I was recently looking for something to design and print and found... the tank above on https://www.cherelvalleyrailroad.com/carboncokeovens.html (great site). I modified it in the redesign to make it more 3D print friendly. I tried to print it as a whole but there were so many supports that it was going to be impossible removing them and the print time was like 6 hours. I broke it apart and printed it that way with a total time for all the parts of under 2 hours I think. It only took a few minutes to glue it together and I'm happy with the results. I designed two tops, one with an access hatch. You could use it on a layout in about any time period. I plan to next design the pump house that is shown in the first picture. I'll get this up on my web site soon and the files up on my thingiverse.com account ( https://www.thingiverse.com/Sumner/designs ) soon along with in the 'Resource' section here. I want to get it painted and the pump house done soon. Sumner
Put some paint on the 3D printed water tower today. I still need to print and add 3 ladders to get to the service hatch on the top of the tank, Sumner
I've got more info on the build of the water tank up on my site here along with additional pictures ... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Printer/page-18.html ... and the build files are up on my thingiverse account here.... https://www.thingiverse.com/Sumner/designs Hope to have the pump house building that goes at the tower base up soon, Sumner
I got the N scale pump house for the tower water tank designed and thought I'd share it. I ended up with three versions of the pump house. The one on the left above prints as a single unit with the roof being printed attached to the building. It prints fine but is a longer print as you need to add supports to the print to support the roof from inside the building and to also support the overhangs. It wasn't too hard to remove the outer print supports but I gave up trying to remove the inner ones and you can see them to some degree through the window. I won't be using this print method but will put the print file up on my thingiverse account if you want to print it along with the other options. The middle option is the best to use if you are going to use the pump hose under the tower and not as a standalone option. The roof prints separately with a hole in the roof (although you will have to enlarge it to the proper size). The building a deck under it prints as a unit. The deck is designed to slide in under the tower. Actually you put it in from the bottom after gluing the roof on the building so don't glue the tower down and think you can later slide the building and base in. The right option is a building that you print to put anywhere on the layout you so choose. If you want there is also a base that can be printed and the building can be glued to it but you don't need to necessarily use the base. I'll use the basic walls to make some different buildings for the layout with the same siding. Fusion 360 will make it fairly easy to cut the building apart and add length and/or width along with addition doors and/or windows. In the picture above the tower appears to be leaning but it isn't. Must of been the wide angle on the camera shot. A final shot from the back side. More pictures and info on my site here .... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Printer/page-17.html .... and you can find all the files to 3D print this object and others on my thingiverse account here ..... https://www.thingiverse.com/Sumner/designs Sumner
I've added a second option for the tank besides the one posted above with smooth sides. The second option is a tank that appears to be made up of vertical boards which was typical of early water tanks. For some reason the printer printed small round nibs where the bands crossed the depressions. I spent about 15 minutes trying to remove most of them with an Exacto knife and a file. I could of done better. Not sure how your printer will handle this but wanted to point it out. I also designed a new top (roof) with a smaller access hatch and .... .... will post that file on line along with the larger one. http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Printer/20-06-09 Tank-Boards-3.jpg I have the additional files posted on thingiverse .... https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4425014 and more info on my site .... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Printer/page-18.html Sumner
