Alexander Lowry Programmer

3D Printing Girders

Creating girders by 3D printing.

Published

After learning the basics from my first 3D-printed components, I got to work on the drinkrig itself. The core part of this project was obviously going to be the central structure that supported a drink rig. I had never drafted anything before, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to create something with any complexity quickly. So I set out to Thingiverse to see if I could find what I was looking for.

I found this model by user torleif, which is an OpenSCAD file that allowed me to make the truss to my exact size.

CAD drawing of a square lattice truss tower.

I then cut it in quarters diagonally, and presto, it was easy to print!

Four flat truss sides printed as separate pieces, lying on the print bed.
As you can see, the plate side looks much nicer than the top side. Instead of spending time ironing, I can just put the worse side on the inside.

Then I can paint the pieces and glue them together.

The assembled truss painted gray with brown rust streaks running down it.
A base gray plus a brownish wash on the top sides makes a wonderful rust. If you look closely, you can see the weird texture on the inside. But it's more of a background than anything.

Fantastic! Next, for a sense of scale, I thought I'd add a ladder up the side. This wasn't very hard to draft, even with my low skills. I'm working at H0 scale, which is 1:87. That makes the ladder very small indeed!

A printed ladder only a few millimeters wide, thinner than a finger.

I then found a fire escape, and, after some really fiddly gluing and painting, started to arrange the fire escape on the truss.

The tiny ladder and fire escape crudely arranged against the girder, with mold-a-rama figures visible behind.
You might recognize a few mold-a-rama objects in the back. 3D printing from an earlier age.

The final product looks really nice!

The finished truss with fire escape and ladder attached, rising out of a sea of fluffy clouds.

And with the truss done, it's time to move on to the upper (more complex) parts of this build.