It doesn't appear that 3D printing can be easily used to make a jig that has pins for material placements, but it might have applications on something such as Chris Briggs' Chassis Jig which uses aluminum casings on sliding steel rods. I also think a hollowed-out jig like your 3rd drawing shows wouldn't stay flat for very long. Pin holes that close to a jig's edge are apt to break out easily & have. There isn't room for jig wheels to be placed outside the pins for the axle uprights. The second chassis jig looks too small for building 1/24 scale cars. In my opinion, this chassis jig's design would be great if drilled & machined into a hard countertop material, such as Corian, Fountainhead, etc. I don't like any of the Shapeways material choices.for soldering on. Jim, the first chassis jig drawing looks good, it just isn't economically feasible to make using 3D printing. I suppose this one is a failure, although we should expect prices to be lower in the future. I know I said, learn by doing, trial and error. So I continue to look for appropriate and affordable projects for 3D printing and slot cars. Still too expensive for me, and this is before cutting lots of pins, making axles and dummy wheels, and more. The project-desirable sandstone was $155, and porcelain $108.

So here is version 2, the hollowed and shortened dream block:Īlas, it seems this project is still too big for my budget! PLA plastic $88, Lego-like plastic $125, acrylic $600, stainless steel $1000. It cannot be made too thin, however, as it is supposed to act as a heat sink. I hollowed it out, to reduce the amount of material. I shortened and narrowed the length and width. Sensible design changes might help, I hoped. Well, that is unaffordable, and not cost-competitive with other methods. So I sent the design up to Shapeways for an evaluation, and imagine my sticker-shock when the prices list for various materials appeared: PLA plastic $165, Lego-like plastic $215, acrylic $1200, stainless steel $1900!! Sandstone was $300, and my block was too big for porcelain.

Simple, with chassis lengths every half-inch from 3.5 to 5 inches, and holes for axle holder pins in 1/8 and 3/32, and a T-slot so I can use wing-nut holdfasts, or screwdowns, or whatever they are called.

I did a quick, rough copy of the chassis jig of my dreams. Also, I had noticed the Shapeways materials list included porcelain and sandstone, either of which might work for a soldering block. I was staring at a scratchbuilder's soldering block and wishing I had one, when I realized that I could have one! 3D printing is very exact, in Tinkercad I can specify my design in thousandths of an inch, and it seems a simple enough task to create one.

3d print t slot track glide