I'm new to the forum and want to get into this hobby. I'm loving the concept of the Steampunk Flotilla and decided to try designing a Protected Cruiser hull that can be 3D printed in sections. I'm far from done but pleased with the progress so far. Please let me know what you think?
I made a little progress, mostly in the bow & stern. @NickMyers : The plan is to slice it at each bulkhead in to 9, 5" long sections so they will fit nicely on the build plate of a consumer grade 3D printer.
You want to make the sides a little thicker. At least 5mm thick, at 40-50% infill, with 4 perimeters minimum, where it's going to take hits. Looks like a good start, though!
No new pics but, I spent some time to convert the cad model from Imperial units to metric so that I could make the walls thicker and optimize a few things for an FFF printer. I ended up going with 5.2 mm so that it would be a whole number of filaments when printed with a 0.4 mm nozzle. I am curious though, in another thread a while back you had recommended 4mm thick hull walls. Have you done more testing?
Xanther, I want to build a PC hull for testing purposes. Since you already started your drawing, I don't want to deviate from your work (if I can help it) Can you send me your hull outline dimensions? Thanks
@SteveT44 : PM with details Sent. I used the basic dimensions of 45" LOA and a 5" beam, which I found in an older thread but, I made the deck profile a bit easier to layout by hand for people building with wood. The middle third has straight sides and the bow and stern are made of circular arcs with radii that are less than (just barely) 4' long. Since it has a parallel mid-body, it would be easy to lengthen or shorten the hull for models that are more to scale.
I've been picking out parts for an Edgar Quinet build so, I haven't spent much time on this project but, I did some work on a propellor. I used pics of the vacu-tug prop as a reference and came pretty close. It was tricky to print in ABS but, I figured out how to get it to stick after a couple of tries. I'm pretty happy with how the printed part came out.
That looks better than props I've tried to print, good job. Would you mind posting the STL to the resource section so that other can try printing it?
Thanks : ) I posted it here: https://rcwarshipcombat.com/resources/printable-prop.41/ It seems that it will need to be approved before it is available though. I'd love to get some feedback on this part. I'm wondering if the blades are thick enough and if it will move a decent mount of water.