3D Printing. A "How-To" pattern making from PLA

[salmon]

Thanks Matt, Learned something new! That alignment is a slap on the forehead moment. Brilliant.

[thor]

Ha! Thanks, Tom. Remember to oversize the hole in the 3D part CAD by .005 to account for the material overflow. All it will take to insert the 1/8" pin is a little pressure.

[thor]

All of the upper & lower hull are permanently glued together. Shown here is the upper half on its gluing board ready to remove.








All of the 3D printed sections sitting on the stand awaiting the conning tower.





Conning Tower resting in its proper location.








The next step in the process is sanding, priming, filling, and lots of glorious sanding! We will get to that next week.

[thor]

The first coat of primer on the upper hull half has been wet sanded down with 400 W/D.



The print lines are barely perceptible to my fingers which I trust more now than my old eyes. Another couple of coats of primer and a bit of Nitro Stan 9001 on the 3D hull section joints will put the hull in great shape to start adding small details for molding.



A few asked what primer I use on PLA. I use the very same lacquer primer I've used on my kits for years. It's really good stuff! Yes, you can find it on Amazon.

[sam reichart]

Great stuff Matt. Thanks for posting this! 3D printing is still so new to me (and maybe a lot of us...).

[DrScoles]

Haven't seen PETG suggested for printing hulls? Drawbacks? I purchased Bob's STL files for the Typhoon. Used my SLA Form 2 for the small parts and did some trial prints in PLA, but know I need to step back and use a different material. I have used PETG quite a bit, great bed adhesion. Haven't even heard of ASA until this thread! Complete rookie here, I build turbine r/c jets and warbirds, but bought a vacation home with a pool and was with the submarine commmunity the whole time I was in the Navy... I need a sub!

[salmon]

Welcome aboard DrScoles, I see you got on the forum. Can you see photos now?

[DrScoles]

Yes! Thanks for your help.

[thor]

I have finally caught up on my external business activities which is going to allow me much more time for personal modeling projects. So, back to finishing up the PIKE in 1/48th scale. The project has progressed, but only to the point of priming all of the joined PLA components and the filling of the joints is about 30% complete. Images to follow later this week.

[sam reichart]

very happy to see you on here again Matt....I hope you continue to hae more time for yourself and your projects.

[scott t]

We are here to cheer this project on!

[thor]

Here are a couple of shots of where Pike is as of today. I apologize for the terribly messy bench.





Top & bottom have been glued together using the method discussed earlier. After that was complete each seam line was lightly sanded and filled with bondo and then Nitro Stan 9001 spot putty. The upper half of the hull is about there. The lower half is just getting started. The hull is split at the water line.

[thor]

I am nearly complete with the finish work on the upper hull half. Filling in the last few tiny imperfections before adding positive relief detail with styrene strips and other required detail. No scribing will be done on this pattern. PLA and other 3D printed plastics make miserable base materials for scribing in the fine detail. As much detail as possible will be added, then a epoxy glass mold will be taken off the 3D printed PLA pattern for all of the scribing work, and rivet detail to be added. After that is complete, then a final mold will be taken of the epoxy glass pattern.

The lower half of the hull has just received its first heavy coats of primer and sanded. The lower hull half is now ready to have its 3D printed section joints ground and filled with body putty in preparation for the final 4-5 coats of primer and spot filling.

[thor]

[thor]

The lower hull PLA section joints were ground to allow a recessed area for fairing compound to properly blend the many hull sections together. An epoxy type fairing compound from Jamestown distributors was used to fair each section.





Each of these joints will be sanded smooth, then primed. After being primed Nitro Stan 9001 spot putty will be used to complete the finished fairing of each hull section joint.