3D - printed Merkava tank

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I see why the tracks took you a great deal of time an labor. They look to be in exact scale and detail. Nice!

[Debadge1109]

hi ... your print looks nice so far. if i could i would like to make a suggestion.
i have been told by several very experienced 3d printers that petg-g. is far to brittle for rc vehicles especially tanks. if you having problems with petg-g sticking to bed i used hairspray.
it worked better for me than glue stick.
i am just beginning to print my tank myself .. can i ask what size nozzle your using? .. i was told by the person i got the files from that a 0.3m nozzle would be best ..
it would slow the print down a bit but add alot of detail. i just installed the 0.3 nozzle and got a bit of a blockage but i cleaned it out but had to raise the temp up 5 c to keep it from blocking again.
i am printing in pla+. any help you can give w me will be appreciated, and if i can help you just let me know

[tankme]

hi ... your print looks nice so far. if i could i would like to make a suggestion.
i have been told by several very experienced 3d printers that petg-g. is far to brittle for rc vehicles especially tanks. if you having problems with petg-g sticking to bed i used hairspray.
it worked better for me than glue stick.
i am just beginning to print my tank myself .. can i ask what size nozzle your using? .. i was told by the person i got the files from that a 0.3m nozzle would be best ..
it would slow the print down a bit but add alot of detail. i just installed the 0.3 nozzle and got a bit of a blockage but i cleaned it out but had to raise the temp up 5 c to keep it from blocking again.
i am printing in pla+. any help you can give w me will be appreciated, and if i can help you just let me know

The problem with PLA+ is there is no real standard as to what temps it can handle. It varies between manufacturers. It may be able to hand X temp before melting, but it gets soft way before that. I avoid PLA for tanks because I'm using my tanks in the Texas sun. I have had PLA prints warp in the sun specifically my SU-152 casemate and rear deck warped. I'm printing a T-26 tank, but I'm printing it in ASA as the ASA seems to warp a little less than ABS on my printer.

[Conor]

hi ... your print looks nice so far. if i could i would like to make a suggestion.
i have been told by several very experienced 3d printers that petg-g. is far to brittle for rc vehicles especially tanks. if you having problems with petg-g sticking to bed i used hairspray.
it worked better for me than glue stick.
i am just beginning to print my tank myself .. can i ask what size nozzle your using? .. i was told by the person i got the files from that a 0.3m nozzle would be best ..
it would slow the print down a bit but add alot of detail. i just installed the 0.3 nozzle and got a bit of a blockage but i cleaned it out but had to raise the temp up 5 c to keep it from blocking again.
i am printing in pla+. any help you can give w me will be appreciated, and if i can help you just let me know

Yo. Sorry for not replying for ages. I been busy, work has been a pain. I'm still working on the tank, it's mostly put together but I need the time and energy to adapt the electronics now.

now I have no idea if PETG-G is a extremely brittle permutation of PETG, but in general PETG is fairly ductile. ABS sits in the middle, and PLA is the hardest (and thus the most brittle)

After buying (and assembling) myself a Voron 2.4 I stopped printing tank parts in PETG, because I had to slow the speed down below 150 mm/s to keep the PETG from behaving really oddly. With ABS I run 300mm/s regularely without any problems and with the enclosure it never warps.

I'm using an 0.4 nozzle for the tank. Inkor, the designer, suggests a .2 but when I started work on the Merkava my old printer wasn't too happy with one so I used 0.4 throughout.

I've got a half-printed T84 here for my dad that was made in ABS and imo at least for the hulls and such ABS is the superior material. Tracks I#d always print in PETG

As to bed adhesion - ever since I've been using PEI sheets this has been a non issue. I've only rarely had warped ABS prints fly off the bed, but the rest were never a problem.

[Conor]

I still exist. So does my Merkava. it was on hiatus during the summer as work was abnormal. I went down to fit the gearbox a week ago, then discovered that it wouldn't fit (I had bought the wrong one in my eternal wisdom)

I went and printed myself one of Inkor (the designer's) Sho't Kal instead. Finished it in about a week (aside from some tiny parts) It even runs (however I am not sure for how long it will run with a plastic gearbox combined with red motors) I also wasn't able to hook up servo recoil and elevation becasuse my 7.0 doesn't support it.





the merkava I will continue on once the new gearboxes arrive.

[tankme]

Most of us bounce around different projects...it's normal...

[Conor]

Now that the Sho't is running I had time and energy to get back onto the Merkava.

I had to re-print some of the suspension parts (the spring guide rods were too short and upon picking up the tank the springs fell out) and replace them, plus I've completed some more parts on the turret, started installing BB/elevation mechanism, and am now waiting for some nice steel gearboxes. Hopefully they'll arrive in the next few days. The Sho't has been a good runner but red motors + plastic gearboxes = no bueno.

[Conor]

She be running now





Got a video too. Still a bunch of things to sort out, like the skirts and the fact that she keeps losing springs on maximum suspension articulation. Quite nippy with red motors, however they do get awfully warm.
Track tension is also completely off.

phpBB [video]

[Conor]

Nearing completion

one of the front mudguards keeps causing accidents like this, which initself isn't particularely scary (replacing track links is quick and easy and I have another 20) but I'd like to at least empty one battery without destroying my tracks.

The red motors and somewhat reckless driving may also contribute.

[tankme]

Since I'm at work I can't see the pics and vids as big brother blocks them, wasn't this 1/16th scale? Heng Long was supposed to release a Merkava so if they do they will probably have tracks and sprockets in plastic and/or metal. Might be a future solution to the problem.