Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Hi All, You guys do a lot of creative use of materials:)... I'm trying to find something that will make an antenna dish about 3.5" diameter. Any ideas where something like that can be salvaged? Well, this time of year, a large diameter plastic Christmas ornament might do the trick. Pick a diam...

McMaster Carr has a huge selection of knurled screws & pins. You may also have to face the fact that a movie prop house can easily turn down or create a simple knurled pin in their machine shop. But these might do you: http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-knurled-head-thumb-screws/=kn08nw http://ww...

It is 6 1/2 inches in lenth. Yes, I saw that above. :) Did you make it to a scale or to a size? 6 1/2" long would put it at something like 1/15 scale or so, wouldn't it? Are you making it purely for yourself or thinking of offering it for sale? You might even consider putting the 3D model up o...

Cool.

Odd, yes, but cool.

WHat scale is it? 1:48?

Hmm, wonder if I just messed up.... want to mold these two pieces and i see even in halves I have a massive undercut if I try to mold create the mold line on the flat bottom. See picture 2 and 5. Figure something out. No, no, those undercuts are minor. Really minor. This isn't an injected kit, the ...

Any comments on these instructions? http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-build-a-vacuum-chamber-for-degassing I was thinking of trying to build this and just wondering if I am setting myself up to fail or not? ha Seen it work before, so the fundamentals are fine. Make sure you use a pressure vessel of som...

Remember, unless you get the amount of filler absolutely perfect, you're going to end up sanding or at best scraping away the excess. As soon as you touch the surface of the kit near the seam, the scratches will become super visible. You can polish them out of course, but it's a pilke of work to res...

Yeah, the Syil look pretty good, but I wonder at the utility of that 4th axis. It's quite large/tall for a hobby rotary turntable. It would use up a lot of vertial travel. It would be more useful turned on it's side so that its axis was parallel to the table. But that's more tooling & set up. Sh...

Yeah that's the right way to mould what have become relatively small parts.

Look sreally cool. I hope the prionter resolution captures the detail.

Looking at these parts, they don't seem too big. What are they, when assembled, approx. 5" x 4" x 1.5"?? If so, you should split the shape along the vertical plane and not in the three peices you have. Moulding would be easier, the undercuts would not be too great and the smaller numb...

This looks really cool. Question: Have you talked to the printer to ascertain whether your parts breakdown (top, middle & bottom) is less expensive to print versus two halves, left & right. For some printing systems the total volume deposited determines the price. For some systems it's relat...

with multi-axis CNC milling, the resolution you can get on a surface is dependent on the size of the cutter (usually a ball cutter) you use and how small the step size is that you use to space the passes over an area. The limit of teh machine is defined by how small the stepper motors can make the s...

Last time I check I didn't think Sherline had a turnkey CNC mill. They have one with the motors factory installed but you still had to go third party for everything else. I didn't think so either, but I just checked this afternoon and that's their price for their most tricked out machine with the l...

If you can afford a $4500 engraver, you can afford a pretty darned good desktop CNC mill. Paul Would you have any recommendations on which model of CNC? TazMan2000 It all depends upon the size of the items you want to make. The top of the line, computer & software included, Sherline is $4900. T...

If you can afford a $4500 engraver, you can afford a pretty darned good desktop CNC mill. And _that_ is the way I'd go. YOU can do anything the engraver or laser can do (only smaller parts, granted), but so much more. There is tooling and a learning curve, to be sure and set-up time can be a bit of ...

1. MagicSculpt . So far on a test piece I can tell this still, although very cool, is going to be heavy! I am not very experienced with sculpting but I am having problems getting a smooth surface because the material is sticky and the viscosity is a bit thick. Good lord, man, how thick are you layi...

1. MagicSculpt . So far on a test piece I can tell this still, although very cool, is going to be heavy! I am not very experienced with sculpting but I am having problems getting a smooth surface because the material is sticky and the viscosity is a bit thick. Good lord, man, how thick are you layi...

I think .01 might not do this justice compared to .006? But i will have to submit the .stl to 3 different 3d printers and weigh the budget versus quality and see. what is the difference in height between each of the parallel surfaces in teh panels? If it's .010 or less, then the .010" layer re...

Ok so if using the Listerine bottle is not good due to adhesive issues, then what material would be best for the core structure? Sorry for the noob questions just do not enjoy wasting money on mistakes. Well, if you want it hollow and you want it of complex shape, then sheet styrene and epoxy putty...

I am new to the styrene world..So is there a good flexible clear styrene that is about 1 x 3inch in strips that could pass for good windows? Evergreen make clear sheet in various sizes. Those pieces glued on, plus a lot of hull mods, thin styrene stacking to make the hull look thick and add dimensi...

I am going to get the radar dish to spin revolution per second would do I think. Well, thata's 60 RPM, so the full voltage no-load speed is very close (58 RPM) but you are talking about 8 1.5 V batteries. That's a bunch! A big battery pack and a lot of mass. I'm sure you can get a cheaper lower vol...

Hey..........en'til Zog How do you even wire something like this Precision Mini Gearhead Motor up? miniature gearhead motor by Sayama part# 12SM-AT3 operates from 1.5VDC up to 12VDC. No load current is about 18mA and RPM at 12VDC is about 58. So you wire 1 or 2 1.5V batteries in series with the mot...

I am considering using an empty Listerine Bottle. OK, well, that could be a problem. Very little in the adhesive line is going to stick to that sort of plastic. I bet it's PET (Poly Ethylene Terapthalate[sp]) just loke a pop bottle. The key to success in this willbe finding something you can use to...

1. I get so frustrated that when ever I make a Cockpit, or cabin for a space vessel the seems of the cardboard seem to show. How can I get that smooth finish with styrene so that seems disappear and look like they were either welded? Well, when working with styrene (or any sheet product), the best ...

For the 3D part you show and the sizes you quote, $150 is not outrageous. Shopping around might get you a little discount, but not much. Or it might not. The shape will generally be less expensive to prototype if it is hollow, so investigate shelling it out with a wall thickness of 1-2mm. That would...

Took out undercuts on inside, added key to place model together. Looks fine Added some outside attachments that originally was going to be done after 3d printing but decided to do for it. They should all come out OK, but it might be a good idea to print just the nose to get and idea of exactly what...

Taking the advice of people with more experience, the first two portions of the nose are hollowed out with 1/8th inch thick walls. The volume is 1.92 cubic inches. _That's_ more like it, although I recommend 3/16 walls as opposed to 1/8. I guess when you hollow out there is no getting around underc...

Well I believe I have several things working for me on the price. For one, the model is slender. But more importantly the fellow doing the model also models and I think he is being kind to me? To answer the size, thickens, etc questions, let me just link their site if that is okay? http://www.finno...

Oh yeah its pricey, i have already sent over model and am able to get all 10 peieces done for under a grand. That's an incredibly cheap price for that much prototyping. - What layer thickness will the machine produce? - Are your parts hollow? - What is the wall thickness? - Have you allowed for eno...

1) I am having a 3d printer print a replica of a star ship made in 3DS max. I have broken it down into parts to print less than 10 inches and will assemble after for a full hull of 24". Holy crap batman! How much money have you got for this project? Have you gotten quotes on these parts yet? U...