N Scale 3D Printed Roundhouse....

Sumner Jan 21, 2021

  1. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    Finally finished with all the essential files for a N Scale roundhouse that can be printed and assembled with any number of stalls. This is a freelance design where I've pulled ideas from different photos but doesn't represent any real life roundhouse. I decided to give the project a set of pages all to itself since there are quite a few printed parts (over 30 options). They were designed using Fusion 360.

    To much to put it all here so a link to the whole project...

    http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Roundhouse/Roundhouse-Index.html

    And have it up on the thingiverse.com account here....

    https://www.thingiverse.com/sumner/designs

    Now for some photos...

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    There are several more side wall options in addition to those shown in the photo above.

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    You can print the bay fronts in multiples of one, two or four for any amount of bays you need and the same is true of the walls on the back of the bays shown next.

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    There are more options for the back wall than show in the photo above.

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    I'll come up with more roof details than the skylights.

    This has been a huge project with over 50 designs along the way and ending up with over 30 that you can pick and choose from. I'm now working on patterns you can print to help in building the roof and floor sections out of styrene sheet.

    If anyone takes this on I'd appreciate some feedback. It would help in knowing it anything needs to be changed. I've got the parts printed out for four stalls now with the front, back and side walls also printed and will start to assemble those soon. I probably want to end up with 12-14 stalls.

    Here is a link to the project....

    http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Roundhouse/Roundhouse-Index.html

    Sumner


     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2021
  2. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    I'll try my best to describe what I'm going to try doing with the floors. If it isn't clear send me an e-mail (contact20 (at) purplesagetradingpost (dot) com.

    The floors will be in three layers or three floor levels. At the entrance to the roundhouse at the front of the bays there is a base section on the bay fronts. It is .040” thick. There are also .040” thick bases on all the walls to help in the printing as the walls were warping without them. Let's call all of those the base floor. For the track to be level inside the roundhouse we need base floors .040” thick to go from the front walls back to the back wall and also over to the side walls.

    I have files that let you print these base sections of floor. The prints are a little small in all directions to make it easier to assemble the model. The two floor layers above the base will let you tie all the floor levels together to the side, front and back walls if you are having a hard time attaching the base floor sections to the walls.

    Also you don't need to print all of the base sections out. I've printed a couple but it is a waste of printer time and materials in my mind. I'll use those as patterns and cut the rest out of .040” sheet styrene. Also at that point you could use the patterns on paper and layout the complete base floor as a single floor and use the paper pattern on the styrene to cut out a single larger floor. I'll attempt that my self when I get to that stage of putting everything together. Right now I'm printing the different parts of the building.

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    Also on the base prints for the stalls there are straight long raised sections that make it easy to locate the track. If you use the styrene use your patterns to mark the track center lines for the next step.


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    Above the base floor is another floor. It is the thickness of the ME Code 55 track I'm using. The purpose of it is to bring the top of this floor slightly higher than the tops of the ME Code 55 ties. In my case it is .060”. If you are using different track and want to put these additional floors in so that you end up with a shop floor where the top of it is even with the top of the track rails as I believe is the case in real life make this floor out the a thickness that is slightly more than the height of your track ties.

    This floor should cover the base sections and extend past it onto the bases of the four walls and close to those walls. It doesn't have to go all the way to them unless this is your final floor. It should go almost to the wall but more importantly close to the edge of the track ties. If you used styrene for the base and have the track centerlines marked put the track in place and butt these pieces up close to the ties. They will now locate the track from moving sideways. Again this will be covered in the next step so some gaps are OK. Also if you weren't able to glue the base floor into position now you can glue it to these pieces and these pieces to the base of the walls tying it all together.

    The final step and it isn't shown here is explained further below.

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    Another overview starting with the photo above. Base .040” floor shown with the track inside the locator strips. If you use styrene mark the centerlines.

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    In the picture above only pay attention to the side above the track. I laid a piece that is .060” for illustration above. If you have the piece with the raise track locators butt it up against those. If not butt it up close to the ties once the track is on the centerline. Do this with pieces on both sides that are a little thick than your ties for the track you are using. These pieces will hold the next pieces a little higher than the ties.

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    Above I've laid the third floor (.060” in my case) on top of the second floor. The top of this floor is even with or close to the height of the top of the rails like it would be in a real building. Since the second piece is a little higher than the ties you should be able to slide the track in and out if you need to.

    Try and take this final floor not only to the rail edges but to the wall edges before it is glued into place for a finished floor look. You could also use strips of the same material between the rails or cut some of those ties out and have a work pit between the rails.There are no printable patterns for this final floor as it needs to be as tight a fit as possible. Use multiple pieces of paper if needed along the rails and the edges of the walls to get a good fit. Tape them together and to a center section of paper and use all of that to make a final pattern on paper or poster-board or card-stock. The use the final pattern to cut the floor out of .060” styrene or the thickness you need for your track.

    Take pictures and send them to me and I'll post some. I'll also come back and post pictures here when I get to this stage.

    You can find the print files for these floor sections that you can use to make the floor or for patterns ( HERE ).....and ....

    .... a link to this info on my site here .....

    http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Roundhouse/page-9.html

    Sumner
     
  3. CNE1899

    CNE1899 TrainBoard Member

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    Sumner,
    Wow, nice job! That is a very involved project.
    Scott
     
  4. SLSF Freak

    SLSF Freak Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Amazing work there, Sumner - can't wait to see a finished roundhouse using your design!

    -Mike
     
  5. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    --- Roundhouse 40 Foot Bay Extension for Two Bays ---

    I had a request from a modeler that had a few longer steam locos that wouldn't fit into the roundhouse with its 105 foot stall length. Kind of surprised me as I think a Big Boy would fit with out the tender. I spent a day working on this and was able to cobble together an extension using some of the existing walls. I probably won't be printing this myself as the longest loco that I have and probably will have, a , just fits. So please if you print this let me know how it worked out and if possible take pictures and send them to me and I'll post some. I'll also come back and post pictures here when I get to this stage if I ever print this out for myself ( contact20 (at) purplesagetradingpost (dot) com ). This is a long print so I won't be printing it myself and at this point have printed all the pieces on the preceding pages so another reason I'd like to know how it goes if someone does print this.

    One aspect of this I'm not real happy with but won't spend any more time on as it isn't important to me and I'm not making any money doing this and have lots of other things that are more important is the way the loco ends up at the back of these extended bays. It is close to the wall side of the loco when it is in the bay. From my calculations and using Fusion 360 to mock it up (see picture further down this page) a loco will clear the corner where it enters the extended bay. Just make sure the crew that moves the engine in for service doesn't need to work on that side of the loco ;-).

    Once printed you just replace any two back wall sections with this print. I'd make sure one of the bays is lined up with the track that goes straight across the turntable and to the entrance track to the turntable on the other side. That way if the loco is too long for the turntable you could line the turntable up with the turntable entrance track and the track into the bay. The loco could be pushed or pulled in real life it need straight across the turntable and on into the stall. Of course this would only work for one of the two bays unless there was a second track to the turntable on the far side for another straight route to the bay.

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    The extension adds 40 feet to two bays.


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    The extension replaces what would have been two back bay walls.

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    There is only one file associated with this bay extension ( 1-Back Extension.stl ).

    Please if you print this let me know how it worked out and if possible take pictures and send them to me and I'll post some. I'll also come back and post pictures here when I get to this stage if I ever print this out for myself ( contact20 (at) purplesagetradingpost (dot) com ).

    You can find the print files for these floor sections that you can use to make the floor or for patterns ( HERE ).

    Also the info is on my site here ...

    http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Roundhouse/page-10.html

    Sumner
     
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  6. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    Roundhouse Roof Supports:

    There are a couple different options for the roof supports. One is posts with no bases and the other has what appears as concrete or stone bases.

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    The length of the post/beam support assembly is a little short to ease in the assembly in case things are off a little. I'll leave it up to you to fill in the end gap if that becomes a problem for you.

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    You probably will want a post/beam assembly on the sides of each bay but might want to leave out the first one on both ends by the half bay that is at the end walls. I'll probably put them in there also.

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    If you print posts without bases and want to add them you can print out a sheet of 12 and use those. I use about a .039 drill bit to drill out the corner of each one and then an Exacto knife to cut the rest out and clean the hole up with the knife. This isn't too difficult if you leave them attached to the bottom sheet piece while doing that.

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    If you use a different thickness floor than what I've designed you have the option to print the post/beam assemblies with different length posts. If you do that and want bases you are going to have to print the bases separately and add them to the posts.

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    If you end up with the three floor thicknesses of .040, 060 and .060 ( .160” ) or any other combination that ends up .160” thick you can print out post/beam assemblies with most of the base printed with the post. You will end up with posts that have the base on three sides. They will also have a cross-beam support up at the top of the post for cross-beams. I don't have print files for the cross-beams. I'll probably use scale timbers for that (16” x 24”).

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    There is a print file for the cross-beam supports that can be printed separately for use on the other side of the post or for prints where the posts don't have any cross-beam supports.

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    You can print the partial post bottoms above to glue to the bottom of the posts that don't have them printed on one side.

    There are a couple different options for different length posts if you go with different floor thicknesses than what I am using. If you don't find the right length shim one or cut a post to the right length for your situation.

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    16 post/beam assemblies for the roundhouse which will have 15 bays. I've got about 2/3's of the prints done. Depending on how many bays you are going to have there can be a lot of printing. Once you have the end walls printed and the four corners printed count on an additional couple hours of printing at least for each bay (back wall, front wall and roof detail).

    This about concludes the files for the roundhouse. I am working on a higher roof section that could be used over two adjoining bays. The purpose would be to give addition height to the inner roof over a loco for a gantry type crane. The crane could move back and forth over a loco to lift heavy parts of the loco used in repairs. If I like it I'll add it at a later date.

    You can find the print files for these roof supports ( HERE ).

    And more info on my site here....

    http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Roundhouse/page-11.html

    You can find all the files to 3D print this object and others on my thingiverse.com account ( HERE ).

    Sumner

     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2021
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  7. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    Now, if you could just shrink this a little down to 1:220....:whistle:

    Great lookin' modular roundhouse, I like it!(y)
     
  8. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    I'm not sure how many but some roundhouses had an overhead traveling crane to use while servicing locomotives. I wanted the option for a little more character to be added to the roundhouse so designed a raise roof section that will go over two of the stalls. You could have more than one section of raised roof if you wanted but at this point they aren't designed to butt up against each other although that might be able to be accomplished with what you have here with some cutting and gluing.

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    There are only two files you print. The one above and the next one. You would glue this to the roof you would make out of something like sheet styrene. Cut some holes in it if you want to have light from below come up into this section or any of the skylight sections.

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    This about concludes the files for the roundhouse. I'd appreciate comments and/or pictures if you take the time to print any of the parts.

    You can find the print files for this raised roof section ( HERE ).

    A link to the above on my site....

    http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Roundhouse/page-12.html

    Sumner
     
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  9. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    This roundhouse project just keeps getting better Sumner. Hopefully by summer, I'll have a 3d printer and can try it all out! (y)(y)(y)
     
  10. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, it for sure would break-in the printer in as there is a lot of hours of printing depending on how many stalls you need. I'm going for 15 at the moment. I have all the sides and fronts and supports printed and about 5 back wall sections, so about 10 more of those to go. I'll make about all of the floor and roof from styrene sheets (unless someone has a better suggestion) from printed patterns,

    Sumner
     
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