Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

and with that back to the problem of the sporadically rough surfaces of the SW prints, which don't please me, what is related to the print orientation and the associated position of the supporting wax required for SW's printing, because for Frosted Detail Plastic is known that where the wax touches the plastic, the surface becomes rougher.



Therefore I've asked my friend Joe about the print orientation, chosen by him before uploading, but what would have been better if we had talked about it beforehand, because when printing the Crawler Track shoes we had similar problems with such rough surfaces.

First I wanted to know in which arrangement the Motor-gearbox Combi L was printed by Shapeways, as upright as can be seen in SW's offer, or different?

Unfortunately Joe wasn't sure anymore. He thought that he put the model for Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic (XSFDP) vertically, but meant now that it looks like, than it would have been this orientation standing on its side.


Sources: Shapeways.com

The support wax in this print orientation is arranged as follows:





The Smooth Fine Detail Plastic (SFDP) was supposedly printed in this vertical arrangement, but whereby I don't understand why the model is not printed in the same orientation if only the print quality changes, strange ...



For this orientation, however, the support wax covers almost the entire surface area, which in my opinion is the most unfavorable print orientation.







Last but not least, my friend comes to the wise conclusion that the following arrangement would probably have been the best print orientation that he should have chosen right away.



In this orientation, the top of the Combi hardly comes into contact with the wax.

[spacerunner]

And then his surprising conclusion is coming, which sounds a lot like surrender by saying that I could build the 16 Combis by hand and end up with 16 fantastic looking housings/motors, which would be better than saving time by let printing them and would then try, not to look at them.
Excuse me? What? What should I think of it now, is he afraid of his own courage or is he no longer interested?

That is why I've assented him that the last shown orientation should be the best print orientation. And since I don't give up so quickly, I suggested to save this orientation for both Models R & L before uploading and let me know so that I can order them.

I think or hope that this surface quality should then be sufficiently good and that the printed parts should look attractive.

I still have to clean the prints of the wax residues anyway, especially since SW did not clean the prints thoroughly enough, what one can see in the following images, what I hadn't even noticed before.

As one can see, the areas circled in green between the brake disc and the brake shoe holders of the SFDP variant are relatively clean,



while with the XSFDP variant they are still clogged with resin on one side, whereby the wax residues in the hollowed-out gear housing do not bother me any further.



Therefore I would like to compare these images with the parts printed with the best orientation in order to be able to form a final judgment.

So far, however, my friend has not commented on this, so I am groping in the dark and have to wait.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

in the meantime my friend has modeled a Combo pair, which consists of a left and a right combo.

Now he mirrored the left combo, but had to cut off the brake disc because the brake shoes were also mirrored.


Source: ARC Forums (crackerjazz)

Then he has copied the disc and the brake shoes from the left motor and transplanted them to the right motor,



so that they have the correct same design.







And because this time he saved the best print orientation before uploading,



which has the following support wax arrangement,



I've immediately ordered such a pair in Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic (XSFDP) and I'm curious about its quality.



Since the pair is already in production, I will soon have a direct comparison with the previously printed combos.

[sharunas]

Originally Posted by spacerunner

Their dimensions I've determined from this photo, which shows such a warning light with bracket in the White Room of the Orbiter Access Arm (OAA), on its walls many folks have immortalized themself, as one can see.


Source: NASA

]

OMG... reminds me a movie "Beautiful Mind"

Amazing Manfred!

[whulsey]

As usual when I stop by to see what you've been up to, I wander off with my mouth hanging open in amazement.

[spacerunner]

Thanks sharunas and whulsey,
I like your enthusiasm, my friends, stay tuned, the journey continues ...

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,
here comes the word to Sunday, today from Shapeways: Your Shapeways order is now on its way!

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

in the meantime I have tried to ask additional 3D printing expertise, whereby a fortunate circumstance benefited me. That's why I've contacted a member in ARC Forums (bubble), who had participated in our dialogue there regarding SW's wax problems and had brought his Resin printer Anycubic-Photon Mono SE into play, with which he has had good experiences.


Source: arcforums.com (bubble)

When asked whether he could help us by making a test print on his printer with Joe's 3D STL files, if Joe would agree and provide him with the files, he spontaneously agreed to do so.

It would be very interesting to have such a comparison with regard to the annoying SW's wax problem, especially since his Anycubic printer processes water-based Resin and for this does not require any support wax.

And since my friend Joe agreed and immediately emailed him the STL file, bubble also quickly made the first test prints in 1/72 & 1/144 scale, which looked promising when primed.





Since I would need the combos in 1/160, I asked him to print such a Combo-Pair right away, which he has done on the weekend promptly and has immediately printed a Set of 16, which totally surprised me.
And this is how his 16 combos look like after printing with a layer height of 0.050 mm , which were then only cleaned in water and dried well.





Then he has primed the parts with a thin layer of MoTip Primer (04054) gray and placed a couple of Pad guys on a wooden pallet for decoration.





This 3D freak really has it.

He did start with 3D printing 2 years ago, first with little PLA printer of the Flashforce adventure type, later he bought the Flashforce Creator 3. Since, in his opinion, PLA printers are not good enough to print fine details ≤ 1 cm, he bought this Resin printer (Anycubic-Photon Mono SE) to try it out and learn its function, which is apparently not that difficult and worked quite well right away, as one can see.

That's why I'm going to pay him his expenses now and I'm looking forward to his delivery.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

after we have clarified all formalities including expenses, my Dutch friend Pascal (bubble) has packed all of his 3D prints,


Source: arcforums.com (bubble)

and sent it to me in this chic box.


Source: arcforums.com (bubble)

Now I'm curious to see what his Resin 3D prints look like in real life, and I hope that they will arrive safely.

[beckychestney]

Fingers crossed!