Hello from Norfolk UK

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Norfolk Jim

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Hello everyone, I thought it was about time I introduced myself, stopped lurking and start getting involved in the forum fun. I'm James living in sunny Norfolk UK. I had always told myself I'd build a garden railway when we moved to our "forever house" but 2 Christmas ago I received a garden railway book and it all started. The book turned out to be not what I was looking for but that Christmas day I found Ge Rik's blog and after spending many an hour reading, I was hooked and a Stainz was pottering around the lounge before New Year! One day we will move and I'll get started on the ground work but in the mean time I've been collecting Loco's and cheap track and taking over the house once in a while for a running session. I'm an Automotive Engineer mainly playing in software day to day but I'm really enjoying designing my own rolling stock in CAD and 3D printing them. The painting less so! I have a too large to mention list of wagons ready or part way through paint, I just can't keep up with the printer. There is also the topic of my first design which ended up being far too large in scale but an important lesson was learnt! My hope is when I finally build a garden rail network the joy of seeing my latest creation on the rails in the right setting will motivate me to finish off all the current projects, seeing them navigate the house isn't quite the same. My line will defiantly feature all sorts of engines but I’m focusing on UK rolling stock at the moment mainly from the Welshpool and Llanfair railway and Welsh slate lines. I did briefly start a Quarry Hunslet project which is fully designed but has lost steam due to the drive train being rather noisy due to the MFA geared motor. One day it will get sanded and painted, maybe even before the real engine it is based on the George Sholto at Bressingham steam museum is restored and returned to the rails.

Anyway enough words here are some photos of the few finished projects.

IMG_20230906_122733.jpg
IMG_20230906_122744.jpgIMG_20230906_122757.jpg
IMG_20230906_123605.jpgIMG_20230906_123139_1.jpg

Thanks for reading and many thanks to everyone that posts. Special thanks to Ge Rik and Mike of Lazy Grange Bay fame, without your posts I don't think i would have got started when i did.
 
Hello James, and welcome!

There is another James (or two) on the Forum, but we will soon get to know you..

See my reply to your chuff-sensor problem... - Just hope you can wait that long? :giggle:

Have you been warned about the humour?

PhilP
 
Hello James, welcome to the forum. There is plenty of information, support, suggestions and banter here.
 
Welcome to the forum James....
 
Welcome, bor :)
 
Welcome, Excellent quality printing and painting, Ge rik should get some kind of GR-OBE from that plonker the Kwing for "services to starting people in Garden railways" and his excellent website ! You will be getting 3d questions thrown at you soon i bet !

PS, Did you do the engraving on that box ?
 
DickyC said:
Welcome, Excellent quality printing and painting, Ge rik should get some kind of GR-OBE from that plonker the Kwing for "services to starting people in Garden railways" and his excellent website ! You will be getting 3d questions thrown at you soon i bet !

PS, Did you do the engraving on that box ?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words on my creations. I've been 3D printing for 10 years so I've picked up a lot of tricks to get things to work. I started off with a bag of bits from a company closing down, a lot of wood and a printed extruder from ebay. From there i had a machine that would kinda print parts that managed to reprint all the coddled together wood parts and make a decent printer of my own design. On the right day the quality was amazing but the bed was never level and always warped meaning first layers were a nightmare on kapton tape. Eventually I followed my own advise that I would give anyone who asked and treated myself to a Prusa and now my 3D printer isn't the hobby its a tool that prints well 99% of the time and I've finally found a hobby where its really useful. Over the weekend I'll post some info on the latest project coming off the printer and add some files as they might be of use to someone. And for 3D printer questions, I can't wait!

Yeah the box was my latest project. I'd seen "cheap" laser engravers and always thought I could make a beautiful box with one. I was lucky enough to get one for a birthday ending in 0 a month ago (much better for trains than a greenhouse which was the initial idea). The laser is pretty weak but it does a great job engraving. Cutting is not so good, any hardwood seems to turn to ash and stops the cuts getting very deep. The box is made out of 3mm ply and to be honest is pretty flimsy, the next one will need to be thicker but I'm hoping the 3mm ply will be OK for light rolling stock going forward. If there is interest I'll do a post about it as the design of the box comes from an online generator with some post processing to get the groves for the lid. The side artwork is a photo with one process in Photoshop but online generators are available. The slow bit was engraving, the box structure probably took an hour but each side was 2.5 hours and there is a fire risk so you can't leave it like a printer.
 
Norfolk Jim said:
Hello everyone, I thought it was about time I introduced myself, stopped lurking and start getting involved in the forum fun. I'm James living in sunny Norfolk UK. I had always told myself I'd build a garden railway when we moved to our "forever house" but 2 Christmas ago I received a garden railway book and it all started. The book turned out to be not what I was looking for but that Christmas day I found Ge Rik's blog and after spending many an hour reading, I was hooked and a Stainz was pottering around the lounge before New Year! One day we will move and I'll get started on the ground work but in the mean time I've been collecting Loco's and cheap track and taking over the house once in a while for a running session. I'm an Automotive Engineer mainly playing in software day to day but I'm really enjoying designing my own rolling stock in CAD and 3D printing them. The painting less so! I have a too large to mention list of wagons ready or part way through paint, I just can't keep up with the printer. There is also the topic of my first design which ended up being far too large in scale but an important lesson was learnt! My hope is when I finally build a garden rail network the joy of seeing my latest creation on the rails in the right setting will motivate me to finish off all the current projects, seeing them navigate the house isn't quite the same. My line will defiantly feature all sorts of engines but I’m focusing on UK rolling stock at the moment mainly from the Welshpool and Llanfair railway and Welsh slate lines. I did briefly start a Quarry Hunslet project which is fully designed but has lost steam due to the drive train being rather noisy due to the MFA geared motor. One day it will get sanded and painted, maybe even before the real engine it is based on the George Sholto at Bressingham steam museum is restored and returned to the rails.

Anyway enough words here are some photos of the few finished projects.

View attachment 318253
View attachment 318254View attachment 318255
View attachment 318256View attachment 318257

Thanks for reading and many thanks to everyone that posts. Special thanks to Ge Rik and Mike of Lazy Grange Bay fame, without your posts I don't think i would have got started when i did.
Click to expand...
The temporarily suspended Wild West Norfolk Route is here, surprisingly in Norfolk ;) and equally surprisingly, is not temporarily suspended from the ceiling - it's only the operations that are temporarily suspended as a part of the line has been lifted while the builders are in :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Norfolk Jim said:
Thanks for the kind words on my creations. I've been 3D printing for 10 years so I've picked up a lot of tricks to get things to work. I started off with a bag of bits from a company closing down, a lot of wood and a printed extruder from ebay. From there i had a machine that would kinda print parts that managed to reprint all the coddled together wood parts and make a decent printer of my own design. On the right day the quality was amazing but the bed was never level and always warped meaning first layers were a nightmare on kapton tape. Eventually I followed my own advise that I would give anyone who asked and treated myself to a Prusa and now my 3D printer isn't the hobby its a tool that prints well 99% of the time and I've finally found a hobby where its really useful. Over the weekend I'll post some info on the latest project coming off the printer and add some files as they might be of use to someone. And for 3D printer questions, I can't wait!

Yeah the box was my latest project. I'd seen "cheap" laser engravers and always thought I could make a beautiful box with one. I was lucky enough to get one for a birthday ending in 0 a month ago (much better for trains than a greenhouse which was the initial idea). The laser is pretty weak but it does a great job engraving. Cutting is not so good, any hardwood seems to turn to ash and stops the cuts getting very deep. The box is made out of 3mm ply and to be honest is pretty flimsy, the next one will need to be thicker but I'm hoping the 3mm ply will be OK for light rolling stock going forward. If there is interest I'll do a post about it as the design of the box comes from an online generator with some post processing to get the groves for the lid. The side artwork is a photo with one process in Photoshop but online generators are available. The slow bit was engraving, the box structure probably took an hour but each side was 2.5 hours and there is a fire risk so you can't leave it like a printer.
Click to expand...
Looks like you have a large scale business in waiting there with the box engraving ! might steel that idea but dont think my Snapmaker is up to the job, they have just released a more powerfull laser though ! my snapmaker 2 is unfortunatly gathering more dust than its creating ! Was only commenting on here that the future is with the younger generations adapting the 1000s of stainz proping up the fleabay markets ! There would also be a little pocket money earner in 3d basics workshops and days.
 
DickyC said:
Looks like you have a large scale business in waiting there with the box engraving ! might steel that idea but dont think my Snapmaker is up to the job, they have just released a more powerfull laser though ! my snapmaker 2 is unfortunatly gathering more dust than its creating ! Was only commenting on here that the future is with the younger generations adapting the 1000s of stainz proping up the fleabay markets ! There would also be a little pocket money earner in 3d basics workshops and days.
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I agree - if someone could produce simple and reasonably priced 3D printed body kits with a generic British outline for, say, the Stainz and perhaps Piko BR80, I would imagine there is a potential market.
 
Welcome aboard, Jim. I really like your "Eggliner" open passenger cars. They pair perfectly with the Eggliner loco.
 
DickyC said:
Looks like you have a large scale business in waiting there with the box engraving ! might steel that idea but dont think my Snapmaker is up to the job, they have just released a more powerfull laser though ! my snapmaker 2 is unfortunatly gathering more dust than its creating ! Was only commenting on here that the future is with the younger generations adapting the 1000s of stainz proping up the fleabay markets ! There would also be a little pocket money earner in 3d basics workshops and days.
Click to expand...
Go for it and give it a try. I only have a Sculpfun S9 with a 5.5w laser, they say it has technology that makes it as good as a 30w but no one believes it! I used the below website to generate some small test boxes as they always come in useful.

MakerCase - Easy Laser Cut Case Design

If you want some help with the image processing drop me a pm and I'll process it for you.
 
Gizzy said:
Close to the MNR and the W&R I guess....
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Yeah the MNR is just around the corner, I often get videos from my partner when she goes food shopping as the store is next to the line. We are pretty lucky, I think we have 6 steam lines within an hour. We are off to the Bure Valley Railway on Monday
 
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