HO Scale Tower/Dome for Joe's Frisco Depot in Ft. Scott, KS ....

Sumner Nov 22, 2020

  1. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    Joe is going to scratch build the Frisco Depot in Ft. Scott, KS (no longer there) for his HO layout that will reside above his N scale layout. I volunteered to try and make the tower with arches that goes above the main entrance to the depot along with the dome that is on top of the tower. I'd be using Fusion 360 to design the pieces and my Ender 3 Pro to print them out. This is the first HO project I've tried. I've had the printer about 6 months and used Fusion 360 for the same time period. Self taught with Fusion 360 with the help of some good YouTube videos.

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    Joe was able to come up with floor plans for the depot which really helped in getting the basic measurements for the tower/dome's length and width.

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    From the floor plan they look to be 13'-10” X 21'. I'll call it 14' X 21'.

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    I found a few photos of the depot but all were angle views so not the best to work off of.

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    I blew one up and came up with an approximate scale to use by using a pair of dividers to divide the 21 foot length into 21 equal parts. Now I knew the distance of a foot and could create the scale at the lower right above. Using it I could get guesstimate dimensions for other parts of the tower and dome. Not real accurate but the best I could come up with.

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    To help on my design projects I also created a N Scale and HO Scale spreadsheet that will convert inches or feet in either scale into scale dimensions I use with Fusion 360 to design the items as close as possible. I can also put a distance (right side above) and see how far that is in N or HO scale feet and inches.

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    Fusion allows you to bring a picture in and place it on a plan and then scale it so it is scaled to the scale you are working in. I did those steps with the outcome shown above. I could then use different draw commands to outline ½ of the dome. Not real accurate do to the picture being an angle view but still better than nothing. I could then 'extrude' the cutting plane above into a solid with that same outline on one side.

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    Having the shape of the dome on one side I could turn it 90 degrees and put the outline looking at the dome from the tracks on the other side and...

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    …. cut it again. Are these outlines an exact reproduction? No but for my purposes close enough.


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    I had to work with the length of the two sides but once that was done I had one quarter of the dome designed.

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    Fusion 360 lets you mirror items and then combine them after the mirroring process. I did that to get one half the dome and ….

    OK one gets the idea of one way to design a project like this. Too many pictures to post the rest here but if you are interested in how this ended the rest of the story is here ...

    http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Printer-2/page-41.html

    ..... and I have the print files if anyone other than Joe can find a use for them here ....

    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4661320

    Sumner



     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2020
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  2. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett TrainBoard Member

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    !!! WOW !!!
    I didn't realize there was this much effort to make a 3D print. Thank you so very much for your help Sumner. I'm very grateful.

    Joe
     
    Sumner likes this.
  3. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    The printer part is easy. Send the file to the printer, run a slicer program and walk away.

    Getting the file that you need can be a lot of work unless someone else has already done it. You have to build every aspect of the part just like doing a drawing that you could work off of to build something.

    The CAD programs are unbelievable now with the tools they offer vs. the old days at a drafting table. Like anything you have to learn the tools and how to use them. I'll bet at this time with Fusion 360 I know less than 5% of the tools that are available. I'm aware of some but at this point don't know how to use them. I try to keep adding to my tool box as I go along and this project helped me add to it,

    Sumner
     
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  4. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    That is waaay cool Sumner!
     

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