3rd-Nov-21, 06:27 PM
#80
Learning by Doing...
Don started the Chat with an update on his projects. The red Sideways Ford is coming along, but no mirrors fitted yet? As Don noted "this car is a racer, it doesn't need mirrors". And with regards to the blue paint body he showed us previously? "One car at a time". Wise words from someone who is actually getting through his projects!
Mike showed of this week's Scalextric purchases, which included the Castrol Aston Martin whose paint job had everyone drooling. And with regards mirrors, some of the cars had flexible ones, some were more rigid, and all were currently still attached as they hadn't raced yet. Henri's Land Rover 3DP body has now been placed on a raid chassis, and we saw video evidence that it goes great in a straight line...he admitted it still needed a bit of tuning to help it round the curvy bits of track.
JohnK gave an update on the Porsche 925. We learnt all about how 'guide coats' can help with paint finishes this week. Lots of chat with the next person on the production line with regards the options for fitting bodies to chassis and creating room for the motor. John even took the opportunity to sit the body on some wheels to get an impression of how the final car might look, and what a transformation from just seeing it as a loose body.
Dewann has started on the scenery for his tracks. He is seeing all the options available with fresh eyes and he showed us the various card and wooden options that are available for buildings out there, big cost differences between the two, but which are best value? And not forgetting the interiors as well...scenery doesn't have to stop at the windows for Dewann! And to keep his hand in with car purchases, we saw some classic 60s comic/cartoon cars that are on his radar.
Big Den has done his first spray paint job, and it's not just the smell he's become addicted to, he's going to be doing many more now he has got over the hurdle of doing the first one! He showed off lots if pictures of potential projects, including one car that is based on the concept of a catamaran with the driver sitting between the two wheels on the left hand side of the car, with the engine over the right hand wheels!
No Wayne this week, so we quickly got to Club Corner. Frank got in quick with the news that he had only gone and won a race over the weekend. Big Den on the other hand hasn't quite made it onto the podium in Tasmania. But visitors to his club had brought some interesting plastic/brass hybrid chassis cars with them that did rather well. This opened up a discussion on the benefits of this set up, with reference to the output from the Slotworx company in Australia.
Greg then gave a meaty tutorial on how to design a chassis in CAD for printing at home. Based on the old adage "See One, Do One, Teach One" and the feedback from the willing pupils on the Chat, he unlocked or demystified a few secrets on how to get something half decent drawn on the screen that your printer would recognise to print. Whilst Greg caveated everything he did by saying there might be other ways to enter data into the model, or that other CAD software might need data entered in a different way, just seeing something being you recognise being created on the screen in front of you in real time is a real help in explaining the concept of CAD and 3DP. Kevan chipped in with the ability to create libraries of standard 'parts' which you can import into designs to save re-inventing the wheel each time, e.g. a standard hole for a motor pod. Our Alan highlighted the issue of not all chassis being flat and CAD friendly, and the need to learn how to create truly 3D items in CAD. Garth picked up on this and reminded us that CAD design doesn't necessarily mean reproducing designs that have been developed for the injection molded manufacturing process; that CAD gives us the opportunity and the probable need, the design chassis (for example) for the 3DP process.
Henri finished the Chat off with an example of a chassis for his Alfa that had taken him two weeks to design in CAD. Dennis suggested that he could have probably made three brass chassis in that time. Such is progress...
Learning by Doing...
Don started the Chat with an update on his projects. The red Sideways Ford is coming along, but no mirrors fitted yet? As Don noted "this car is a racer, it doesn't need mirrors". And with regards to the blue paint body he showed us previously? "One car at a time". Wise words from someone who is actually getting through his projects!
Mike showed of this week's Scalextric purchases, which included the Castrol Aston Martin whose paint job had everyone drooling. And with regards mirrors, some of the cars had flexible ones, some were more rigid, and all were currently still attached as they hadn't raced yet. Henri's Land Rover 3DP body has now been placed on a raid chassis, and we saw video evidence that it goes great in a straight line...he admitted it still needed a bit of tuning to help it round the curvy bits of track.
JohnK gave an update on the Porsche 925. We learnt all about how 'guide coats' can help with paint finishes this week. Lots of chat with the next person on the production line with regards the options for fitting bodies to chassis and creating room for the motor. John even took the opportunity to sit the body on some wheels to get an impression of how the final car might look, and what a transformation from just seeing it as a loose body.
Dewann has started on the scenery for his tracks. He is seeing all the options available with fresh eyes and he showed us the various card and wooden options that are available for buildings out there, big cost differences between the two, but which are best value? And not forgetting the interiors as well...scenery doesn't have to stop at the windows for Dewann! And to keep his hand in with car purchases, we saw some classic 60s comic/cartoon cars that are on his radar.
Big Den has done his first spray paint job, and it's not just the smell he's become addicted to, he's going to be doing many more now he has got over the hurdle of doing the first one! He showed off lots if pictures of potential projects, including one car that is based on the concept of a catamaran with the driver sitting between the two wheels on the left hand side of the car, with the engine over the right hand wheels!
No Wayne this week, so we quickly got to Club Corner. Frank got in quick with the news that he had only gone and won a race over the weekend. Big Den on the other hand hasn't quite made it onto the podium in Tasmania. But visitors to his club had brought some interesting plastic/brass hybrid chassis cars with them that did rather well. This opened up a discussion on the benefits of this set up, with reference to the output from the Slotworx company in Australia.
Greg then gave a meaty tutorial on how to design a chassis in CAD for printing at home. Based on the old adage "See One, Do One, Teach One" and the feedback from the willing pupils on the Chat, he unlocked or demystified a few secrets on how to get something half decent drawn on the screen that your printer would recognise to print. Whilst Greg caveated everything he did by saying there might be other ways to enter data into the model, or that other CAD software might need data entered in a different way, just seeing something being you recognise being created on the screen in front of you in real time is a real help in explaining the concept of CAD and 3DP. Kevan chipped in with the ability to create libraries of standard 'parts' which you can import into designs to save re-inventing the wheel each time, e.g. a standard hole for a motor pod. Our Alan highlighted the issue of not all chassis being flat and CAD friendly, and the need to learn how to create truly 3D items in CAD. Garth picked up on this and reminded us that CAD design doesn't necessarily mean reproducing designs that have been developed for the injection molded manufacturing process; that CAD gives us the opportunity and the probable need, the design chassis (for example) for the 3DP process.
Henri finished the Chat off with an example of a chassis for his Alfa that had taken him two weeks to design in CAD. Dennis suggested that he could have probably made three brass chassis in that time. Such is progress...
I love puttering with gears
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