MCRR Chimney Revisited

Chimney Revisited.

Hello again.
I received 5 very nice replies from my first posting regarding a model of a chimney. Those replies covered quite a broad range of estimates to draw it up in 3D. This made me sit back and rethink what I had posted and realized on my own that I had submitted something with woefully inadequate information and measurements. Indeed it is a wonder that anyone was willing to reply!
Therefore I have spent some time revising the drawing I submitted and have noted on it some basic measurements of the size I desire.
Herein is a list of changes.
One individual pointed out that my chimney might have to be made in two pieces because it was so long. Therefore I cut off the bottom three and one-half inches of the base. I figure I can easily make that with some styrene sheet brick material. That reduced the overall length to 13 and 11/16ths inches. Then I thought that I could shorten it even a little more if the top 11/16ths inch were a separate piece to be glued on later. Is 13 inches still too long?
I also realized that what I am asking for is a tapered octagon above a one and one quarter inch square base. That base will need not only the 3 holes/indentations shown in my jpg but also on each of the three other sides of the square. For ease of production I have no preference if these are actual holes or just indentations. I am assuming the thing will be hollow so I can apply a piece of styrene inside to seal a hole.
Another detail that could be eliminated for ease of design are the two bands at the top and the one toward the bottom. Once again I could use styrene to model these.
Please forgive the crude measurement displays. My old drafting teacher would be appalled.
I hope the new attached jpg is much more clear and will enable a little more concise cost estimate. Thank you in advance for any comments.
Randy Largent

Hello,

I did some work on a 3d model of your request for a chimney (sorry it took so long to reply to your original message). Here's a quick view of what it looks like:



The part file is attached for you to use. Just download it, then go to Shapeways --> Make --> Upload. Select the .STL file from your computer, choose Inches for model units, and wait for it to upload!

I tried to scale it as close to your picture as possible, but everytime I upload it, Shapeways seems intent on setting the total height to 13 15/16"! You can fix this yourself by using the scale button though, so it's not a major problem.

There are some things I wanted to run by you:

- The printers at Shapeways have a bounding box, basically a minimum and maximum dimension for whatever is being printed. The bounding box varies based on the material you want something to be printed in. You can print the part as one solid piece if you use the "White Strong and Flexible" material, but any other materials would require the chimney to be printed as two or more separate pieces and then attached/glued together by you when you receive them. Let me know if you want the chimney printed in multiple pieces, and I'll get right on that for you.

- I hollowed out the main portion of the chimney in order to reduce the cost of printing. Everything from the very top of the chimney to the flat flutes near the bottom is hollow with a wall thickness of about 1/16". If you want, I can change this thickness.

Let me know what you think. I hope you're satisfied!

Hi Emory.

Glad to meet you.

You certainly don't have to apologize for for the delay in your response. I am very gratified that you have done this work without charge and just don't understand why you would do that.

You have done a very nice drawing. I see that you have made a slight modification in my version which I think I could live with if one other alteration to your drawing is made. I point your attention to the area of the inch and a quarter square base. You have given it a definite slope shape but it needs another line from the band down to the quarter inch overhang which creates a narrow v or arrowhead shape. Does that description make sense? If not I include a drawing of it to show what I mean.

Please note that the stack itself is an octagon shape which therefore would require eight flat sections. Having never done this before, I am not sure if it could be printed in parts to glue together so I wonder if the octagon portion should be done as a single piece and the base as another? If you are willing to try to work it out as eight pieces I would appreciate your efforts very much.

Looking forward to future discussion.
Yours
Randy Largent

Hello Randy,

I think I see where the problem is. In the first picture I posted, the lighting style I used caused the narrow V shape you're referring to to be hard to see. Here's another picture of the chimney's base:



Is this the style you desired?

As for your question on whether the stack can be printed in eight separate pieces, the answer is yes, but I'm not sure of whether all eight pieces will be printed accurately enough for them to be glued together without any extra sanding. Would you prefer for the chimney to be modeled as nine pieces (eight flat pieces for the octagonal stack, plus one base) or as two pieces (one piece for the stack and one base)? It depends on your preference.

Also, I'm a little tied up today with school work, so I won't be able to separate the chimney into multiple parts right away. I'll try to get on it as soon as possible though (hopefully Friday or Saturday night).

Hi again.
Please let me be clear that I am in no rush to get this project printed.
It is actually a kind of water testing project for me to see how the whole process of development and ultimate printing is done. So no hurry on my part, just work it in your schedule as you can.

The second drawing is much clearer for me and does indeed show what I thought was missing. However, there always seems to be a however doesn't there? In my original illustration there is a portion of what I am calling 'the base' that is somewhat different than what you have drawn and I wonder if it can be modified without too much trouble? I am going to attach another close-up of it with some more arrows to help show what I mean. Instead of a definite slope the real chimney had a curved part on the 4 flat sides which produced what I cal,l for lack of the correct term, a 'flute' in the corners where the 'arrowhead' shape was that I described in my previous. If that would be too difficult then the slope would work just fine.

Thanks again.
Have a great weekend.
RandyL

Thanks for bearing with me. Between the tests I've had to study for in my German, Statics, and Calc 3 classes, I could barely find free time to work on the model!

Now that my classes have died down a little, I'd like to start by saying that I was able to add the curved portion in your picture, as seen here:



Also, I was able to separate the chimney into separate parts. Here is the chimney separated into two pieces (the base and the chimney stack):



And here is the chimney separated into 9 pieces (the base remains as one piece, but the chimney stack has been separated into 8 pieces that you can glue together):



The parts are still too long to be printed in any material other than "White Strong and Flexible", but this material would still be perfect for such a structure, as long as you don't mind 1.) having a solid white chimney or 2.) painting it yourself.

Finally, note the octagonal segments on the surfaces of the base and the stack that will be glued together:



I added these sections to make gluing the pieces together easier and more accurate, but I can easily remove them if you wish.

As always, if you feel that something should be changed, let me know and I'll try to fix the model to your liking.

Have a nice day!

This is absolutely perfect.
Thanks a bunch for the help.
Hope your tests went well.
Yours
Randy Largent

Thanks. My tests did go pretty well!

If you'd like to have the parts printed, just let me know which style you want (2-part chimney or 9-part chimney), and I can upload the files to Shapeways for you.

Once again I thank you for your willing assistance.

I would appreciate the uploading, however I need assurance that I could first get a price quote to print before I had to commit.
I assume that is possible but is it?
If so I would like to know how much it would cost to print the parts both ways.
Looking at the various prices of items on Shapeways it seems there is no reasonable way to just guesstimate and seeing as this chimney would be only for my own use and not be a marketable object the less expensive it is for me the better.
Have a great weekend.
RandyL

Sorry, I should have included the quote earlier.

-One-piece chimney = $63.02
-Two piece chimney = $65.15
Nine piece chimney = $81.41

This is the lowest possible price for printing the chimney in this scale (it uses the least expensive material Shapeways offers). All of these prices include the $5.00 shipping and handling. To print these parts for the listed prices though, you will have to upload the parts files to your own Shapeways account. I've attached the files you'll need for the chimney at the bottom of this message.

After you download the files from here, you can Upload them to your own Shapeways account, where they can be stored, edited (slightly), and printed. To upload the files, click "MAKE" at the top of the screen. From there, click "UPLOAD". A popup will show, asking for you to select a part file from your computer. Click it, and choose one of the files you downloaded from here. You will also have to select "INCHES" where it says Model Units in the popup. Press "UPLOAD" and wait a few moments while the file is uploaded to your account. After it uploads, you'll see a list of materials the part can be printed in, as well as the cost of printing that part. Follow these steps for all of the files you downloaded.

Now, onto the (somewhat) tricky part; figuring out which parts to select for the style of chimney you want to print:

A) If you want the one-piece chimney, print:

1x "Single Piece Chimney

B) If you want the two-piece chimney, print:

1x "Multi-Piece Chimney Base"
1x "Two Piece Chimney Stack"

C) If you want the nine-piece chimney, print:

1x "Multi-Piece Chimney Base"
4x "Nine Piece Chimney (Part 1)"
4x "Nine Piece Chimney (Part 2)"

I hope this helps!

Thanks again Emory.

Well this may be our last communique for a while.
I was hoping/hallucinating for a price of 20 to 30 dollars but kind of figured it would be more than that.
I am surprised that the price for the pieces are what they are. I thought that the one piece would be more difficult and therefore more expensive to print.
I obviously still don't quite understand the process.
I will have to forgo this project until I can sell one of my dulcimers to come up with the cash.

Sure appreciate your time and assistance.

Yours
Randy Largent

I understand. I was blown away by the prices on some of the parts I've tried to print myself! Hopefully the cost of printing will decrease later on in the future, if you are still interested in printing with Shapeways.

Working on commission was a fun experience, and I thank you for that. I hope you have a nice day!