Customizable Model Loading Dock with Optional Ramp/Steps

thingiverse

This is a customizable rectangular loading dock designed to produce a usable scale model, either stand-alone or be placed alongside a building . It was designed in openSCAD for HO scale but should work in other scales as well depending on printer parameters.The basic dock variables are self-explanatory: length, width and height. In addition you can change the scale in use to match your purposes and units. Instead of 3.5 mm to a foot, you could for example use 6.25, which if my math is right would be N scale in meters. Note that if you do change the units to metric you will probably want to change the board parameters to match (i.e. you probably don't want a board 1/4 of a meter thick). This model is simple enough to render that the Thingiverse customizer should be usable for all but the largest and most complex designs. However, as always, loading the design directly into openSCAD (free/open source at (http://www.openscad.org/index.html) will in the long run be faster and simpler. Note that you can create more complex docks, such as some of the ones in the pictures, by either just printing different configurations separately, or combining smaller modules in your slicer and printing as a single unit. If you want you could render just steps or a ramp and then add it to a dock however and wherever you wish. The top deck of each dock is composed of individual boards separated by small gaps along width and possibly length (depending on your choice of board lengths). The support of the deck will be automatically configured with appropriate posts, risers, baseboards and crossbeams. Optional ramps and steps can be added to the model. A ramp can be placed in one of 3 positions on one end of the dock. The length of the ramp is entered directly while the width is either the same as the dock or a designated fraction thereof. Appropriate supports will be automatically configured. You will receive a warning if your ramp is too short/steep based on prototype best practice. In case you fear your imaginary scale humans might roll something off the side of the ramp you have the option to add small skirt boards on each side. Steps of any reasonable width can be added to any of 3 sides of the dock- the same side as the ramp (if there is one), next to the ramp or across from the ramp. Again, step location also can be front, center or back of whichever edge you choose. Thus virtually all possible simple arrangements of ramp and steps can be created (some may require mirroring your model in your slicer). For advanced users or those who like to tinker, board width/thickness and maximum board length can be configured, along with the thickness of the support posts. These are entered as divisors of the basic 'scale/ unit. I.e. if 'scale' is an HO foot (3.5 mm), in HO a divisor of 2 will produce a 1/2 foot or 6" wide board. Adjusting the 'maximum board length' will affect/control the gaps between the boards lengthwise, which by design should always occur over a riser. If you want a beefier looking deck you can decrease this number. Although very large or very small numbers probably will not break the design process, recommended values for this are between 8 and 16 feet. There is also a 'minimum gap' parameter that will allow you for adjustment if your slicer either won't render gaps this small, or, (lucky you!), you have a higher usable resolution than my .4 nozzle on my MK3S. In that case you could go for smaller gaps. For me the .1 mm default gap is optimum. The position parameters require a string entry which might not work in Thingiverse customizer. If that's the case you are again advised to go straight to openSCAD, you don't need any coding experience to adjust the parameters within it. Note to N-Scalers- I was able to get some pretty good docks in N. You probably will have to increase the smaller board parameters to get the boards to show up in your slicer, and you may have to experiment with the minimum gap to get individual boards. The photo with the pencil in it is an N-scale dock.