The New 3D Printing Thread

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Yes 2Arail, Mr Nigels mentioned and gave you your due and credits in the now missing Thread

Some of you may have noticed on one of the other threads that I mentioned I had a problem with my Ender 3 printer.  Basically the 'x' axis was binding on the right hand upright, causing it firstly to make some nasty noises, but also preventing it from printing any higher than about half an inch - which is a bit limiting.

Anyway today I finally got time to look into the issue and after disassembling the frame, removing the x-carriage (that is the cross bar that the extruder assembly/hot end travels along and moves up and down), I thoroughly cleaned everything to remove any build up of dust or greasy substances.  Then set about adjusting the frame.  It turns out that someone (not me I hasten to add) had leant on it once too often and had caused the uprights of the frame to twist slightly out of alignment.  So I adjusted them back to true, adjusted the offset of the two ends of the x-carriage and generally tidied everything up.  Once all tightened and re-assembled, bed re-levelled etc... I set about producing a test print, I went for a small vase in 'vase' mode (basically it lays down a constant stream of plastic as it circles round the design) as this is the quickest way to test for accurate vertical movement and even extrusion. 

This is the result a perfect little vase (about 6 inches tall);



Now back to my prototype Rebecca Thomas Mini

It will look even better if you use clear filament.

My latest model, printed in draft (0.2mm) mode for test purposes to see how it fits on a standard PlaRail Thomas chassis...

looks good. I am sure there is a niche market for a custom name plate models.

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Is that a Plarail Chassis or Trackmaster? I wonder if there is a train chassis that is cheap and readily available that would easily accommodate any and all of your custom shells.

That's as far as I know a PlaRail Thomas chassis, it has on the bottom Tomy © 1992 Tomy and © Gullane 2008 so I assume it is the original PlaRail design but produced in or around 2008.

Is there a massive difference in dimensions etc... of the various Thomas models? From what I recall most seem to be in the detail on the bodies rather than the chassis, things like different colour running boards etc...

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I was referring more to how the shell attaches to the chassis. Something flat and would accept differently detail 3D shells.

I don't get it. Rebecca already exists in Minis, but the real problem with her is that her tender is missing (unlike the other tender engines). I thought that was why you made your own Rebecca.

Actually it doesn't currently exist in mini's yet, it will do, but FP haven't released it yet. Even when they do it won't have a tender, none of the Thomas mini's do, they are also all limited to a common small 4 wheel design. My version of the mini is a six wheel model and longer than a standard mini. But the one we are discussing here is a full size PlaRail not a mini, is intended (currently to fit a Thomas chassis) and is simply a way to let people re-purpose a spare chassis and as being plarail it will need a tender like any other larger plarail engine.

Now I understand. It's been so long since I've seen the official prototype that I thought she had been released by now. In that case, she will be very unique since no other Mini has a different design. I like the idea of reusing a spare Plarail/TrackMaster 1 chassis for a custom, or when someone has a shortage of rolling stock. Thanks for explaining.