I am code 250 Cliff. Looked super interesting so I fed it into my ‘how much to get it NZ’ spreadsheet.
Would you believe $30 per foot of track, landed??
Back to the drawing board (literally… )
I am code 250 Cliff. Looked super interesting so I fed it into my ‘how much to get it NZ’ spreadsheet.
Would you believe $30 per foot of track, landed??
Back to the drawing board (literally… )
That’d be me if I hadn’t penny pinched and got Llagas or Sunset in the first place…
For just those tie plates?!?
Is that USD?
Well then you can’t blame anyone but yourself Neil!
NZD Cliff.
But if I read correctly (always a bad assumption) - $50 USD for 100 plates. At 10 ties/ft, $40 USD shipping for USPS small box - prob too much, and forex at 0.56…
Neil, just to beat the dead horse a bit more (since it’s fun), here’s the price I’m seeing:
1 bag gets you 5 feet. Let’s say 20 bags for 100’, which is $275 USD, and ~$492 NZD. Let’s say ~$60 NZD on the cheapest shipping, so $550 NZD per 100’, $5.50 NZD per foot. If you get LCR to come down on price for a bulk lot, and ship on a slower boat, you might get it to $5.
Neil, sorry for going against your 3DP objective in this thread, but I can’t help but beat the horse just once more.
This is a variant of the separate chairs, involving chopped up slip-on brass joiners, with bits of 1/4" brass tube soldered to them, fitting into the wood ties (drilled w/ a jig such as Pete showed).
The advantages being reduced overall cost and far greater strength than the plastic ones from LCR or anything 3D printed (with a home machine). Might be able to mass produce them more quickly than printing them.
Can’t imagine the work/time/effort involved here! And how many of the fish plates are going to get solder in them so as to be “mucked up” so that you can’t pass the rail through rendering them useless?
Hmmmmm…
Maybe they’re already doing the forex. Which is weird 'cause I can’t see a currency selection button…
Cheers
N
I can. Mucking up wouldn’t a problem after good technique and a production line is established.
That must be it, Neil.
Ahh, but the missing link Cliff is new ties from Sunset are $3.75 landed… That’s the target dead horse to beat.
I checked with Pete C before he retired and he said I was one of hundreds asking, and his are a direct replacement.
I had the ASA ones coming in at $1.70/ft without any infill. Maybe that’s why I latched onto trying it (don’t even mention I justified the printer to the wife because of needing it to print new ties…)
But the jury is still out…
Cheers
N
Thanks for that data point Todd, I’ve got the Ender 3 KE, nozzle goes to 300 deg, but the plate maxes out at 100.
Enclosure is no issue - once I clear some space the garage.
Cheers
N
Do you have IKEA, over your way? Even if this design doesn’t fit your needs, Vaidotas Jocys has a well thought out, well documented design, with safety in mind.
Thanks for that Bill,
I got two of the MH1210 temp controllers a while back exactly for this.
Winter project tho - indian summer has kicked in so outdoor stuff is taking the lead while we can.
Cheers
N
Bunnings also carries a miniature smoke alarm that can fit into an enclosure too.
is it minced meat already? - the horse i mean.
i’ve got the impression, that all these solutions are not only expensive, but time intensive as well.
spiking shoemaker-nails into wooden ties sounds better and better…
Well Neil,
I guess it’s time to dig it back up and use it! Now I understand why you put them extra ankle breaking holes around your layout.
Does your software/firmware support “ironing”? It makes a whole lot of difference in the product’s strength. This is how you get a solid object.
Otherwise, when ASA prints it is like a “log cabin” where it is thicker toward the center of each successive layer. And adjacent strands don’t like to adhere so well together. In other words, it doesn’t fuse well to the underlying/adjacent layer like PLA and it prone to “stringing.” And your bed has to be REALLY CLEAN and really level.
The ironing process lays down a layer, then slowly goes back and drags the hot head over the layer to remelt it into the underlying/adjacent layer while adding some filament to compensate for the gaps. For a solid object, the flow is set at 75%, so can be quite substantial. Even at 4MM thick with a “solid fill” I can see pinholes of light come though between the adjacent strands unless I iron the pieces.
BTW, in the two videos, they are only ironing the top layers, and you see how much time it takes. For ASA to be solid, I’ve been ironing all 20 - 40 layers depending on the thickness of the piece. Like I said, it adds a lot of time.
If you are going to print ASA, get a filament drier. It is very sensitive to moisture in the filament. Alternatively, most ovens can go down to 170 degrees F and that’s close to the ideal drying temperature. My drier’s “default” for ASA is 65C for 12 hours.