3D Printing - expanding the Hobby!

[Racer1h]

3D printing and the slot car hobby....just my story!

The track was done (probably too much scenery), I had tuned all my cars over the years, pretty much had all the cars I always wanted, and rarely found a new offering I had to have. Generally the hobby was down to setting up the track a couple of hours before the group came over for Thursday night racing. Then I bought the 3D printer. For the cost of 2 or 3 new cars a whole new aspect of this great hobby opened up.
From the ability to print cars never before available (paint, detail, tune, etc.), the connection to a whole new group of others with printers, the search and design for files of everything from figures, cars, parts, etc. I again spend way too much time enjoying slot cars.

printed over 400 new figures, 30 or so cars I never would have had, several small scenery item, inserts parts....on and on.

3D printed Can Am cars.....all slot it pod sidewinders.

[chappyman66]

I love the picture of the full CanAm field that you have built! What a great looking set of cars.

The thing that I like is that they are quick....the bodies are light enough that they run really well. Great work!

[Slot Car Corner]

Some great looking cars there - thank you for sharing your story!

[NHBandit]

Amazing work and a fascinating subject. Sadly I'm one of those technologically challenged types who can build real racecars blindfolded but need help setting the clock on my microwave.. What does one cost that can do basic stuff like bodies and figures ?

[Slot Car Corner]

The Ender 3 is very popular - several HRW forum members own them. Price is under $200 USD. Here is a post from the old HRW forum that chronicles a new 3D Printing user's experience with the Ender 3. There's a bit of a learning curve but a lot of 3D knowledgeable forum members here to help.

Ender 3 - 3D Printer Post

[-nimrod-]

Now THAT is a stable of fine looking cars!!
All this 3D printing stuff has reignited my passion for Slot cars too, basically no boundaries

NHBandit, I'm almost done with the 3d stuff (had a little setback these past couple of weeks) , decals to follow very soon.

Cheers
NimROD

[NHBandit]

Now THAT is a stable of fine looking cars!!
All this 3D printing stuff has reignited my passion for Slot cars too, basically no boundaries

NHBandit, I'm almost done with the 3d stuff (had a little setback these past couple of weeks) , decals to follow very soon.

Cheers
NimROD

That's awesome my friend. Very much appreciated.

[ccobra]

Only problem I find with the 3d printing is while driving down the road you look at cars differently in how you can model them up and print them out for the track at home. Then you come up with some crazy ideas on how to make a suspension for the chassis that would be easy to assemble after printing.

[Lotus56]

Racer1H. What printer brand did you use. Did the bodies require a lot of sanding or did they come out kinda smooth. Did you make the files (not sure if that's what they are called) or did you download them. Your cars look super great.

[Racer1h]

I use a x-one [2] Qidi printer. All the bodies require some degree of sanding. The whole process is about the same as working on a resin body after printing. the files come from everywhere.......internet sites, other people using 3D, and you make or modify files on your own.

[chappyman66]

As far as finishing work......
It depends a little on the resolution you choose for the printing process. Smaller layers make smoother bodies. But Racer1h is correct....they all take a little sanding and finishing depending on your preferences.

This photo is 4 cars from the PPP, all of them printed separately by their owners:


You can see some differences in finish, depending on how much time we each invested....
But you can see that they look pretty good, overall.

These are in primer, and some print marks are still a little visible:


Same bodies after a few color coats:


And a couple finished cars:


He invests MUCH more time than I do....his cars are pretty much as good as injection molded.

[Lotus56]

Well you guys after looking at all those great cars I ordered a Ender 3 and it come in today. Talk about an impulse buy. Spent the last week reading and researching all I can. Read everything on this forum and the old one. Went to some of sites mentioned for downloads. So where did the files for these cars come from. Did you guys make them. And have any of you seen any mid 60's Indy cars.

[chappyman66]

We bought the Lister and a few others. Several have come from Thingiverse. The CanAm cars in particular are done by a forum member, nimrod. So it's sort of all over.

[Audi1]

Those 3DP CanAm cares look great.

We’ve run a lot of proxies over the past couple of years and thus far it seems to be the case that 3DP bodies don’t stand up to crashes as well as injection molded bodies. Is there a way to overcome what seems to be a ruggedness/durability issue?

Allan

[ccobra]

Those 3DP CanAm cares look great.

We’ve run a lot of proxies over the past couple of years and thus far it seems to be the case that 3DP bodies don’t stand up to crashes as well as injection molded bodies. Is there a way to overcome what seems to be a ruggedness/durability issue?

Allan

What I've found is that the wall thickness needs to be around 0.035 inches thick so I try to print with a 20% support material added in. Its easy when you control the modeling but when you use another model off line then there may be issues. I started, afterRacer1h suggested, decreasing the amount of triangles. This has seemed to help somewhat. Using this I've had pretty good results with durability tests that the grand kids do for me. The only problem is the wings and mirrors get broken off.