The venerable Bentley Blower in 1/12th

[nickedw]

Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum and would like to share some of the CAD/CAM work I have been doing to try and make something of the ancient Airfix kit Over the last year or so.
some are CAD drawings I’ve done, renders of the drawings and finally actual real-world parts 3D printed and CNC Machined, hopefully you can tell which is which!

thanks for looking and the warm welcome.

Nick

 

[JR]

Beautiful work Nick .

 

[peterairfix]

Beautiful work Nick .

I'll second that

 

[Ian M]

You are certainly bringing moddeling up to date! Excellent stuff.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Absolutely stunning!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent work Nick. Are the wire wheels one piece prints? The dash clocks look superb.

 

[papa 695]

outstanding

 

[nickedw]

Excellent work Nick. Are the wire wheels one piece prints? The dash clocks look superb.

No its a multi-part jig system I have developed using 3D printed hubs and rims combined with proper wire spokes with 3D printed nipples. The rim has an integral jig that holds the hub and also has a threading guide for the spokes.

 

[Jim R]

Very impressive. A glimpse into the future. All this technical stuff is way beyond me though.

 

[Tim Marlow]

No its a multi-part jig system I have developed using 3D printed hubs and rims combined with proper wire spokes with 3D printed nipples. The rim has an integral jig that holds the hub and also has a threading guide for the spokes.

That is fantastic Nick. Very clever, yet extremely easy to follow. It must be a marketable proposition, especially if ported over to motorcycles……this could well be the future of aftermarket add one right there…..

 

[nickedw]

That is fantastic Nick. Very clever, yet extremely easy to follow. It must be a marketable proposition, especially if ported over to motorcycles……this could well be the future of aftermarket add one right there…..

Yes I've already started that, not sure what the forum rules are about self promotion so I wont mention the name, but I do have a micro business selling this stuff. Not the Bentley yet, but Alfa wheels and a few other things.

 

[nickedw]

This project has sprung back into life because I ordered an amazing CNC machine on kickstarter early last year and have been eagerly waiting for it to arrive.

Anyway, it's here now finally and is even better than I had hoped.

It opens up all sorts of possibilities for things I can't do with my 3D printers, such as engine turning, laser cutting and 4th axis milling, heres a 4 axis test piece that came off it that I made with some sycamore I had in the workshop.

I'm also toying with dies to make louvres (like Bentley Bonnets for example) and had some success cutting aluminium with a resin printed die set I made, believe it or not. This CNC machine will let me make the new dies in brass or ali, will be better again and last.

Heres a test piece, I made using resin printed dies

Crazily, the soft resin is able to shear the aluminium to cut the slots in the louvres!

The dies don't last though, mainly because I foolishly printed the locating rods and they shear off eventually. If I did it again, I would use steel rods and just print holes in the dies instead of the rods..

The thing is, it does seem to work though, so I'm going to have a crack at making bonnet panels next. I can CNC cut the panel outline shapes in ali, with some kind of locating tabs that will pick up on the forming dies.

Watch this space

I'm still new here, so if this stuff isn't of interest I won't be offended, so just let me know and I'll shut up.

Regards

Nick

 

[Mark1]

My technological abilities dont stretch much past using a petrol pump its all over my head after that but that dosnt make what your posting any less interesting so keep it coming

 

[Neil Merryweather]

This project has sprung back into life because I ordered an amazing CNC machine on kickstarter early last year and have been eagerly waiting for it to arrive.

Anyway, it's here now finally and is even better than I had hoped.

It opens up all sorts of possibilities for things I can't do with my 3D printers, such as engine turning, laser cutting and 4th axis milling, heres a 4 axis test piece that came off it that I made with some sycamore I had in the workshop.

I'm also toying with dies to make louvres (like Bentley Bonnets for example) and had some success cutting alunimium with a resin printed die set I made, beleive it or not. This CNC machine will let me make the new dies in brass or ali, will be better again and last.

Heres a test piece, I made using resin printed dies

Crazily, the soft resin is able to shear the aluminium to cut the slots in the louvres!

The dies don't last though, mainly because I foolishly printed the locating rods and they shear off eventually. If I did it again, I would use steel rods and just print holes in the dies instead of the rods..

The thing is, it does seem to work though, so I'm going to have a crack at making bonnet panels next. I can CNC cut the panel outline shapes in ali, with some kind of locating tabs that will pick up on the forming dies.

Watch this space

I'm still new here, so if this stuff isn't of interest I won't be offended, so just let me know and I'll shut up.

Regards

Nick

Well I'm interested. carry on sir!
I love that louvre idea- who'd have thought it!
how thin is the ally?
what is your printer and which resin are you using? I have a Mars 2 and elegoo standard resin (although I find it a bit brittle)

 

[boatman]

WELL done Sir but again im an ole codger an i dont understand any of this but i find it intesting so from me also carry on Sir
chrisb

 

[Andy the Sheep]

Dear Nick,
I see you are pulling the "big pencil" trick again... .

It's amazing how new technologies boost the evolution of our hobby, but they require a fully new batch of skills and a certain amount of geld too.
I hope to see more of your works and that finely detailed 3D printing will become less costly soon.
When this will happen, files downloads will replace those boxes filled with plastic sprues... I'll miss the cover art, though.

 

[nickedw]

Well I'm interested. carry on sir!
I love that louvre idea- who'd have thought it!
how thin is the ally?
what is your printer and which resin are you using? I have a Mars 2 and elegoo standard resin (although I find it a bit brittle)

Yes I’m an Elegoo guy myself, Mars2, Saturn and Jupiter so far, they’re all a bit modified for temperature control, Alexa voice control and a few other bits and pieces, what can I say, I tinker

Elegoo ABS-like resin is my usual and it’s pretty good I’m a few gallons in now and never really used anything else.

The Ali is .4mm

 

[nickedw]

Dear Nick,
I see you are pulling the "big pencil" trick again... .

It's amazing how new technologies boost the evolution of our hobby, but they require a fully new batch of skills and a certain amount of geld too.
I hope to see more of your works and that finely detailed 3D printing will become less costly soon.
When this will happen, files downloads will replace those boxes filled with plastic sprues... I'll miss the cover art, though.

The problem at the moment is the same as where digital music was a few years ago, there’s currently no digital rights management For 3D printing. So if someone sells you an .stl file, yes you can print it, but so can everyone else, and you could even re-sell it as your own work, or more likely just share it with fellow modellers because you’re a nice guy.

what I have proposed already is a system where each printer has a unique Id (like a MAC address) which forms half of an encryption key with the vendor and the file won’t print without it. So you, the purchaser, could print it as often as you like, or even a limited number of times if the vendor wanted that, but nobody else could with different machine.

as the guy buying it, you probably don’t want this, but without it, or something similar. It just won’t get traction.

There’s hundreds of hours of CAD goes into this stuff, the same or likely more than say the latest Airfix stuff you’ve seen on the telly, so the first time you let someone buy your .stl files you lose control and are effectively giving your work away. Airfix do it because they are in the business of flogging physical kits in boxes not the digital versions.

 

[Ian M]

Great stuff keep it coming!

 

[minitnkr]

Amazing stuff, love it all, keep it coming.