Craig, Don’t you dare throw that project away!!!..It is looking pretty awesome!.. You picture above of the dozer sitting there looks pretty intimidating as it is right now… I can’t wait to see this when it is completed… Keep up the good work…!
If you make a form, you can curve a sheet of plastic onto the form with some heat. Or you could build the roof with strips of thicker plastic, and sand them into a smooth curve.
Basswood sheets would form into that kind of curve, if you don’t mind using wood.
You could make curved ribs to span between the sides and laminate thin styrene or plywood sheets that are easy to bend and build up to the thickness you need.
Doc Watson
Craig,
Have some formers cut on a laser and overlay them with the proper thickness of styrene. I can give you the name of a custom laser outfit that does stuff pretty cheap if you don’t have a source already.
Chris
All the ideas are great, but I still have the same problem, getting a consistent curve to use as a form. I don’t trust myself to sand a nice even curve out of wood to use as a form.
Heating up and bending ribs seems like the most logical choice, but again I need some sort of jig to bend each one the same.
Someone in Facebook suggesting getting 2’ OD pipe?!
I have some in my scrap pile, um, supply storage area. Its a shame you don’t live closer, you could take some if it.
Craig Townsend said:
Okay guys I’m stumped…
I need to make a curved roof for this thing, and it needs to be smooth all the way around. The prototype calls for a 3" thick, 27’ radius roof. So that translates into roughly .100" by 11.17" radius. Any ideas on how to make such a roof?
Yes
David Maynard said:
I have some in my scrap pile, um, supply storage area. Its a shame you don’t live closer, you could take some if it.
You’ve got 2’ OD pipe just laying around?! Ibjad is hard time find 8.5"OD pipe years ago went I got the crazy idea to build a grain elevator in large scale.
Yes
Okay, can you give me a hint?
Its amazing the stuff I find, and have been given. When I scratch built a trestle in HO, some of the guys in the club gave me their unused strip-wood, because I (make things out of little sticks).
I got my 3D printed parts today. Will try and post a pic later.
Craig Townsend said:
Yes
Okay, can you give me a hint?
The answer is already here in this section of the forums …however it might not be the answer you are after or suit your needs when it comes to the precision you require for your models .
Okay than Rooster, sorry I asked. As apparently I’m too “good” for the information.
Oops this was an expensive mistake… I opened up my parts of Shapeways, and as I was looking at them a few of them looked a bit off. Nobody said that scratch building was cheap, right?
Come to realize that quite a few parts had been reduced to the incorrect size. For example, one part that was supposed to be a scale 12" wide came out to 9" wide. Another part that was only supposed to be 6" wide ended up 16" wide. The lesson is double check your measurements before hitting submit to the 3D printer.
I think I can manage to salvage a few, but I might contact Shapeways anyway as two of the major parts came bent. I’m not sure if this was in the shipping or in the cleaning process. But when a flat part doesn’t lay flat something isn’t right. Plus the parts met all of Shapeways minimum requirements on sizing.
I’m also going to redraw some of the boom parts to make the boom piece as one solid piece. I had created it as 4 separate parts that I would connect with a piece of styrene tubing, but looking at the size and shape of the parts it will be easier just to order them as one solid piece.
I think I might also try and design a bending jig or maybe even a piece of roof section to solve my earlier problem as well. Time will tell.
Roof roof,
Got construction?
http://www.atlasform.com/pages/concreteaccessories/sonotube.html
Attach a thin polystyrene skin to a section of tube that matches your needs.
Hey it’s a thought. I’ve also seen larger irrigation pipes at industrial supply houses.
John
edit out a space
Craig Townsend said:
Okay than Rooster, sorry I asked. As apparently I’m too “good” for the information.
Well …I have given my advice before on your other builds only to be shunned as it wasn’t what you were after. I think you have gotten some great advice already with the roof sprues . Think 1:1 building and pitch your desire for scaled down exact accuracy.
It’s all good
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Don Watson said:
You could make curved ribs to span between the sides and laminate thin styrene or plywood sheets that are easy to bend and build up to the thickness you need.
Doc Watson
Doc has the most practical idea.
Draw them up and sent to Shapeways. Just remember to get the scale right. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Steve Featherkile said:
Don Watson said:
You could make curved ribs to span between the sides and laminate thin styrene or plywood sheets that are easy to bend and build up to the thickness you need.
Doc Watson
Doc has the most practical idea.
Draw them up and sent to Shapeways. Just remember to get the scale right. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Pretty much Steve …Hollywood stated the same in chat
Once again it’s all good!
I tried drawing them up in Sketchup a while back and because of the size of the roof piece, and the radius, the “curve” wasn’t that smooth, instead it was only 3 sections, not a continuous curve. But it could be a starting point for sanding smooth.
I picked up some basswood at Ace this evening to see if I might be able make a nice smooth jig for forming the roof. I found a post over on MlS where Kevin S. used grooved stock to help make a even curve for a cab roof. I may try that as well.