A ship's stove too small to print? (For La Jacinthe)

[tkay11]

OK, folks, now that @henrythestaffy started me on the road to CAD 3D with his enormous help for my carronades,  I set out on the path of learning the free version of Fusion 360, and built the ship's stove based on the pictures in Boudriot's monograph (shown below).The tutorials provided on YouTube by Product Design Online and Arnold Rowntree were very useful indeed for this.

 

 

I attach a picture of the end result.

 

The problem is that, at a scale of 1:96, it is basically a cube of approximately 8mm square. The handles of the oven tops are in the order of 0.2 x 0.5mm thick, while some of the other surface protrusions are as little as 0.1mm.

 

The first printer service I tried told me they couldn't achieve such resolution. I think I picked up somewhere (possibly from Paul with his topic on the 3D printing process) that the best resolution available might be 0.2mm.

 

I'd be grateful if anyone could advise me on whether I should modify the drawing by, for example, making the handles solid and attaching the fixing rings to the sides. Would that be something that would give a worthwhile print? Or is there some way of making it printable?

 

If the advice is to give up, then I'll be happy to give the drawings to anyone who is interested so that they can re-scale for a 1:48 or even 1:24 model of La Jacinthe or others who need a stove of similar design.

 

In any case, should my quest be impossible, I can always make it using wood and paper, and there is no loss as it has been a delight to explore the possibilities of 3D drawing with such an nice to use programme as Fusion 360.

 

Tony

[mtaylor]

I'm no CAD/3D expert but from what I see and reading what you're saying, it might be best to approach this as if you were scratch building it.  Make the basic stove shape and print it.  Add lids and handles using brass or even styrene.  At a bigger scale, say 1:48 or larger, 3D printing as shown by your drawings would probably be a good option.

[tkay11]

Thanks, Mark. You can be relied on for a good and helpful response! I think making the basic block from wood would be just as easy, though, as well as saving on the expense. You're right about it being more suitable for larger sizes.

 

Tony

[mtaylor]

18 minutes ago, tkay11 said:

Thanks, Mark. You can be relied on for a good and helpful response! I think making the basic block from wood would be just as easy, though, as well as saving on the expense. You're right about it being more suitable for larger sizes.

 

Tony

Thanks Tony.   BTW, I didn't even think "block of wood" since you were printing.   I like the French ships but no one seems to make the various stoves for them as mini-kits like they do for the Engish.

[Mldixon]

I just 3d printed a latern for my Winchelsea model. It seemed an almost impossible task, but I was able to get a pretty good result. 

I draft in full scale, then scale down to model size. At that point you are correct, the parts are too thin to print. So i make things thicker to overcome this. When printed and viewed very few can detect the difference.  If your a purist well none of this will work. 

Link to lantern 

 
https://modelshipworld.com/topic/22779-hms-winchelsea-1764-by-mldixon/?do=findComment&comment=926251

[Mldixon]

If the advice is to give up, then I'll be happy to give the drawings to anyone who is interested 

 

Sure link me to your model stl or obj file and ill give it a whirl on my Anycubic mono and see if it works.

[tkay11]

@mtaylor: I fully agree about the lack of stuff for the French ships. Perhaps there's more in Europe, though I haven't researched that yet. It's only natural that nationals prefer models from their own maritime history. Also I've found that the Ancre monographs are mostly used by those who build at 1:48 or 1:32, occasionally 1:72. So maybe there's not sufficient market for them. I'll start digging around. Thanks for the thought.

 

@Mldixon: That's a really nice lantern. Sounds like a good idea to draft at full scale and then re-size. I'll try that in future. In the meantime I'd be glad to take up your kind offer of trying my own design out on your printer so that I could know what's possible. It should give me a very good idea of how to approach small scale prints in future. I attach the OBJ file but can send the STL if that's better. I'll also have a bash at making it with wood, card and perhaps thin copper sheet.

 

Tony

 

Stove v24.obj

[Mldixon]

I'll run it this morning. 

[Mldixon]

So here are the results of the print of the stove. I primed it in black with an airbrush on about the finest mist i could produce.

I did no post cleanup on this, an alcohol wash and blew it off with air compressor. It was a .01mm layer setting and it took 5.5 hrs to print. Cost was 1.5 Cents plus paint, 5 drops.   

With the naked eye (mine are 73 years old) it appears as a black sugar cube. You will need a magnifier to see any detail at all.  And the paint tends to wash out details at this level of printing, so it's got to be very light coats. 

I'm fairly certain any type of brush on painting would obliterate the details at this size. This was your file as provided. If you exaggerated the details, they would stand out to the naked eye pretty good. I would think the print services are being ultra cautious because of the small size and customer satisfaction.  

 

Size verification🔻

Top of stove, Painted to reveal details🔻

 

Side shot 

[Mldixon]

I thought it looked pretty good considering the scale. 

[mtaylor]

That does look good, 

[tkay11]

@Mldixon: That is absolutely amazing! It gives me much hope. I'll do as you suggest and try to alter the details to make them more pronounced. I don't think I'd need to adjust those on the top plate, as the details there seem pretty good to me. Perhaps a little more work on the front stove door would be enough. I'll let you know once I have it done.

 

In relation to finding a printing firm, I think I'll just ask if they can do the same resolution. There must be one.

 

Thanks very much indeed for your time. I hadn't realised printing such a small object would take so long, but with a 0.1mm setting I now understand why. Just in case I go down this route more fully, is your printer an Anycubic Photon Mono 4k?

 

Should I succeed, I'll post the results.

 

Tony

[Mldixon]

3 minutes ago, tkay11 said:

@Mldixon:  is your printer an Anycubic Photon Mono 4k?

 

Should I succeed, I'll post the results.

 

Tony

Yes that is the printer I used. The good news is, once you push print you can work on other things. Most printers are going to charge you a lot.  Just buy the printer and resin. If you model a lot of parts it pays for itself pretty quickly. And yes it does have a learning curve, but it's not too steep

[tkay11]

@Mldixon: I'm thinking about it!

 

Tony

[Mldixon]

👍👍good luck Tony, and your welcome. 

I looked at your build logs, very impressive work...

[thibaultron]

If you decide to get the Mono 4K, there is a Facebook group for this printer. We also have a 3D printer thread in this forum.

[tkay11]

@thibaultron: Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Ron. I'll definitely start paying an interest now!

 

@Mldixon: Thanks for the compliment. At least I'm on the path, but there's a long way to go! With every new model there are more challenges. That's what makes it all such fun, as well as keeping brain and hands busy.

 

Tony

[RichardG]

Excellent!

 

Could dry-brushing with a slightly lighter color bring out the detail?

Edited August 6, 2022 by RichardG