Rheinmetall 35,5 cm Haubitze M1 - 3D Printed

[Marcus]

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/Marcus

[EPOCH3]

Attached is a picture of the largest 1 piece model I have attempted to date.
The chassis assembly of the German railway gun mount is about 22 inches
in length.

[wimve]

Just back from a day in town. The "mediamarkt" had a 3D printer for 650 euro's. Max model size: 12x12x12cm.
"Wire roll" costs 38 euro.
So I guess looking at your prices it may be cheaper to buy a 3D printer yourself.

[EPOCH3]

Hi - it's a case of apples and oranges, I have several printers myself including one of the
inexpensive extruder type printers (Makerbot II clone). These printers are absolutely a good
thing for learning but for anyone wanting to get close to the quality of a store purchased kit
will be disappointed - they are a "bridge too far". These have come a very long way
but layer lines are hard to get away from using extruder type printers. This type of printer
also requires supports that you have to cut off and that usually turns out to be more work
than building the model itself ( a big pain). I have included a few pictures showing a few
parts I made from this type of printer as experiments. In my humble opinion, having cheap
parts is a bit different than having good parts - there is a place for both but be careful buying
this type of technology and expecting a higher quality output from it.
Kind Regards

[EPOCH3]

Again, for anyone interested, here are two pictures showing the difference
between Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and extruder based printer
technologies. These are both 1/35th scale. The extruded test part was part of a
a 15cm railway cannon barrel (half was used so that no supports would be necessary). The goal
of this test was to determine how each technology would handle curved and cylindrically shaped
objects. I think you can observe that the extruder technology is a bit more primitive
than the SLS technology.
Kind Regards

[EPOCH3]

I finally got around to starting the second half of my Rheinmetall 35.5cm M1 3D printing project to compare some technics and materials using Shapeway's 3D printing services. First parts printed were in White, Strong and Flexible (WSF) material (see previous photos) which is a nylon powder sintered by laser and the second set of prints will be in the higher resolution uv curable resin material (which is translucent like and much more brittle). While I have had some mixed results with both materials, I am overall quite very happy with the uv resin (so far). First three parts are attached - t's hard to imagine this is only three parts. I will upload more photos when time permits. Regards

Happy Modeling.

[Xavier]

excellent work.. the possibilities are endless indeed...!

[wimve]

Very nice indeed.

[EPOCH3]

A few more M1 related parts. I previously tried to print the hand rails as an integrated component of the model and they just broke
off in shipping. To make it all clean, I decided to sprue them together and print separately. Same with the small parts that connect the two major parts together.

Regards

[EPOCH3]

Hi - attached is a picture of the latest part I just rec'd for my M1 project in 1/35h scale - it has a quick coat of Mr. Hobby Surfacer (Red Oxide ) applied.

Also attached is a picture of my initial "test fit" of parts to get a feel for relative fit - I plan to conduct some experiments on different assembly adhesives/glues and priming materials to see what works best on this material.

Regards

[EPOCH3]

Hi - a couple of pictures showing upper carriage half of my M1 project after quick coat of Mr. Hobby Surfacer 1500 Gray.
Pictures shows how well and uniform upper surface of deck turned out - I was actually amazed that it turned out so well.
One corner of the deck was broken but I am printing a replacement corner now and will add later. The underside of deck
surface was a little rough where a wax-like support material was used to hold up the deck during printing but it was still
good enough to leave alone. The goal of the surfacing material is to provide something that fills in small imperfections and
helps to make surfaces a little more "sandable" where I might want a slightly smoother finish.

[wimve]

Well I am trying but I can't find imperfections

Looks very good indeed.

[EPOCH3]

In response to a question here is a picture showing a few of the smaller parts. I was surprised that the insertion pin even printed on the hand railing post as it is very very tiny. Just shows what the printer can do.

There is also a small hole in the larger insertion pin for a chain that would connect to the pin that shows up pretty good. This "pin" would help hold the upper and lower halves of the carriage together (there are 4).

Since the model is designed to 1:1 scale, I try and leave everything there and at 1/35th most of the detail still shows up pretty good (details would be lost however if I printed at much less than 1/35th scale and be gone at say 1/72nd scale). It would be cool to see things in even more detail at like 1/15th scale but costs would go up quite a bit (because of the larger volume taken up).

Happy Modeling....

[EPOCH3]

Rh 35.5cm M1 Basic test fit #2 - nothing is glued yet.
14 parts shown - Most hand railings, ladders and small parts not yet attached.
enjoy

[EPOCH3]

Hi - more parts for my 3D printed diorama....
Picture shows stand/leg assemblies for Fries 15Ton Crane in extended position.
This crane will used as a background piece as it was never used for
actual assembly of the M1 equipment. The complex nature of this piece did not
print well in the cheaper Nylon material but turned out quite nice in the Higher resolution
UV curable resin. Gantry assembly coming soon.
Regards