Step right up

The steps arrived from Shapweays a few days ago and (in spite of my initial misgivings) I’m completely satisfied with the results. They don’t look bulky at all and should look very good once applied to the cars.

The one downside to the 3D printing process at Shapeways is that they don’t give the designer control over the print orientation. This is of vital importance to the final product as the print orientation determines which face will ultimately show the layers of the printing process. With control over this, a designer could specify a particular face to be “up” or “down” in the process and thus eliminate printing lines on surfaces that are intended to be seen.

Unfortunately, Shapeways will not relinquish this control to individual designers as they print orders on a tray en masse and each part on that tray is supposedly oriented in a position to optimize use of the wax support material for production. (This waxy support material is the substance that’s usually stuck to parts once they come from the printer.)

I’m not sure how this was “optimized” for the steps as they seem to have been printed on a diagonal. (Picture a cube balancing on one edge instead of sitting on a side.) This has left some very small (but still visible) jagged edges that I will have to very carefully sand smooth. This was my fourth printed piece and so far none of them have returned with any visible amounts of residual wax (this may be due in part to the fact that all of my pieces to date have been rather small) but I went through the process of wax removal anyway just to be safe for priming and painting.

The tried and true method for dewaxing Frosted Ultra Detail is to soak the part in a bath of Bestine. Bestine is a solvent and thinner for rubber cement. It can be purchased online or at art supply stores. In the Chicago area both Blick’s and Utrecht carry it. I used an old glass jar to facilitate the process.

How they appeared prior to wax removal. (It was exceptionally difficult to get these even remotely in focus.)

The imaginary minced garlic in this container contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer.

I submerged the set in the Bestine for ten minutes before returning the solvent back to its container. Visibly there was no outward change that any wax had been removed, but the surfaces of the piece had turned white. This is normal for the chemical wax removal process.

Some of the jagged edges can be seen here.

After setting the piece on a paper towel to dry, I carefully separated each set of steps from the sprues. In order to save on cost, I went the minimal approach and spaced each piece very closely to keep the amount of material used as low as possible. The downside to this was that in some cases there wasn’t much space available to cut. Fortunately they all separated cleanly. The part that really had me worried was cutting the remaining sprue pieces off since the ladders are angled and in many cases could not be put on their flat sides to make the necessary cuts. Frosted Ultra Detail, it turns out, is flexible enough and strong enough. Even when printed at its minimums, each part took the cuts with no damage. This was followed by a bit of light sanding with 800 grit sand paper and they were ready to prime.

After separation, but before sprue removal.

Since ventilation in my house isn’t generally good (and by “generally” I mean ever) and since I have several small birds that would be extremely susceptible to fumes, all of this has to be done outside. This also means that work is dependent on the weather. I liberated a cardboard box from my job to serve as a hood. Because these pieces are so small and light, a gentle zephyr could take them away. To solve this they’ll be stuck to loops of tape which will be taped to the back of the box. Once the weather cooperates they’ll be primed.

No, not this kind of Zephyr.

Since Memorial Day is coming up, my family and I will be taking a trek out to the Illinois Railway Museum and I’ll finally be able to get the remaining measurements I need for the 2200 series and hopefully I’ll have time to take a crack at the 2400 series. (With my luck they’ll both be in operation and I won’t get at them.) I do have a new “secret” project that this visit may certainly help. Keep an eye out for it!