BSC 2023 Burgundavia's temple to the demon gods (sadly out)

[Vanvlak]

This was my plan too before I came upon the cunning idea of a hidden passageway, so wise men agree/fools seldom differ/etc?

I guess that's the case 

[Burgundavia]

Ah. But will you also include the dancing midgets? 

With some 15mm skeletons, yes

[Burgundavia]

I have the 3D printed outer parts of the 12"x12" square, but I've been on vacation for the past few days, so I had some time to work on the 3D printed cutting templates I'm going to use for the foam. The main tower of the temple will have two spiral staircases climbing alternative sides of the tower. The tower is a bunch of these 1" tall cut foam pieces stacked on top of each other. The first image shows the mockup of what these cut pieces will roughly look like before texturing.

Of course, the actual cutting templates won't look anything like the mockup - they are the bare minimum needed to get the foam cut into the right shape. The second image shows the main cutting guide for the centre part of the tower. I still need to do the two cutting guides for the stairs - one to cut the shape, the other to cut the stairs themselves.

[Burgundavia]

To make things a bit clearer, here is the stair cutting template I just designed - I'll cut the stairs curve shape, then cut the stairs with this template. We'll see how it works out when I get home tomorrow.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I find it interesting that you are going to use 3D printing to make templates for cutting XPS foam.

I use 3D printing to make windows and doors but had never thought of making cutting templates.

[pistolpete]

Wow what a great idea making 3d cutting templates.  Never thought of it but now I can't stop thinking of it.

[Burgundavia]

I find it interesting that you are going to use 3D printing to make templates for cutting XPS foam.

I use 3D printing to make windows and doors but had never thought of making cutting templates.

I've done it before, cutting slope templates. The one giant caveat is that you can't use your Proxxon beyond level 1 if you print with PLA, as the PLA will melt at higher settings.

[Burgundavia]

And so I have the first foam cuts, which is awesome, although it does showcase a few things - 3D printing is rapid prototyping and that means many failures (the second) photo and cutting foam is really hard, especially as PLA is not temp stable to push the hot wire cutter right against it for long periods. Suspect I'll need to try some PETG to see if that works.

[Vanvlak]

Cutting foam is fun, but I agree it's not easy as the foam cutter usually has its own ideas on where it wants to go. Using a template you have to be careful not to touch - kudos to you, I would never have managed! 

[Burgundavia]

Cutting foam is fun, but I agree it's not easy as the foam cutter usually has its own ideas on where it wants to go. Using a template you have to be careful not to touch - kudos to you, I would never have managed! 

You can see I still haven't fully mastered it yet - the stairs are a curved, complex shape, so it is hard - and I melted a bit of my printed templates

[FifteensAway]

I gave up on foam wire cutters and went back to a nice sharp knife with a serrated edge when I still used foam.  Messy as hell but a lot more control - though still with challenges. 

I will actually be using some floral foam (hopefully less messy, maybe) on my own Build Something piece but relatively minimally - just because it will be easier to do some non-linear elements of the build.  Generally use more durable materials for most things I build.

I'd think it easier to build up your foam stairs in layers, especially with your curvatures - make larger curves and just cut out the elements you need, might keep those curves more consistent.  A lot more complicated than what I will be doing, which will mostly be quartering some half-domes of foam, simple and straight (I hope!) cuts.

Good luck.

[Burgundavia]

I gave up on foam wire cutters and went back to a nice sharp knife with a serrated edge when I still used foam.  Messy as hell but a lot more control - though still with challenges. 

I'd think it easier to build up your foam stairs in layers, especially with your curvatures - make larger curves and just cut out the elements you need, might keep those curves more consistent.  A lot more complicated than what I will be doing, which will mostly be quartering some half-domes of foam, simple and straight (I hope!) cuts.

I think I'm going to go hybrid here - use a knife for the stairs, which are a pair of straight cuts and use the Proxxon for the curves.

As for building up with different layers, I've tried that before - never really liked the look because the cuts ended up being very slightly different, but I might end up back there anyway. Got lots of time to play and fail.

[bluewillow]

Those stairs look fabulous

[tomrommel1]

nice idea to use 3D printing for cutting templates

[Burgundavia]

Quick detour today - I finally started my Encounter Terrain build. It is February-only, 10cm/4" base, no height restriction, no theme. I am building a tower to fit this temple and my other terrain. As it has to be done by the end of Feb, I'll be trialing out things like resin pours on it.