Experiences with 3D Printing for Ship Models

[Patrick Matthews]

An interesting subject for many, and I couldn't find another active thread here... so this can be it! I'll start it off, but please add your own experiences and questions too.

 

I showed that I can make interlocking parts such as stud link anchor chain in this thread:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2159-3d-printed-stud-link-chain/

 

And I'm doing an entire model ship here:

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=151938

 

I've also covered some of my experiences here

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1088812

and here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1467560&highlight=sikuliaq&page=9

 

There are many other forum threads out there, but you may be interested in TBowman's HMS Scorpion, a large scale project:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1716548&page=9#post23251932

 

THAT should inspire you!

Edited May 11, 2013 by Pat Matthews

[Patrick Matthews]

Now, the process has many interesting benefits, but also many drawbacks... it's not perfect for every job, but it's improving... and yes it really has the potential to shake things up!

 

Let's review types of printing processes:

 

FDM Fused Deposition Modeling:

A nozzle squeezes out strips of molten plastic... much like a cake decorator. This is what cheap home printers use. Forget about it, it's worthless for fine modeling. The best professional FDM machines can't make a part you'd want to use, and affordable home machines are MUCH worse... just put them out of your thoughts. 

 

SLA, the original stereolithography: 

The standard for fine printing. An elevating work table is in a pool of liquid polymer. A UV laser draws on the surface of the liquid, hardening the polymer. The table drops a bit, and the process repeats.

The part is relatively soft and requires support under all overhangs. This is generated as a fine mesh in the parent material, and must be stripped off when the part is done and prior to final part cure in a UV "tanning booth". The stripping can also break fine details from thin and spindly parts.

 

Objet/Polyjet/Multijet:

A printhead (much like an inkjet printer) squirts out droplets of resin which are immediately cured by UV light. Again, a support structure is required around the part, and this is laid down by the same printhead as a soft wax, completely encasing the part. The wax is stripped off by a low temperature melting operation (!), and the part may be further cleaned... one method is to use vegetable oil (!) in an ultrasonic cleaner... your parts may be delivered with the oil still dripping off. 

This process can also make fairly fine details, and doesn't have the issue of SLA's integrally attached mesh. 

You can also make jewelry grade waxes for investment casting.

 

 

SLS, Selective Laser Sintering:

A dry powder is fused together by the laser, again layer by layer. The unfused powder surrounds the part and is self-supporting. Many material variations:

- Nylon powder- Part is directly created in 100% nylon. Surprisingly strong. Also has a porous sandstone texture.

- Coated casting core sand: Directly make cores for foundry work.

- Coated ceramic clay: Make coffee cups! Glazing covers much of the layering.

- Coated metal powder: Make fragile "green" parts in stainless steel, which are later infused with molten copper to make very strong parts; Or direct sintering ($$$) to make parts in gold, silver...

 

 

All of these processes build up parts layer by layer, and even the best process will leave visible striations. For some parts, it is possible to sand and seal the surfaces... but too much fine detail makes this nearly impossible! Some parts (like my anchor chain) are so small that the eye will never see the layering effect.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Pat Matthews

[Patrick Matthews]

Where to get your parts printed?

 

NOT at home. You and I cannot afford the type of machine required, too many zeroes in the price. Also, secondary cleaning and curing processes require additional machines and waste handling.

 

Instead:

1. Borrow time on a machine at work. (Good luck with this!)

2. Go to any of several houses that basically rent out time on their machines.

Shapeways is very well known, and offers Objet and SLS processes.

iMaterialize is another interesting one I haven't tried, but they offer metal parts from lost wax patterns.

[Patrick Matthews]

How to design your model?

 

A prerequisite to 3D Printing is the ability to create your part with 3D CAD software... most of us cannot afford to have someone do this for us!

 

I'm lucky and spoiled, I have access to professional software that can design planes/trains/& automobiles. But that also means I am clueless about "affordable" CAD packages, sorry! I hope others can chime in here.

 

Also, while I can design all sorts of mechanical things, I am clueless about creating "organic" shapes like figures and carvings. Others know how to do this and there are packages designed for this kind of work... I just don't know them!

[Patrick Matthews]

Some more examples of parts I've done...

 

 

 

 

[Patrick Matthews]

How about the cost?

Well, your own time is free, otherwise you couldn't afford to build model ships.

 

But the printer is not. Shapeways has a few different materials, see their site for costs. Typically it's US$2 or so per cubic centimeter of part volume, plus a few bucks per part for handling. With locations in Europe and the US, shipping is reasonable to most of us.

 

Part volume can add up quickly... the 23 inch long hull above, modeled with as thin a wall as I felt safe with in SLS nylon, is about US$150. And if I were to double the wall thickness, the cost would double. Other small parts have been bought in for just a few dollars... all depends on size.

 

Prices for metallic parts are significantly higher!

Edited May 11, 2013 by Pat Matthews

[Patrick Matthews]

Here's another great application, those pesky cowl ventilators. The link also demonstrates that one can have a "store" (I do) at Shapeways to sell one's creations:

 

Matthews Model Marine Cowl Ventilators

Edited May 11, 2013 by Pat Matthews

[AntonyUK]

Hi Pat

All I can say is WOW.

A big thanks for information. Might look into this with my son as he is into figure modeling. Joint we might be able to afford the cost.

 

Thanks Pat.

Regards Antony.

[Jim Lad]

Pat,

 

Thanks for showing us some details of a very different way of modelling!

 

John

[bundybear1981]

An interesting side note on this subject, 3D printers are coming down in price.  Earlier this year I read and article about 3D printers that suggests within the next 12 months (I thinks they are a bit optimistic here) they will be down to the price of a quality inkjet printer.  You can currently buy a 3D printer for about A$2500 that uses the Objet/Polyjet/Multijet method of printing capable of printing objects up to 200mm x 200mm x 170mm.  Something worth watching if you want to make scaled people for your ships, be able to print out the scale you need in what ever pose or rank you need!

[42rocker]

A lot of very interesting info here.

 

Thanks for the share.

 

Later 42rocker

[Patrick Matthews]

Don, as long as there is wood, there will be people who take great joy in shaping it. And that's an especially appropriate medium and method for building models of wooden ships.

 

But there are other types of ships out there, we don't all do Age of Sail. I have no interest in carving wooden stud link chain at 11 links per inch, wooden cowl ventilators, nor wooden hulls for modern steel patrol craft. 3D Printing is merely another tool in the tool box, to use when appropriate. Ain't nothing wrong with new technologies to help get the job done... I'll wager you'd rather enjoy using a precision Byrnes table saw to rip deck planks, as opposed to hand sawing them and hand shaving them to width? Perhaps you've even enjoyed the assistance of laser-cut bulkheads here and there?

 

 

And allow me to put it another way: A plastic HMS Victory is available from Heller. For some time now. 

>> Has this in any way diminished the relevancy of traditional wood ship modeling? 

Edited May 13, 2013 by Pat Matthews

[Adrieke]

we had a bit of dicussion on another tread about this. 3D printing is getting close to being affordable as there are now printers below $1000 AUD

 

the use for us wooden shipbuilders , create teh part in 3d on computer print it then use the part to create a mould to reproduce the part

[dvm27]

Awesome work, Pat. So those cannons were computer printed versions? They look amazing.

[DSiemens]

This is really cool.  I would love to 3D print cannons for my size models.  The amount of detail available at almost any size is incredible.  I am a bit of a traditionalist and will stick to my wood builds but for parts and pieces 3D would be great.  

[isali]

Has anyone used three d printing for scrollwork and figureheads?

 

Ira

[wefalck]

I have been watching the development of these techniques for five or six years now and slowly gets to the resolution I need. Around 2007 the institute I was working in at that time bought a 3D-prototyping machine, but there were two many 'steps' on the parts still at that time. I got some basic AutoCAD training there out of European Union's taxpayers pockets though 

I think I will have to re-hone my CAD skills soon ...

 

Another avenue for access to machine time could be the FabLabs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FabLab.

 

wefalck

[PiperMat]

I was not completely happy with the result of the window I made out of styrene for my 1/100th plastic HMS Victory (Heller). Seeing so many people turn to designing custom parts in PE, I decided to try some upgrade designing myself. I wanted to give 3D printing a try for a long time now, and there's no time like the present!

First, I painted the windows provided in the kit black and glued them to a sheet of paper. As it turns out, the numbering on the starboard windows is reversed.



Then I made basic shapes in Photoshop:



I turned this into a 3D spruce containing the windows:

 

The windows came back from the 3D printers yesterday!



As you can see, the detail is good, but the material is rather coarse. May have to experiment with other materials. After a bit of sanding, it looks a lot better, but still a bit rough. In this case, it actually contributes to the illusion that it is wood.

I painted one red and made little windows using Micro Krystal Klear. Wonderfull stuff! It glued it in place and voilà (the bee line paint job still needs to be corrected in this area):



All in all i'm happy with the result, but 3D printing still has its limits for modelers. I will try some bigger items soon, such as the ships boats and mast tops, as I think those will be easier to sand and polish smooth.

[fnkershner]

Pat - Wow! I am very interested in this topic. But I also must protest. I work all day around computers and one of the attractions of modeling is the lack of IT technology. now you tell me it has invaded here to! Oh well  . I want those cannons!! and I second another comment - Figure Heads!!!

[kurtvd19]

AT last night's meeting of the North Shore Deadeyes one of our members told us that some of the Public libraries in the NW Chicago suburbs are getting 3D printers for the patrons to use.  He brought in some samples of stuff he "printed" out the other day while stetting one of these units up.  Had a length of chain that was impressive just in the fact it was individual links joined together - too rough and big for model work but still impressive.

Kurt

[Patrick Matthews]

Hi Kurt-

If a library is buying it, it's for sure a consumer level FDM machine... see my posts above about THAT trash. But also see my post above about very fine stud link anchor chain made on higher capability printers.

 

Pat M

[kurtvd19]

Pat:

Yes, it certainly is a consumer level machine - and I have read your posts about the quality afforded by these units and agree that they aren't for us - at this time at least.  I saw the anchor chain and the cowl ventilators you have made available to us.

I work with a commercial model maker on some projects and the higher quality machines have cut into their business quite a bit.  The APMM - Association of Professional Model Makers - have made this topic a key point in their last few annual conferences and there is always something about new and better technology in their newsletter.  They are getting out in front of this market and learning to use it to enhance their products - time is money - and these units sure save the time.

I think the fact that these progressive libraries are getting on board is interesting and that their making the purchases will speed up the technology coming down in cost - like the first electronic calculators being very expensive and able to do only a few functions evolved into the calculators we use today and cost so little.

Kurt

[Patrick Matthews]

Some more professional grade parts just received in the last few days.

 

One item is 1:9 scale outdrives and trim tabs for an offshore racer display model. The rest are parts for a 1:72 scale Canadian Coast Guard patrol boat, also a display model.

[Shiptek]

!!!!!

 

This idea just popped into my head and I googled it..... mother of god! The possibilities are endless! Glad to see somebody is taking the bull by the horns. I think I have a future in this endeavor as well

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Just stumbled across this thread while reviewing pipers build log for the victory, in preparation for my own next steps. I don’t know what FDM printers were like back in 2013 but mine, bought this year, only cost £200 and allows me to print some very, very small objects that are more than good enough for the model. So I certainly wouldn’t write this off as a method. I was torn between FDM and SLA but the latter sounded so messy, with chemicals and cleaning to deal with, but does look like it’s better for really fine detail. Same kind of cost for the machine though I believe the materials are more expensive. However, I’m sure I could make all those stern parts on my FDM and absolutely certain I’ll be able to make cannons, blocks, masts, windows etc, based on the various household things I’ve made this year already.

[Dr PR]

Kevin,

 

3D printing has come a LONG way since the original posts in this thread. I have been watching some builds done with ~US$300-400 relatively small desktop machines (about the footprint of a home laser printer), and with careful positioning of the part there are no visible "jaggies" in the surfaces. Resolutions are a few thousandths of an inch!

 

Some of these builds are whole ship models at 1:96 or 1:100 scale - or larger - that are printed in sections. Really amazing work! So fine resolution home printing is certainly affordable now! However, everyone who is doing this says there is quite a learning curve to designing the supports for the parts and positioning things for best results.

 

The main concern I have is the strength of the printed parts, especially fine details like life rails and radar antennas, etc. I have seen some older technology printed parts and they are very fragile. Certainly not suitable for a RC model that will be handled a lot. And maybe not practical on a model that will have a lot of handling during assembly.

[SardonicMeow]

Below is a picture of my Sultana, still in progress.  As an experiment, I have been using 3D printing for as many parts as I can.  Results have varied.  Some parts are convincing, others suffer from the limitations of 3D printing with a consumer-level printer.  There is a limit to the level of detail, and sharp edges are often impossible to achieve.  And, of course, even when painted well, plastic can't match the texture and appearance of wood.

 

Anyway, look it over, try to spot what is 3D printed, and I'll list the 3D printed pieces below the image.

List of 3D printed parts:

White figurehead

Yellow quarterbadges

All the black railings, caprails, stanchions, hull trim, channels, catheads, etc.

Most items in red including the tiller, binnacle, hatches, pumps, windlass and bitts

Gratings on the hatches

Mast hoops

Mast cleats

Mast caps and bowsprit cap

 

Have a look at my build log for details of each specific part.

 

[wefalck]

Yes, it seems that home 3D printing has come a long way in the last few years. And as always with new technology, unit prices come done, as it becomes more and more mainstream.

 

Peter, I am wondering, whether you have already tried printing blocks and what the smallest sizes would have been ?

[SardonicMeow]

I haven't tried 3D printing blocks, but could give it a try.  Now would be a good time, as I am actively avoiding the unpleasant task of tying ratlines on my Sultana.

 

I did try printing deadeyes, but did not take any pictures at the time.  From what I recall, deadeyes of diameter 4.5mm and larger were acceptable, but attempts at smaller diameters were malformed.

 

Looking through my pictures, I did find the one below where I tried to produce grating.  Left to right the hole size increases.  Top to bottom the distance between holes increases.  For the covers for the hatches on my Sultana, I used gratings with holes of 1.1mm per side and .7mm between holes.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Peter, that's a nice build, I wouldn't be surprised if all of it is indistinguishable in the flesh. I must read all of Patricks links on this topic, I'm sure I'll learn something. For me, there have been two learning curves. The first (somewhat obviously!) is designing parts. Currently I do everything in Tinkercad, a really lovely, easy-to-get-your-head-around, online application with tremendous scope. But you often have to think very creatively to figure out how to make the shapes you want and with the accuracy you need. One major limitation is that, although you do determine sizes, angles and curves are hard to play with after the event i.e. you dont build to a spec sheet but rather create shapes and then alter their dimensions. The other is that you have a limited library of shapes to play with and sometimes you really want to be able to create an object from scratch, a figurehead for instance, and that would be extremely hard in Tinkercad. I know I need to move up a step so that I can design as an engineer rather than artist, but all the free CAD packages I've tried seem really hard to figure out. But that may be because I'm way beyond new software being fun, I just want to use it as a tool so become impatient if that's difficult. The second curve is learning how to get the best of the printer, and I'm probably still quite early in that journey. I can usually find the sweet spot for settings eventually, through trial and error, but can't yet set it up based on knowledge and experience, confident that I'll get the desired result. And that can make it a little tedious, with umpteen 'almost right' models until you get there.

 

However, I do think it's a fantastic tool and I won't be at all surprised if, before too long, we start seeing some wonderful kits that you self-print. I know for sure that if I had access to a really good engineering-level object scanner, I could make perfect copies of the victory hulls in sections, 'kit-bash' these electronically in all sorts of ways, and still have a lot of fun on the assembly and finishing. Maybe even more fun! Assembling two part cannon barrels was fun for the first dozen but it does begin to pale eventually, especially as there's no good reason for them being in parts to begin with! Though I'm sure I'll feel very satisfied and forget the pain when I eventually finish everything!

 

I don't think there's any real problem with materials strength - I now use PETG for everything, because it's both strong and flexible and easy to print with - but there's such a wide range of materials that I'd expect to there to be something suitable for everything. A lot of the strength comes back to print quality, if you get that right the layers will be properly fused and the object will be near indestructible. (Which is a bit of an issue in itself, as I'm conscious this isn't the most planet-friendly thing to be doing).

 

I'll be trying blocks soonish, keep an eye on my build log.