3D printing houses

[Robert Hodgkins]

Hi All
This is my first post and I am soon to be embarking on a new layout.
I started to think about houses, stations and other buildings for it and thought these could be created with a 3D printer.

My main issue was I have no printer and any idea if I could do this without spending huge amounts of money on a printer.  Before I splashed some cash I wanted to know if I was actually capable of creating any structure for printing so using trusty google I found some open source software called Blender.  After struggling to learn the commands things got easier and I managed to produce a reasonable house to experiment with (see attached).

Having got it to a reasonable state and reading a lot of web sites it was obvious that the house was never going to print properly because of the overhangs I created in the windows, doors and roof etc. 

My idea now I to create separate windows, doors and roof etc. and then glue them into the main body after.

What I was wondering has anyone else been doing this and before buy a printer is it possible to print these in a reasonably priced printer?
Can anyone recommend a printer?

Any comments on things I may be doing wrong is most appreciated.

Regards

Bob Hodgkins

[Hobby]

TBH I'd have thought 3D printing something like this would cost too much and take too long if done at home... I think a better way would be to get one of those cutting machines and cut the sides and window/door openings in card or plasticard and then assemble. Just like the laser-cut card kits you can now buy, but home made...

[Steve Lewis]

If  your  intention  is  just  to  create  buildings  for  your  own  layout  then  I feel  that   it  would  be  much  more  economical  to  use  Kits  and  pre  assembled & painted  ready  to  plant  buildings  which  are  widely  available  in  4mm scale  (assuming  you  are  going  to  model 00-9)


If  you  were intending  to produce  items  to  sell to  others  then  you  will have  to  weigh  up  the potential market  against  the  cost  of  purchasing  equipment  capable  of   producing   items  of   suitable  quality  that  modellers  would  wish  to  buy.

Since   3D  printing  became   available  a  few  have  tried  to make  a  go  of  it  but  they  quickly seem  to  disappear.

[jimowers]

You may like to consider laser cut MDF or thin ply instead of 3D printing as that could be a much more expensive option since buildings can be quite large. The initial cost of setting up a laser cut sheet is fairly high but subsequent sheets are quite cheap.
You really need to decide for yourself how many similar buildings you will need. However, if you search on Google you can find quite a number of very good laser cut building kits which may serve your purposes as an alternative.
===
Jim

[Robert Hodgkins]

Hi

Thanks for your replies.

I have no intention of selling any, it was just for personal use. 

Looking at some of your comments I will have a good look for some of these kits. 

3D printers apparently are quite time consuming,  some prints taking 9hrs!  My biggest worry was if it all goes pear shaped then it will be an expensive white elephant gathering dust.

regards

Bob

[Graeme Dunbar]

Hi Bob,

From what I understand, 3D printing is a hobby in itself and can become all consuming, with a fair bit of tinkering and experimentation to get the best results.

Another option is miniature CNC milling and engraving machine, but again it can be very time consuming. However I think they can be less temperamental than 3D printers I'm not sure if Blair was referring to one of these or the stencil cutting machines (as used for decoupage etc.)

[Robert Hodgkins]

Hi Graeme

Your right I started by trying to make a row of terraced houses I soon realised this was just too time consuming trying to do too much for my first attempt.  I reduced it down to one cottage.  I must have changed things several times before I was happy.  Things like sash windows were like my 4th attempt.  Then I read that 3D printers just cant deal with overhangs.  It was pretty obvious really after I thought about it.  Apparently the cheap printers can only do a 45 degree overhang angle.  There are companies that have really expensive printers that can print almost anything, but this kind of defeats the object for the hobbyist.  I have been trying to add some brick surface texture but I'm a bit lost how to do this at the moment.  Plus further reading about preparing it for printing, I have discovered I have to give the whole thing some thickness before it will print properly.

I will continue to play as I really like messing with the software.  I will not be buying a printer in the near future until I'm sure its viable.  I will investigate the CNC milling machine.

Regards

Bob

[Graeme Dunbar]

Overhang is not so much of a problem even on inexpensive printers. The printer construct a honeycomb-like scaffold that can be snapped off. This affects the surface finish, but then the surface finish is not perfect anyway. The fact that it is done this way is an indication of the sort of surface finish that is expected.

Perhaps one way to work with the limitations of the technology is to use the printer to construct the basic carcass and overlay surface detail (brick paper, textured paint etc.) on the basis that it is relatively straightforward to cut with scissors or paint on, but cutting window and door openings in a sturdy material is more time consuming.

Also, just because an object can be printed as a single unit, it does not mean that it is the best way to go about it. Printing the surfaces flat and assembling them may be better. Detail on flat horizontal surfaces can be better than vertical surfaces, sloping surfaces and curved surfaces. You might be able to print fair representations of doors, windows, even brick wall this way as the striations are largely hidden or at least run in a direction where you might expect to see layers. To print slates for instance, a good surface finish might be had by printing a roof panel as a "staircase" effect with each actual slate horizontal, but successive slates elevated by one or more layers. That is, there would be more scaffold at the ridge than at the gutter

Come to think if it, with some ingenuity it should be possible to print a fold up building along the lines of the type of flat-pack furniture that has routed mitred joints that go just to the back of the surface veneer.

[jimowers]

Graeme has taken 3D printing down to a flat pack level and that is very sensible because unless you have access to a massively expensive 3D printer, such as ones found in aerospace or shipbuilding, then to consider 3D printing as a method of creating a whole house is in my view impractical as well as being a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

The point that I was trying to make was if you want to replicate the same house several times you would be better off with laser cutting as an alternative. No, it does not create the whole building in one go, but it does allow for fine detail as you can have etched lines for detail - window framing and brickwork, etc - and cuts to take out the surfaces cleanly. You do need to 45 degree chamfer the edges to join at 90 degrees or you can accept a loss of detail at the corners and butt surfaces together.

The great beauty of this approach is that you are only designing in 2D although you will need a vector based design application to do this. Once you have designed the building then you can churn out as many as you need at low cost. A lot of people, as I said before, have been doing this for some time now and there are many 3.5mm,  4mm and 7mm kits made from laser cut parts out there and these are far the cheapest solution and the least hassle to the end user.

===
Jim

[Graeme Dunbar]

Just to throw something else in along the "flat-pack" line, there are some very nice etched brass buildings. Equipment outlay wise it is fairly economic on a domestic scale, but could be very expensive in terms of materials for whole buildings. Window frames on the other hand would seem a reasonable prospect.

There are "multimedia" locomotive kits (e.g. Narrow Planet) with 3D printed carcasses and brass "second fixings" to make the most of each technique. If the buildings had a roughcast finish where the surface could be disguised by textured paint then an inexpensive 3D printer and brass detail might work.

I'm intrigued though by the inexpensive CNC engraver/router machines. The work they can (apparently) turn out looks very delicate. Whether the surface finish is any better or worse than a 3D printer of the same sort of cost, I'd like to know.

[Hobby]

I just think that with something the size of a house you can get a better finish and it's also cheaper using plasticard/card and a laser cutter than you could ever get with a 3D print, flat pack or not... It's best to use the most appropriate method for constriction and I don't see 3D printing as the best method for building construction...

[jimowers]

I just think that with something the size of a house you can get a better finish and it's also cheaper using plasticard/card and a laser cutter than you could ever get with a 3D print, flat pack or not... It's best to use the most appropriate method for constriction and I don't see 3D printing as the best method for building construction...

I would agree

[DeadHorse]

Constructing buildings requires a high degree of artistic ability when it comes to painting the blessed things.
Try a few of these instead http://scalescenes.com/
There are freebies which you can try, and the range is only limited by your imagination as bodging/kit bashing and scratch building is comparatively easy. The finished product makes SuperQuick & Metcalf offerings look like cheap toys

[Graeme Dunbar]

When considering price, it depends on how the building is fabricated.

It would be very expensive using a commercial printer, but much less if constructed using a modestly priced domestic printer. When printing "solid" shapes such as say scale thickness cavity brick wall or stone walls (a scale one or two feet), most of what is printed is air. Only the surface is printed solid and the interior is a honeycomb. This would give very stiff but light-weight walls, minimizes the amount of filament used and speeds up printing.

A printer with very modest performance may even be the way to produce lightweight and robust scenery/terrain for portable layouts, especially where it needs to be hollow to cover tunnels, fiddle yards and so on. It could be printed as interlocking panels.

A domestic 3D printer is probably least suited to printing rolling stock. It seems a waste of time trying to make a poor surface good and much more sense to use a poor surface as something to add a texture or overlay to.

[Steve Lomax]

I realise this is an old topic but I fell across it so someone else might too.
3D printers can print models with overhangs. The slicing software constructs and prints supports for them. Yes, it is better to design without or with little need for them and often, something as straightforward as changing the orientation of the print can solve the problem.  In the example shown,  the overhangs are pretty insignificant and it would be worth giving it a go with supports turned off.
This can be printed without supports and has gutters, sills and recessed window frames.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3457230
I have a few years experience with 3D printing, but it's like any modelling tool, it take a while to get used to it and to use it effectively.

As has been said, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"!