Gresley Mikado P2 "Robert The Bruce" scratch-build

[albergman]

Well they say "Never say Never" but here I am about to start yet another locomotive ... a P2 this time.   I swore I'd never do another after my "Flying Scotsman" but pressed on and made the A4 "Union of South Africa".  By the time that one was done I'd had enough of fabricating all the pieces of metal that go round and round and up and down ... Motion they call it.  

I've been following the progress of the A2 Society as they tackle their latest new build of a Mikado class "Prince of Wales" and I love the look of this engine.  However, the P2's were built in two distinct styles one being the version that the A2 society have selected and several in the style of Gresley's A4 streamliners ... similar but different.  Anyway, it's this A4-look-alike that I'm going to attempt.

I have a "connection" to that style because, as a youngster growing up in Scotland I saw some of these engines but remember distinctly (funny what stays with you) being in   the station in Dundee after visiting my Granny in 1951.  We came down a flight of stairs onto the platform and there sat what I assumed was an A4 called "Cock 'o the North".  I scanned through my Ian Allan spotters guide but there was no such A4.   Of course it was one of the P2's.

My model will be a "neverwas" engine called "Robert the Bruce", in honour of the King who, in 1329, was buried in the Abbey in my old home town of Dunfermline.

 

 

So, how to avoid all that tedious hand made metal work?  Well, there's these new fangled machines called 3D printers and all you have to do to make parts is learn how to design them in CAD software ... Should be easy eh?   I've been motivated by several of the Britmodellers who have learned how to use Fusion 360 software and installed the  free version on my PC.   Watched lots of YouTube instructional videos and it didn't take long to get the hang of it.

I thought I'd eventually buy a 3D printer (and still might) but in the meantime I'm using a free service available in my local library where they have a couple of expensive    filament printers and will print anything you want!   What's not to like?   Sure, I'd prefer to use a resin printer but they don't have one and I don't have a place that can cope with the smell.

That brings us up to the present and I now have a cache of about 25 parts designed and awaiting printing.   In fact, I already have several test pieces printed just to make  sure I'm on the right track.

I plan to get all the motion printed first then build a set of frames to which I'll attach it all and, if it looks satisfactory, I'll press on with making the "body".

 

 

I'll start today with some of my "drawings" from Fusion 360 and some of the printed parts.  Fusion has a service where they'll produce an engineering blueprint of any part  you've drawn and you can add as many dimensions to them as you want.  I always make this up and print them off for each part as it gives me the dimensions I need when making the part that connects to it.

So here are a few of my drawings.

 

Wheels ... there are two different driver wheels per side .. one with a very large counterweight and 3 with a smaller one.   There are also 3 different sized smaller wheels  for the leading pony truck, the under-cab truck and the tender.

 

I should mention that I have no plans available for this engine and the only dimensions I have are that the drivers are 6' 2" diameter and the engine is 13' tall.   Not much to go on but I've adjusted a good side view photo to the size I want and am taking all dimensions off that ... Should work.

 

 

I have a couple of these printed already.  They'll need some fairing applied to smooth out the printer artifacts but should be easy.

 

 

Following, in no particular order, is a selection of various parts some of which I have test prints.

 

 

 

 

Here I've "assembled" some of the parts just to test the dimensions.

 

 

OK, I'll leave off here rather than bore you with all the parts drawings.   

 

Frank

[Bandsaw Steve]

Excellent! 👍
 

Only just found this hidden away down here! 

 

Expecting another spectacular adventure! 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

    Ooooh another one, Im in !!

[Radpoe Spitfire]

Ooooo. This Looks interesting to follow👍 I dont know if you are aware, but funding is being sought to build the P2 "Cock O' the North" 

 

See link below👍

 

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.cockothenorth.co.uk/&ved=2ahUKEwjPjNirrKPwAhXMtqQKHYpYDzEQFjAAegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw3xCqHohPZREJwxjI35LTkZ

 

[albergman]

On 4/28/2021 at 3:06 AM, Bandsaw Steve said:

Excellent! 👍
 

Only just found this hidden away down here! 

 

Expecting another spectacular adventure! 

 

13 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

    Ooooh another one, Im in !!

 

1 hour ago, Radpoe Spitfire said:

Ooooo. This Looks interesting to follow👍 I dont know if you are aware, but funding is being sought to build the P2 "Cock O' the North" 

 

See link below👍

 

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.cockothenorth.co.uk/&ved=2ahUKEwjPjNirrKPwAhXMtqQKHYpYDzEQFjAAegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw3xCqHohPZREJwxjI35LTkZ

 

Well well, all 3 of you found me on the same day!   Not a lot to report at this time as I've been designing parts over and over to meet the needs of my local library where they get printed.   Lots of practice with Fusion 360 though and that's fun.    I've also been researching printers ... resin vs filament till I'm crosseyed looking at them.    Big news is that I finally ordered a filament printer and it might arrive today!!!     Now the real fun begins as I can experiment with parts much faster.   The library usually takes a week to do my requests only to find there's a flaw in my design.   

 

I'm leaning towards doing almost all of the engine by print ... just for the challenge.    I've had my struggles with the "lack of craftsmanship/artistry" in this approach but at my age I don't want to spend another year or two hacking a loco out of scrap material ... been there/done that/got the T-shirt.

 

I just have a desire to have a model of yet another express engine from my youth and this seems like a fun way to get it.

 

All of the parts above ... and many more have already been printed and sort-of assembled but I'll probably do them all over again with tweaks.

 

Here's my drawing (captured from Fusion) of the nose.   This program isn't very helpful when it comes to drawing shapes like this but I don't want to learn another. 

 

Looking forward to seeing if I can print this.   The chimney and nameplates are designed as separate pieces so they won't be printed as shown here.

 

 

 

Anyway, nice to have a couple of old friends along to see how this goes.

 

Radpoe ... that organization has been around for 5 or 6 years and haven't got off the drawing board yet!    The real progress is being made by the P2Steam.com group who built Tornado 10 years ago.   They have a P2 well under way.

 

Frank

[Bandsaw Steve]

Hi Frank,

 

Sorry about butting in here (a bit rude really) but not sure if you know that Baby Bandsaw finished her Hogwarts Express a few days ago. It’s in RFI civil vehicles now.

 

Steve

 

 

[Radpoe Spitfire]

3 hours ago, albergman said:

 

 

Well well, all 3 of you found me on the same day!   Not a lot to report at this time as I've been designing parts over and over to meet the needs of my local library where they get printed.   Lots of practice with Fusion 360 though and that's fun.    I've also been researching printers ... resin vs filament till I'm crosseyed looking at them.    Big news is that I finally ordered a filament printer and it might arrive today!!!     Now the real fun begins as I can experiment with parts much faster.   The library usually takes a week to do my requests only to find there's a flaw in my design.   

 

I'm leaning towards doing almost all of the engine by print ... just for the challenge.    I've had my struggles with the "lack of craftsmanship/artistry" in this approach but at my age I don't want to spend another year or two hacking a loco out of scrap material ... been there/done that/got the T-shirt.

 

I just have a desire to have a model of yet another express engine from my youth and this seems like a fun way to get it.

 

All of the parts above ... and many more have already been printed and sort-of assembled but I'll probably do them all over again with tweaks.

 

Here's my drawing (captured from Fusion) of the nose.   This program isn't very helpful when it comes to drawing shapes like this but I don't want to learn another. 

 

Looking forward to seeing if I can print this.   The chimney and nameplates are designed as separate pieces so they won't be printed as shown here.

 

 

 

Anyway, nice to have a couple of old friends along to see how this goes.

 

Radpoe ... that organization has been around for 5 or 6 years and haven't got off the drawing board yet!    The real progress is being made by the P2Steam.com group who built Tornado 10 years ago.   They have a P2 well under way.

 

Frank

Hello Frank,

I confess I'm not much of a rail enthusiast, but I do love to see a Steam engine doing what they do best - be it a stationary or a Locomotive. That aside, I was of the understanding they were one and the same project, which is a shame they aren't. It would have been fantastic to see one of Greasley's lost engines built on home turf at Doncaster.

 

However, I do know that for many years, the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum displayed, what I assumed, either a template for,  or the unfinished side plate (not sure if that is the correct name) of the chassis, mounted on a flatbed freight carriage. This also bore the legend " Cock O'the North.

[albergman]

6 hours ago, Radpoe Spitfire said:

Hello Frank,

I confess I'm not much of a rail enthusiast, but I do love to see a Steam engine doing what they do best - be it a stationary or a Locomotive. That aside, I was of the understanding they were one and the same project, which is a shame they aren't. It would have been fantastic to see one of Greasley's lost engines built on home turf at Doncaster.

 

However, I do know that for many years, the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum displayed, what I assumed, either a template for,  or the unfinished side plate (not sure if that is the correct name) of the chassis, mounted on a flatbed freight carriage. This also bore the legend " Cock O'the North.

Hi again ... I've been following both groups since their inception and I don't know why the Cock o the North group didn't just join forces.   You're right though, early on they accumulated enough money to build the frames (a loco chassis) and toted them all over to show they were serious.  But that was 7 years ago and they haven't produced another part.   The P2 society is only 2 years away from firing theirs up and ... they have their third engine in the design stage!

 

Frank

 

 

[albergman]

Well now, things are moving a lot more quickly since I got my own filament printer.    Assembly and setup was a breeze and it just worked from the minute I plugged it in.   For those interested in these things I bought a BiQu B1 model.    I know, I'd never heard of it either till I saw it at the top of a "Best of" list ... right behind a $1000 (Can) Prusa.

 

Since then I've been reprinting a lot of parts that my library made for me after I added back details that they couldn't print.

 

Here's a sampler of what I've made ...

 

 

So what you see are driver wheels, front bogie and cab wheels for both sides.   The 3 rods that connect all four wheels became just too flimsy to connect in the correct way so I "cheated" and drew up a single piece that looks the same.   Also working on the tender and have printed the frames that mount the springs and wheels.    All parts are straight out of the printer and have had no clean-up so far ... no doubt, you can see that I printed a lot in white filament (came free with the printer) then my own black spool.

 

Here's a closer look at the nameplate.   Robert the Bruce is well known in Scotland and is also buried in the abbey of my old home town ... Dunfermline.   Since all P2 locos were given Scottish historic names I've chosen him for mine.  Wish the camera didn't make things look so clumsy.

 

 

 

Here's a better look at that 3-into-1 set of rods.

 

 

Next up is the one-piece springs and axle box for under the cab.   Amazing that the printer can produce "rivet" heads.

 

 

Early on I drew the Kylchap dual exhaust chimney but had to remove the louvers.   I've since replaced them.

 

 

For my previous 2 locomotives I used old stock rails made, I think, for Lionel trains.   They are about the same scale but have a round top to the rail surface and the engines  don't sit well on them.   Rather than buy more of that stock I decided ... why not print my own track?   Why not eh?   I can only manage a 10" strip at a time but there's no hurry.

 

 

Now I could easily just glue the rail to my sleepers but why not design my own retainers?    I don't know what they're called ... sorry.   Anyway, a few minutes on Fusion 360 and I can print them.   They take 4 minutes each to print but I'll make up a tray of them and do a lot at once.   This one needs a cleanup.

 

 

Slides right on to the rail and looks just fine to me.

 

 

Just for fun I drew one of the period lanterns they used and printed a couple.    Going to revisit that but they're cool.

 

That's it for now.   Thanks for looking in.

[bentwaters81tfw]

I think you might have to machine that railhead. Just don't ask Railtrack to do it

Coming along leaps and bounds, do you think you will have it in steam before the P2 Soc?

[albergman]

15 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

I think you might have to machine that railhead. Just don't ask Railtrack to do it

Coming along leaps and bounds, do you think you will have it in steam before the P2 Soc?

Sorry, I'm a Canadian (Scottish born) so I don't understand the reference to Railtrack.    I know the head (is that what the top is called?) is quite flat but at 3.5 mm width it's not really noticeable.    I just want my wheels to sit securely on them ... flat on flat!

 

My progress since the last posting has really accelerated too so I think I'll beat the P2 guys.   Pictures soon.

[Locomotion]

Hi Frank, 

 

Thanks for taking on such an ambitious project!  Looking forward to following your progress.  What product are you using to smooth out the printed parts?

[albergman]

13 minutes ago, Locomotion said:

Hi Frank, 

 

Thanks for taking on such an ambitious project!  Looking forward to following your progress.  What product are you using to smooth out the printed parts?

Hi there Locomotion

 

Glad to have another tagging along.   Yes, this is an ambitious project for me as I'm such a rookie in the 3D printing field and with Fusion 360.   Having said that, I'm now over 90% done printing all parts of this P2 I reckon!!   I'm actually designing and printing parts faster than I can document the process.   I guess the moment of truth will occur when I start to assemble this box of parts I've made. 

 

Smoothing the parts?   Can you do that?   I hadn't really given it any thought and frankly, the surface look pretty good as is.   I probably would airbrush on a few coats of light filler material and wet sand them.   What do you know about smoothing?   Fill me in too!

 

Frank

[bentwaters81tfw]

10 hours ago, albergman said:

Sorry, I'm a Canadian (Scottish born) so I don't understand the reference to Railtrack.    I know the head (is that what the top is called?) is quite flat but at 3.5 mm width it's not really noticeable.    I just want my wheels to sit securely on them ... flat on flat!

 

My progress since the last posting has really accelerated too so I think I'll beat the P2 guys.   Pictures soon.

Railtrack was the company in charge of track maintenance in the UK. They sadly had major problems due to poor practice. Machining the railhead to restore profile, and dealing with cracks due to wear was their downfall.

[albergman]

Back again.    I had intended to fabricate the boiler from my usual composite material (Renshape) but suddenly thought ... "why not print it?".   It was too long at 210 mm to do in one pass ... well, I was afraid of a print failure after 9 hours so, I broke it into 3 designs.   The middle of the boiler is larger diameter than the ends which taper down.   I drew in a small flange on the 2 ends so that they'll slide right into the middle piece ... worked a charm.

 

 

The sides have come out with very little markings so they'll be easy enough to fair in.

 

Next comes the tender.   I found some excellent drawings and used them to draw up the front and back panels for it.   Lots of details built in and I'll still hand-make some more.    

 

Here's the front panel.   The camera certainly exaggerates the print lines but they're not really so pronounced and will fill easily.

 

 

The back panel.   I just noticed one of the steps has broken off!

 

 

Also have roof for cab and both sides printed ... no pictures yet.   So most of the big parts are done and assembly will be starting soon.

 

Thanks for looking in.

[Locomotion]

On 09/05/2021 at 12:26, albergman said:

Hi there Locomotion

 

Glad to have another tagging along.   Yes, this is an ambitious project for me as I'm such a rookie in the 3D printing field and with Fusion 360.   Having said that, I'm now over 90% done printing all parts of this P2 I reckon!!   I'm actually designing and printing parts faster than I can document the process.   I guess the moment of truth will occur when I start to assemble this box of parts I've made. 

 

Smoothing the parts?   Can you do that?   I hadn't really given it any thought and frankly, the surface look pretty good as is.   I probably would airbrush on a few coats of light filler material and wet sand them.   What do you know about smoothing?   Fill me in too!

 

Frank

Hi Frank

 

There are various methods for smoothing 3D prints that you will easily find via searching the internet.  So far I have only made a few simple parts in PLA and achieved a smooth surface by coating the parts with homemade "sprue goo," waiting for the goo to dry thoroughly and then sanding the parts till smooth.  It is messy and time consuming though.  It's also tricky to sand down the filler in corners of complex parts like the front panel of your tender, for example. There are threads on "sprue goo" and "Filling 'contour' lines" on Britmodeller forums. A resin printer would produce better results, unfortunately at present I don't have a suitable ventilated work area to accommodate one.

[albergman]

1 hour ago, Locomotion said:

Hi Frank

 

There are various methods for smoothing 3D prints that you will easily find via searching the internet.  So far I have only made a few simple parts in PLA and achieved a smooth surface by coating the parts with homemade "sprue goo," waiting for the goo to dry thoroughly and then sanding the parts till smooth.  It is messy and time consuming though.  It's also tricky to sand down the filler in corners of complex parts like the front panel of your tender, for example. There are threads on "sprue goo" and "Filling 'contour' lines" on Britmodeller forums. A resin printer would produce better results, unfortunately at present I don't have a suitable ventilated work area to accommodate one.

Thanks for that L/M.  Since I wrote my last comment a shipment of materials I ordered a while ago arrived and in there was a bottle of Mr Surfacer 500 which is just wonderful.   I brushed it on the boiler sections and it dries in a minute.   Wet-sanded it off and it completely filled all tiny grooves and it's now smooth as the proverbial baby's you-know-what.    I've glued up the 3 parts of the boiler and attached the nose so the build has begun.

[bootneck]

On 26/03/2021 at 01:21, albergman said:

OK, I'll leave off here rather than bore you with all the parts drawings.  

 

Encore!  Encore! 

[Paul821]

I am in awe of those people who have the ability to learn all the new skills associated with 3d printing. This looks line a project worth following. I gave up technical drawing at the age of 14, I can still remember the talk with the form master. He was convinced that technical drawing was the route to a great career whereas French and German (the alternatives) in my case were not worth perusing. I know which was more use in the mid 1970's which I visited Germany chasing steam trains! As to career, through a set of coincidences I ended up in IT for 40 years - a subject not even known at the time of that talk.

 

I just wish that our local county council was interesting in providing facilities for 3D printing rather than closing libraries down.

[albergman]

On 5/11/2021 at 3:43 PM, Locomotion said:

Hi Frank

 

There are various methods for smoothing 3D prints that you will easily find via searching the internet.  So far I have only made a few simple parts in PLA and achieved a smooth surface by coating the parts with homemade "sprue goo," waiting for the goo to dry thoroughly and then sanding the parts till smooth.  It is messy and time consuming though.  It's also tricky to sand down the filler in corners of complex parts like the front panel of your tender, for example. There are threads on "sprue goo" and "Filling 'contour' lines" on Britmodeller forums. A resin printer would produce better results, unfortunately at present I don't have a suitable ventilated work area to accommodate one.

Thanks for that L/M.  Since I wrote my last comment a shipment of materials I ordered a while ago arrived and in there was a bottle of Mr Surfacer 500 which is just wonderful.   I brushed it on the boiler sections and it dries in a minute.   Wet-sanded it off and it completely filled all tiny grooves and it's now smooth as the proverbial baby's you-know-what.    I've glued up the 3 parts of the boiler and attached the nose so the build has begun.

[albergman]

Moving right along ... the boiler parts have been attached to the nose and some final shaping of the A4-style nose has taken place.   Plastic is NOT a nice material to work with!   Any mechanical/electrical device I apply to it just rolls up a "wave" of molten plastic which cools, hardens and breaks off.   Then I'm finding that the model only has a surface skin and it's shallow.   Lurking under the surface is nothing but fine honeycomb "filler" with which nothing can be done.   Fortunately the nose of the engine is likely the only place which needs this extra fettling and a generous application of automotive body filler (Bondo in Canada) seals the freshly opened wounds.   I've painted on some of that Mr Surfacer here so there's still a lot of smoothing to be done.

 

 

 

Smoothed out, spray on some old blue paint and set the Kylchap on top ... 

 

 

The streamlined P2 is a strange beast being an cross-breeding of an A4  and an A3.    

 

Next I moved along the boiler to the cab.   Something nice about designing parts in Fusion is that you can bring existing parts into the drawing area and draw the new parts around them.   Being a novice at Fusion I wasn't initially aware I could do that.   This means that every part that's been drawn around an existing one will fit like a glove.   

 

An example of that was for the firebox extensions.   Just a little fairing compound to smooth them in.

 

 

I've got a major F-up here that will take some fixing and maybe re-printing.

 

Here's a screen capture of several parts I imported when building up the cab area.   When I drew the first firebox extension there's a "Mirror" command in Fusion which instantly gives you the part for the opposite side ... magic.

 

 

You may notice that I drew up a crude replica of the apparatus (gauges, levers etc) on the end of the boiler.   This won't be seen from outside (well, barely) and totally unnecessary but it's just fun to do.

 

Why I was tempted was I found a perfect drawing for Flying Scotsman's cab which I brought in , sized it to my scale then "drew" the most essential lines on top of it. 

 

 

My Fusion drawing

 

 

my printed version ...

 

 

That's about as far as I've got.   A few more tender parts finished, a tiny plumbing fitting that attaches to the end of the steam pipe from the cab (I really should learn something about steam engines) ...

 

 

This about 3/16 long so its details won't come out this good.

 

Oh, one more thing.   I re-drew the plate thingy that slides onto the rails as too many were breaking off.   This one's not as pretty but is very strong and will look just fine.   I printed up a single sheet with 8 rails on it then duplicated the "holders" (someone please tell me what they're called) and have printed about 100.

 

 

OK thanks for looking in whoever you are!

 

Frank

 

 

 

[RedhillPhil]

On 5/6/2021 at 4:13 PM, albergman said:

Well now, things are moving a lot more quickly since I got my own filament printer.    Assembly and setup was a breeze and it just worked from the minute I plugged it in.   For those interested in these things I bought a BiQu B1 model.    I know, I'd never heard of it either till I saw it at the top of a "Best of" list ... right behind a $1000 (Can) Prusa.

 

Since then I've been reprinting a lot of parts that my library made for me after I added back details that they couldn't print.

 

Here's a sampler of what I've made ...

 

 

So what you see are driver wheels, front bogie and cab wheels for both sides.   The 3 rods that connect all four wheels became just too flimsy to connect in the correct way so I "cheated" and drew up a single piece that looks the same.   Also working on the tender and have printed the frames that mount the springs and wheels.    All parts are straight out of the printer and have had no clean-up so far ... no doubt, you can see that I printed a lot in white filament (came free with the printer) then my own black spool.

 

Here's a closer look at the nameplate.   Robert the Bruce is well known in Scotland and is also buried in the abbey of my old home town ... Dunfermline.   Since all P2 locos were given Scottish historic names I've chosen him for mine.  Wish the camera didn't make things look so clumsy.

 

 

 

Here's a better look at that 3-into-1 set of rods.

 

 

Next up is the one-piece springs and axle box for under the cab.   Amazing that the printer can produce "rivet" heads.

 

 

Early on I drew the Kylchap dual exhaust chimney but had to remove the louvers.   I've since replaced them.

 

 

For my previous 2 locomotives I used old stock rails made, I think, for Lionel trains.   They are about the same scale but have a round top to the rail surface and the engines  don't sit well on them.   Rather than buy more of that stock I decided ... why not print my own track?   Why not eh?   I can only manage a 10" strip at a time but there's no hurry.

 

 

Now I could easily just glue the rail to my sleepers but why not design my own retainers?    I don't know what they're called ... sorry.   Anyway, a few minutes on Fusion 360 and I can print them.   They take 4 minutes each to print but I'll make up a tray of them and do a lot at once.   This one needs a cleanup.

 

 

Slides right on to the rail and looks just fine to me.

 

 

Just for fun I drew one of the period lanterns they used and printed a couple.    Going to revisit that but they're cool.

 

That's it for now.   Thanks for looking in.

They're called chairs. The rails are fixed in by wooden keys later ones were of metal. 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Hmmmm...

For the first time ever I’m starting to think I want to learn 3D printing! 🤔

[albergman]

On 5/23/2021 at 10:33 AM, Bandsaw Steve said:

Hmmmm...

For the first time ever I’m starting to think I want to learn 3D printing! 🤔

Can't tell you how much fun this has been Steve.   Sort of regretting that this project is coming to an end soon as far as designing and making parts,   Now I just have to glue them all together and paint them.

 

Let me assure you that if I can learn enough about Fusion 360 at my age to draw all these components then anybody can.   I found it very challenging but satisfying to work out "How am I going to make this?".    You have to accept the fact that you'll have to learn to operate something like Fusion if you want to build something specific.   I think many people are just downloading some of the millions of parts available on the Net and printing them ... fantasy figures for some reason.

 

As for the printer side of the equation you'll have to decide whether filament or resin is for you.   No question that resin is far superior for being able to reproduce amazing detail and I was convinced that was the way to go ... for a while.   There's a dark side to operating with resins that not many people talk about and I wasn't prepared to deal with that.    My filament printer works at a level that suits me and I have no regrets.   It's even set up in my bedroom, runs long into the night and there's no cleanup, chemicals, smell etc to worry about.

 

Be glad to chat with anybody about my (brief) experiences with filament printing.

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Hi Frank,

 

Thanks for that.

 

Not sure how much fun I am likely to have learning anything on a computer. IIRC you used to work in I.T. and therefore are likely to have some sort of affinity for the damned things. I on the other hand have no aptitude with computers at all. I use them all day every day at work but they seem to fight me all the way. 
 

‘it’s easy’ everyone says - but for me it never seems to be...

 

I’ll spend some time having a look on the 3D print pages here on BM and will have a think.