grovenor-2685 wrote:I note that the 2mm society are producing a new style of wheel.
Is this something our stores or our entrepreneurial members could talk to them about?
You're welcome to talk to me; I did the CAD and orders from the manufacturer, and understand the end finishing. Manufacturer is in Belgium: materialise.com , who work in a similar way to Shapeways.
Before everyone gets excited, they'd be expensive in 4mm scale. Example of a 4ft6 driver, 18mm diameter, so roughly 17mm diameter print. A 4mm wheel is, say, 2mm thick. Might get four, maybe five, to a print with a maximum print area of 43mm*43mm. Knowing the price of the 2mm prints (1.3mm thick), making a rough allowance for the thicker 4mm print, then my finger in the air figure is £50 for the print (four or five centres). They then need machining for rims and axle bores. Don't be surprised at £30-£45 per pair of wheels.
It costs in for 2mm scale because we can get 9, 16 and sometimes 25 centres per print. So the per-wheel cost is much lower.
The RMWeb link which seems to have been mangled above is
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index ... nt-3826793 - Nigel