Great idea. What diameter and kind of cutter do you use?
99% of the time I use a single flute spiral upcut 2mm. I sometimes use 1.5mm or 1.2mm - mostly for drilling holes to make hopper walkways as that’s something an FDM printer struggles with.
Wow that’s tiny. I was wondering about waste, but that’s really minimal, Manimal. What kind of machine do you use?
Man I need a bunch of machines, 3D printer Cricut and now a CnC router. Not to mention some of the other tools everyone uses!
What Pete just said. And a new shed to put them in…!
Cheers
N
I try to minimize waste by arranging parts as best I can. I save scraps that are 1"x2" or larger as I can stick them on the bed and cut smaller parts like the Stanchions.
I have a Shapeoko 4 XL Shapeoko 4 CNC Router - Carbide 3D
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I get a full 5 gallon bucket of plastic sand from the dust collector about every 10 months.
Dan,
Just to get an idea of the 5 gallons of waste, how much plastic are you going through in 10 months?
I wonder if that dust could be mixed with MEK, then cast. I was going to try that with PVC dust from work and saved a couple of quarts of very clean dust to try. When I was packing out to retire I saw it on the shelf and decided I have enough crap to get rid of already.
Back to the topic car: Do you know why they have the end platforms? Is it just to make the hopper body smaller and lighter when full? Or some other reason. Conductors love them!
Hard to say Bill, The stock material varies from .8mm to 3/4" as does the amount of material being removed. Last year I built 2 PD hoppers from a 1x6 PVC. I’m sure that accounted for a fair amount of dust.
The 10 month estimate is based on me emptying the bucket 3 times in the 30 months I’ve had the machine.
I stare at the bucket for a week every time I empty and wonder what I could do with it. Ultimately, I end up bringing it to the transfer facility and I’m sure it’s going to the landfill. Mine is a mix of PVC, polystyrene and acrylic.
I assumed it was just to have something over the trucks since they extend so far to be clear of the rapid discharge gates. I have noticed the older cars had solid “diamond plate”
Adding ~3oz of BB’s to each hopper bay. I also filled the square steel tube. I like all my cars to weigh at least 2.5lbs and ideally added as low in the car as possible.
TRUCKS
I always use metal wheels and prefer all metal trucks from USAT, AML or Kadee. I have a large surplus of Bachmann steel wheels so these will be getting USAT Intermodal trucks.
I remove the coupler mounting tang and add a 3d printed spacer to bring the center plate height up flush with the top of the truck.
The project stalled a bit as I ran out of the larger (1/16) brass rod for the handrails. I got them all installed now as well as the corner steps and support braces for the end walls.
Also resin printed jack/lift points and brake housing/wheel. The chain I like to use for these is 3mm x 2mm x .5mm.
WHEELS
I’m painting the wheels using a mask I designed/printed years ago. The masked are printed with flexible filament to hold the wheels quite nicely. I keep thinking I should print more of these as I only have the 2 sets.
Those are nifty! I use O-rings just to mask the tread and a funku holder I made from PVC scrap. Yours look much easier and probably mask a lot better.
Whatever works! It’s certainly easier than my old method of cutting and applying painters tape!
Test fitting decals and hopper gates. I’ll make water-slide decals by printing with a color laser printer and decal film. I have a white toner cartridge from Ghost White Toner that I swap out with the black one so what’s black prints white.
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Beautiful work. Looking forward to seeing it in service.
Shane
I forgot to ask and perhaps I missed it but how are you securing the 3 weighted hopper drops…only glue?
Excellent work as always!
Thanks Rooster,
Each is fastened with 2 screws and bridges the square steel tube which helps to shore it all up.
looks great!
thanks for sharing