M4A1 Sherman

[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!

[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 (35.24 KiB) Viewed 644 times

[RiskyR]

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.

[HERMAN BIX]

That flash of red got me thinking you were making a part for the Scuderia !!

[jee]

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

[RiskyR]

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
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!

Hmmm nice looking suspension

Also picked another turret model again, which has way better proportions than my old one.

More updates follow once the bottom hull part has been printed

[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.

[RiskyR]

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.

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[Will01Capri]

Coming along nicely, keep up the good work

[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.