Re: 3D Printed 88mm Gun and the rest

[colin fairweather]

hi all

after nearly three weeks of transferring Roland's fantastic 2d drawings thanks roland I've had them since 2006 to 3d files and almost 27 hours of printing with over 30 parts I have ended up with something close.

their is one thing that I could not get right after numerous attempts I gave up its the rear of the breech opening shape it should be more circular and tapered inwards venturi like ?.

can someone give me a few pointers how to fix this.

also does anyone have the measurements for the empty case basket and frame ? I could do it eye but having the drawings would be better.

this is my first time doing this I'm using 123d design I think it came out ok

all comments and any tips are welcome

regards

colin

[John Fitzsimons]

Looks brilliant Collin. I have a good collection of books on the Tiger 1. There are some good drawings of the gun and frame in Germanys Tiger Tanks by Jentz and Doyle. Ihave no access to a scanner at the moment. Maybe somebody could get you a copy.
Kooking forward to seeing this fitted to your Tiger.

Are you going into production with these. I bet they would be popular.

[phil fitzpatrick]

Welldone Colin.
Your work looks great.
Cheers
Phil

[colin fairweather]

thanks

john / phil

I have thought about making them available with Roland's drawings they are meant to be worked in metal i think it will actually fire ,

so their is a bit of fettling / changes to do yet a few things that didn't print to good are the grooves on the left and right cylinders they are only 1mm square and the hydraulic fill tubes but they can be scratch built, thankfully they are the only a few really small detail parts everything else printed quite well for a first go.

I have a small up+ 3d printer just to give an idea it took 10hrs on 0.15mm for detail with 1.75mm abs to do the gun breech, I would like to get the rear opening right first as its the first thing your eyes are drawn to.

as with fitting it at the start I milled out a good bit of the rear gun mount / mantlet to take a bit weight off so that will have to be addressed first.

regards for know

colin

[John Fitzsimons]

I could see from the drawings that the gun mount would need some milling.
It would be great to see a time lapse video of the process.

[colin fairweather]

yes it would

unfortunately at the time I wasn't thinking ahead and just milled out willy nilly so I will have to fix that first

[colin fairweather]

ok
a few changes since I last posted I think I have something half decent at this stage a bit to go yet.

I have a working open and close breech block well kind of paint is a problem the block being light it doesn't drop easily a bit of weight in it would be a quick fix.

added the gunners safety selector on the breech also the large rectangle you see on the lower safety frame is closed in now their is a mechanism that the breech opener engages after the gun fires added that.

top of the safety frame I have added the cut out that the top part of the empty case catcher bolts too.

their is a slice taken out of the breech underside I have not added it because I don't know if it runs the full length and measurements back to front.

for a tank that has been researched to death over the years I am amazed at so little their is on the gun its self.

that's it for the mo

colin

[colin fairweather]

ok
just a small update I have re done the gun front and back frames to bring them in line with the original ones also the left recoil tube was different than the right one changed that and I have added the top plate that goes over the main tube.
I haven't researched the empty case catcher and frame yet the basket (I don't have measurements ) would print ok but I don't think the frame would might leave that to be scratch built.

please do comment if I have missed anything or anything that needs changing.

printing at the moment when all done and test fitted to see if further changes have to be made I will consider doing a small run if the interest is their.

Colin

[John Fitzsimons]

Looks great. If you need a bit of weight in the breech block I could cast the part in metal. What about making copies in resin. It is possible to improve the resin by adding metal powders.

John

[colin fairweather]

hi john

thanks

yes its starting to look right all your options would work I have taken the breech side walls in .25 after the prototype will see how that works its when you paint it up is the problem.

I haven't dabbled in casting at all but the resin powder would polish up nice.

as you can see in the build their is space under the breech one could stick the likes of a lead wheel balance on or I might make it more hollow will see how this one turns out.

later

colin

[colin fairweather]

its been on a really long time back at the 3d gun did a few minor tweaks and its finished yahoo.

I've started doing a rebuild on the tank doing all the things I should have done from the start deck lowering and so on and I'm redoing the turret interior parts in 3d my originals were just a quick mock up and not to scale plus driver and radioman's compartment getting their

[Ray Brown]

g'day colin. nice work. do you know the width of the opening on the back of the breech? i have info that implies the opening at 1/6 scale is 26mm wide with and angle of 112 degrees and inside of 18.5mm.

Is that what you got?

cheers
ray

[colin fairweather]

hi ray

sent email reference your post

colin

[colin fairweather]

I think this will pass quite happy with it print lines wont be as noticeable when its painted