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Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 3:42 pm
by RiskyR
Today I picked up the first print of the front bottom of the hull/chassis. I'm actually suprised how sturdy it feels!
Very curious how it will hold once used... we'll see!
IMG-0256 (Middel).jpg
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Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:07 am
by Herr Dr. Professor
Oh, Risky one: given this illustration, I get the idea that even before you buy the new HengLong gear boxes you are able to check their fit to the hull you designed. Is that right? Wow! My guess is that you are using some kind of CAD software that "interfaces" with a 3D printer, but can also handle other drawings.
M4A1-32.jpg
M4A1-32.jpg (35.24 KiB) Viewed 1328 times

Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2022 7:52 am
by RiskyR
Herr Dr. Professor wrote:Oh, Risky one: given this illustration, I get the idea that even before you buy the new HengLong gear boxes you are able to check their fit to the hull you designed. Is that right? Wow! My guess is that you are using some kind of CAD software that "interfaces" with a 3D printer, but can also handle other drawings.
M4A1-32.jpg
Yes that is correct! I got a 3D model of the gearbox from GrabCAD.com, just to check if I could fit them in my model.
If you can save your model as an .stl file, the slicer can read it and it can be printed. If I download a file that is not compatible with the slicer, I just import it in Blender or Fusion360 and convert it to a .stl file.

Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2022 8:30 am
by HERMAN BIX
That flash of red got me thinking you were making a part for the Scuderia !!

Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:00 am
by jee
HERMAN BIX wrote:That flash of red got me thinking you were making a part for the Scuderia !!
only if the take part here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw-_QrHyo4M

Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:04 pm
by RiskyR
:haha:

The red was actually just for the first test print of the suspension, but eventually we used the entire roll!
Any new parts will be printed in green, and the rear half of the bottom hull is going to printed somewhere this weekend.

When you spend so many hours staring at a computer screen, it's easy to not notice small errors in the model :crazy:
Today I found out that my suspension bogie was too high...! Not too much work to fix, but looks so much better now!

I actually found out when comparing my own bogie to one from another 3D model. Throw both in a blender (ha-ha) and a new bogie is born!
M4A1-42.jpg
Hmmm nice looking suspension
M4A1-44.jpg
Also picked another turret model again, which has way better proportions than my old one.
M4A1-41.jpg
More updates follow once the bottom hull part has been printed 8)

Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:56 pm
by Herr Dr. Professor
Thanks, Risky, for the explanation. You might enjoy this. Each Tuesday, a group of modelers meet at my home. One quite talented fellow was showing me an excellent 1/48 1950s vintage Peterbilt with tank body and his scratch-built matching pup trailer. He was impressed by the 3D-printed tires he had found online. I thought about what you are doing by comparison, but I didn't say anything. :)

Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:28 pm
by RiskyR
Herr Dr. Professor wrote:Thanks, Risky, for the explanation. You might enjoy this. Each Tuesday, a group of modelers meet at my home. One quite talented fellow was showing me an excellent 1/48 1950s vintage Peterbilt with tank body and his scratch-built matching pup trailer. He was impressed by the 3D-printed tires he had found online. I thought about what you are doing by comparison, but I didn't say anything. :)
That is nice to read, thanks for that :)

The second half of the chassis has been printed together with the new bogie. Looks superb all glued together, but does need some finetuning in the fitment of parts. ImageImage

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Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:07 pm
by Will01Capri
Coming along nicely, keep up the good work

Re: M4A1 76mm (design stage)

Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:49 pm
by RiskyR
Even though this probably isn't the best idea, I'm very interested in gearbox design so I had a go for myself.
After calculating my own preferred reduction ratio in the Gearbox Calculator, I came up with some new gears, which I then made in fusion360 with my own housing design.

Already printed and tested and it looks and feels good. I love experimenting like this, even though it might not work in the future! But if it does, that would be awesome as my ultimate goal is to create a fully 3D printable tank, including the gearbox.

The layout is similar to the HL gearboxes, but I think it's a bit more compact.
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