WEST ORTON

[Carl L]

Very impressive indeed. Like the idea of the walkway alongside.

[Mr Bones]

Brilliant. Great looking bridge...

[bulleidboy]

Look forward to seeing the bridge painted and weathered - very impressive.

[sandy]

Nice bridge Steve. I am wondering what it cost to make it. Must be one of the most expensive bridges on the forum.

[Steve M]

Thanks for the comments chaps.

Barry, I can’t tell if you’re serious or not - it has been painted and weathered.

Sandy, the biggest investment was the time spent printing all the individual parts and preparing the files on the computer (still learning the way as far as that is concerned). I have not costed the running costs of the printer although my smart meter doesn’t show any particular spikes in usage when I’m printing. As to material costs, the resin used was around £15.
Now if I had to buy the bridge on the open market.........let’s just say that a similar, smaller bridge in lasercut MDF is £80 and I would have needed two of them and still would need to make my own crossbeams.

I am now designing a pedestrian walkway......from scratch!

[Steve M]

This is what it looks like so far. I calculate that this will need three of these sections but it is pushing the capabilities of the software and my clunky old PC to the limit.
And it’s just informed me that the print will take 23hours 53mins. I don’t have much faith in this being successful.

46E95186-518A-4A32-A680-83420B712064 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[RogerB]

Well, it has to be said Steve, your tenacity is to be admired. R-

[Walkingthedog]

My laser cut bridge was £70 Sandy.

[sandy]

Thank you Steve. I have often wondered what the costing of materials used by these printers are.. Thanks again Steve.

[Steve M]

Thank you Steve. I have often wondered what the costing of materials used by these printers are.. Thanks again Steve.

Resin is around £25-£30 per litre. The printer and washer setup is a little more. And my time is priceless!
I put my kit together for under £300 but to put that into perspective, Hornby spent over £20k on theirs.
Mine has now effectively paid for itself.