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…..............................--- Sawmill Design/Build – Part 14 ---

…...................--- Logging Car Pt. 1 ---

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The mill is set in the 60's and moving towards trucks hauling timber to the mill but will still receive some by rail so needs a number of cars to haul that timber. This will be the first car I've designed so bare with me on this project. Again I'm looking at various cars that were/are used to haul logs to a sawmill. I've been amazed at how many variations there are. Mine will be compromises of some I've seen to work Micro-Trains couplers and trucks.

I started with the idea of using Micro-Trains popular 1015 couplers and got a lot of feedback on the use of those and other Micro-Trains N scale couplers along with their Z scale couplers. I settled on there coupler-less Bettendorf trucks as they should work for my time period (as far as I know).

I had some 1015 couplers but no trucks so started on trying to get the ride height right and ...

…. the basic shape/size of the main part of the body. I had a sample set of Micro-trains trucks with truck mounted couplers in different lengths. I started with the one with the longest couple length and turned it around under the body so that I could work on the body mounted 1015 coupler.

After feeling I was headed in the right direction I designed the first version of the car so that I could print it out and get a feel for the overall looks of the car.

I pushed some of the detail like the rivets and bolts on some of the car's plates to about as small as …..

..... I've had luck printing and seeing on some bridges I've designed.

Also after posting some pictures of progress I received some good suggestions for couplers other than the 1015. Since I had them I forged ahead using them in the design but haven't made a final decision on the couplers.

Micro-Train's 'Z' couplers were also suggested and I decided against them at first thinking they might be more expensive (without checking). When I found out they were comparable in price I order some of them to look at and I'm waiting on those as I write this (-09-06-24). If they let me narrow the body up in width and height I'll probably change the design slightly so that they can be used.

On the first print of just the end of the car the pocket for the coupler had no bottom, only sides, back and top. I tried to then hold the coupler in with a 00-90 screw through the coupler and into the body as shown above. I wasn't happy with that as the screw that came with the couple was too long and I had drilled the hole out to tap for the screw too large and had to CA the screw to the body to work with the coupler height.

The screw also didn't have a lot of thread depth (even if I'd drilled the hole the right size).

I did a redesign and added a bottom to the pocket so that the screw now doesn't have to hold the coupler up but just holds it from sliding out and is in double-shear. I reduced the size of the pocket so that it is hardly visible with the car on the track.

I printed three of the cars (little over an hour print) with the $200 AnyCubic Photon M to get a feel for how they would look.

I put couplers in one of the cars to check the pockets and how the screw would work. The trucks still hadn't arrived so what you see above is where I'm at now. Overall I'm happy but need to tweak some things. At this point ordered some Micro-Trains Z couplers to try and waiting on that order.

Since the coupler pocket seems to work well I think I can move the Z couplers if they work or the 1015's up about .010” to .015” higher in the body and also narrow the body a bit more. I also remembered I had a $13 assortment of 00-90 screws so was able to use those instead of the screws that come with the couplers. I have the hole in the bottom of the pocket sized so that the screw goes through it and only threads into the body above the coupler. Also found out that I don't need to tap that hole, which is about impossible as it is so short, as the screw does a good job tapping the hole itself. It also doesn't have to hold the coupler up with the pocket also on the bottom of the coupler (see above).

As far as the detail I designed, it prints but boy is it hard to see with the naked eye unless the car is very close to that eye. I keep seeing where people want more print resolution with resin printers. I find this $200 printer to give me all I'd care to have since the cars will be on the layout and not in my hand much right in from of my face.

As long as I could find a printer that prints this good then the build volume becomes the desired feature for me. This printer is doing the job for most projects for me with the 163.9 x 102.4 x 180 mm (6.45” L x 4” W x 7” H) build volume. At some point I might consider a resin printer with a larger build volume but don't need it to have anymore print resolution. I still use the Ender3 Pro for projects and it has a much larger build volume.

If you are new to printing I try and print most of my filament (Ender 3) prints flat on the table so the size that can be printed is determined more by the length of the X & Y planes on the printer. I hardly ever print a resin print on the build plate. They are usually suspended on supports and print better that way.

Doing that with the current Photon M3 printer I can orient the print to take advantage of the 7” height and the 6.45” length and print items that are almost as large as I print with the filament printer. Both printers have their pro's and con's. Don't think you can't print N scale items with a filament printer as I have tons of N scale items ( HERE ) & ( HERE ) I've printer for the railroad with the filament printer, more than I've printed with the resin printer and those print files are up for anyone to use (non-commercial).

The detail shown above is down to around .007”/ .178 mm or about 1 inch in N scale. I can't print down to .014”/.356 mm with the Ender 3 Pro filament printer, about 2 scale inches. In most cases at normal viewing distances one can not see much under 2 scale inches.

Received the ….

… trucks. I'm going to change a lot of the detail on the car and also design two other types of stakes to hold the logs on the car.

A link to this whole build ( HERE ).

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