your slicer. Or cutting away from your raft before cure and trimming smooth after.
Lee
I dont know if this will help - I use FDM printing not resin. Though I would think some processess between the two types should be interchangeable. So I hope it will translate to your resin type procedures.
For printing small details like grab irons, ladders, etc., I print the parts seperately. This allows me to use seperate settings for the small parts as opposed to the rest of the model. Making it easier to print them. Varying speed, plastic output, etc., or other steps like what you mentioned - stretching an axis.
I also try not to use rafts or supports whenever possible. If I have to, i only connect the part and support with a layer of 'air'. By that I mean i skip a level of printing and let the next level 'fall to rest' on the raft or support. This makes the smallest of connection that is so easy to break apart. More times than not the support and part seperate as they come off the plate.
Another way around rafting or supports is using 'sprues' like commercial manufacturers do with pressure formed plastic parts. It will hold your part down, keep it in shape, uses way less plastic (waste) than rafting or supports, and is easy to get off the plate because less 'sticky' is required to hold in place. The connections to your part are miniscule.
In essence, the sprue is doing the hold down and shape work for your tiny part. Its taking the stress if you understand my description. Another reason you kinda have to print the detail parts seperately sometimes.
And really, there is no shame in using formed wire for your detail parts. Good luck!
PMR