Winter Challange 2024 - Pam's Flour - Jim Donovan

[ACL1504]

Jim,

The brick walls look fantastic. Great job with the laser and research.

Tom

[ReadingBob]

Wow!  Just wow.  That's all I can come up with for this one. 

[GPdemayo]

I'll see the fantastic & wow and raise it with an amazing.....

[Jim Donovan]

Wow , great research and nice use of the laser , now you have me doubting again between buying a laser cutter or a 3D printer, I think both in the long run.

Thanks for check in Jan. I bought the 3D printer first but if I was to do it again I think I'd start with the laser. It is more straightforward to learn and simple to operate. That said I love having both, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities and I find I use both for non modeling projects as well.

Jim

[Jim Donovan]

Jim,

The brick walls look fantastic. Great job with the laser and research.

Tom

Thanks Tom;

I actually have an entire online file of information I gathered concerning Flour Mills, the internet never ceases to amaze me. Subjects that would have taken weeks to get a basic understanding of when I was a kid now take a couple of hours, mostly reading or watch a video, amazing.

Jim

[Jim Donovan]

Wow!  Just wow.  That's all I can come up with for this one. 

Bob I am just trying not to embarrass myself with the quality of modelers (like you) on the Forum. Hopefully as time goes on more will join the winter challenge. My own build is not in the challenge since I am in charge of the contest, just tagging long.

Jim

[Jim Donovan]

With the walls cut and brick placed I turned my attention to making the arch windows, doors and framing for the other openings. I spent a lot of time playing with various window openings. Here is a screenshot showing all the ideas I worked on before settling on my choice.

[Jim Donovan]

I decided on a fairly simple design which will allow me to have windows open and closed. Here is what was selected:

[Jim Donovan]

The window design I selected has mullins on both sides and a slot in the bottom allowing me to slide the glass into place between the panes and then glue it in place by using canopy glue to seal the slot.



I designed the 'slot' on both sides of window the entire length of the so the glass can ride up in the groove and keep the sides of the glass from showing when glued in place. 



You can see the bottom opening of the slot in the window in above photo.

[Jim Donovan]

The windows selected are vertical side by side with the left side having a lip so that when they are closed the gap between the windows is sealed, like the real versions would be. I sent the design to the smaller of the two 3D printers I use. It is an Elegoo Mars Pro 2. I've had it for a couple of years and it does a very good job. As you can see the data file is placed on a USB drive and inserted in the front of the machine.



The only limiting factor I have with the machine is the rather small print plate. Since I bought the machine the plates have become 2-3 sizes bigger. Here is the print plate showing a batch of the windows printed.

[Jim Donovan]

I am using rattle cans for painting this model. The colors available has really improved over last couple of years and the chalk look really produces a nice flat look. For the windows I am using Coastal Blue by Rustoleum. The wall opening will be Chalk Slate Gray by Krylon.

[Jim Donovan]

In order to add to the look I am using real glass. 18mm x 18mm slide covers to be exact. I did some research about having the laser cut the windows. Apparently others have succeeded at accomplishing this but I was not able to find a combination of speed, power and number of passes that worked so I will be doing it the old fashion way, cutting the glass one at a time. To accomplish this I made a jig on the work mat with a silhouette of the window design. Using a General Tool scribe I try to smoothly score the glass for the straight section and then snap the needed part from the rest of the slide. The curved top requires soft scoring in one direction until the glass separates. I'd love to say I find this easy but no dice. I am about 50% successful in cutting a window or in other words I need to cut two to get one that works. This model will require 100 windows so I am trying to make 10 a day and then go on to something else otherwise I get frustrated. I have 22 done so far.



Here is a prototype widow frame with glass installed I used to make sure the final design to be printed worked. I like the look of real glass.

[Jim Donovan]

I designed and printed the warehouse door frames along with the doors, painted all and then installed everything onto the appropriate walls. At this point all walls are essentially complete on the outside except for detailing. I will next brace the inside walls and create the shadow boxes that will show off some of what the interior would have looked like. I need to give that part some thought before proceeding so here is where we are at this point. 

[deemery]

Very impressive!  I've never tried real glass...

dave

[Zephyrus52246]

I've done a few cover glass windows.  I think it would be near impossible to cut the arch consistently.  

Jeff