Makerbot Semi Parts, and Parts, and more Parts!

  Over the past few weeks I've been print parts for my Makerbot Semi at the QC C0-Lab in Davenport. I finally have enough parts to start assembly of the Semi tractor so I thought I would post my progress here to let you see what I've been up to. Here is an image of the tractor what it will look like once it is completed.

Here is the main chassis of the Semi tractor.  Thirty three parts so far and 17 and 1/2 hours of printing.  Needless to say it was not done all at one time.  So you can see why it has taken a number of weeks to complete so far.  This does not include the designing of the Semi. Almost all of the parts will be painted silver for this portion of the Semi.  The fenders at the lower center of the photo have already been painted so I think the rest should look just as good. 

   
This photo is of the underside of the front axle mounts and the frame connector.  Also in the photo you can see the front fenders and fuel tanks.  The frame is joined together in three places using frame connectors (the square piece in the middle of the photo) and small pieces of cylindrical plastic taken off of the print spool that the parts are printed from. Makes a very strong, tight joint.

  Here is a photo of the frame upside down on my computer desk. I'll paint all of the parts before I reassemble the Semi.  It will be much easier than trying to work out the painting with such a detailed model. 

  These parts will make up the exhaust for the Semi.  I'll paint the exhaust guards (the tubes with all the holes in them) silver with a center cylinder being painted black.  The exhaust tip and mount will also be painted silver.  The center cylinder being black should show off the guard nicely.

Here are the exhaust stacks mounted on to the frame.

This is a good shot of the Semi frame sitting without the wheels and again with the exhaust stacks in place. Once the QC Co-Lab gets a new shipment of plastic for the Makerbot I will continue on with this project.  I have to print out the cab of the Semi and the sleeper next. These will be in colored plastic so I won't have to spray paint anything else.  Once these are completed the tires will be the next thing on my to do list.  I will use the one with the heavy tread instead of the smooth tire as pictured above.  I think it will look a lot better with the truck.