Franksville Wisconsin N-scale modutrak module buildout

[lashedup]

Those are MicronArt pieces. Just ordered some more.

[wcfn100]

Well, here is my first attempt at cinder block. Looks like it rounded the corners just a tad. This was cut with heavy force to score thicker styrene, so I'd want to run it again and try using a lower force setting to more lightly scribe the lines. I also haven't painted it and weathered it yet. At 2 feet it is probably fine. At least there isn't any over run issues:



- j

That looks good.  All I'd really need is a light scribe that I can go back over by hand.  Any more than that is just a bonus.

Please post more if you go back with the lighter scribe.

edit:  The freight house I want to do has 30" cut stone.  This may already be enough to handle it.



Thanks,

Jason

[Sokramiketes]

Well, here is my first attempt at cinder block. Looks like it rounded the corners just a tad. This was cut with heavy force to score thicker styrene, so I'd want to run it again and try using a lower force setting to more lightly scribe the lines. I also haven't painted it and weathered it yet. At 2 feet it is probably fine. At least there isn't any over run issues:



- j

Is that tracing a full 'circle' on each block?  Never thought of that to get around the over-run issue... 



But what is that goofy pattern you have, they should be staggered on the long edges, no?

[wazzou]

I thought it looked goofy.  Mike's right.

[DKS]

Would making the vertical lines on the block rows shorter solve the overrun problem? If the overrun is always the same, I'd think one could compensate for it.

[delamaize]

I wonder if this, with some mods, do brass......

now I am just talking out my a$$ here, but what if someone designed a blade attachment that was simmular to the flexible extention thing for a dremel, that would allow a spinning bit of some sort in there.....I need to see one in person to see if it is even possible.....

[lashedup]

Standby... correcting my mistakes right now. Sample coming up...

[John]

I wonder how this would work for making car sides

[lashedup]

Ok  - new test, new bricks.

This is with the cutting force set to the lowest level (1) and the mortar lines are much cleaner and thinner. However they might be a tad too shallow. I'll have to paint this up and see what it looks like with dark and light mortar washes. Clearly though, you can do complex brickwork with this and achieve some stunning results. The printer takes a bit of time to work through this and it goes nuts printing all those tiny cuts.

[wazzou]

I don't know about car sides but it sure could be useful plotting out window and door locations for strcutures.

[Dave Schneider]

John,

Do you know the the Railwire record is for most thread views? This one is approaching 14,000 and I can't remember a single fight or flame (with the exception of friends giving each other a hard time). Just goes to show folks how much interest there is in well done modeling vs. pointless arguing, especially when presented in a straightforward, modest manner like Jamie has done. I have learned tons by following this thread.

Best wishes, Dave

[DKS]

I don't know about car sides but it sure could be useful plotting out window and door locations for strcutures.

Exactly. And with different blade pressures, windows and doors could be done with heavy pressure, and mortar lines with light. This has my head spinning with all the possibilities. Basically, it's a poor-man's laser cutter for styrene.

[lashedup]

Just keep in mind that it won't likely cut all the way through anything more than .005 styrene (I need to do specific tests with this printer to know for sure). So that means you'll have to plan around bending and snapping off (or recutting with a razor blade) pieces. For windows it is a little trickier as bending the piece enough to get a good break means bending the piece more than you might want to. If there are other scribe lines nearby you might get some interference or cuts that split where you don't want them to.

A workaround however is to just layer up the .005 styrene which might be the better overall solution. I need to cut some .010 to see how close it will come to cutting through, then we'll know for sure.

-jamie

[Dave Schneider]

Jamie,

How is the blade sharpness holding up? Another thought for this thing is to cut shingles out of card (like those offered by Clever Models, Scalescenes, etc...). While their patterns are nice, they could benefit from some surface relief. Scribing styrene or acrylic is one thing, cutting cardstock requires a pretty sharp blade for best results.

Best wishes, Dave

[wazzou]

I think as long as it provided clear, accurately measured scribe lines that could be completed with a sharp #11 blade, it would be quite a benefit to accurate and speedier construction.