First Run of Front Driver Section (FDS) frame

     The initial printing of the Front Driver Section (FDS) assembly took 18hr 16min and was done just as the Christmas holiday began.  No further work was done as social duties out of town were required.  The first photo shows the top front of the section with the frontmost cross frame showing and the top of the pilot truck pivot of black ABS frame embedded within the green ABS supports.  Further back along the side are the forward set of brake hangers for front drivers.  Those sub-assemblies also provide the forward equalizer coupling beam pivots.  The coupling beams lie within the frame openings as will be seen later during build and assembly.

    The bottom front of the FDS assembly photo shows the pilot truck pivot on a brace between the sides of the frame.  The photo also shows the holes for the screws that will be used to attach the forward set pedestal binders or frame keepers that span the forward frame slot that contains the front driver bearings,  The overall assembly is 3 3/4" wide, 1 5/8" deep and 4 1/4" tall.  Some 432 Z layers were required to complete the printing.
    Material extrusion is a linear process so the time to print is driven by the total volume of material used including both black and green ABS.  When the machine changes from one color to the other, it must pause and heat up the opposite extruder which adds several minutes for each change over.  Most layers required such a change as they included both green and black portions.
    The next step for this part will be to remove the green ABS carefully and clean off residue material from the FDS frame.  Also on the agenda is build of the pedestal binders for the FDS and the previously built MIDS frame sections.  Also, drills and taps have been ordered along with small machine screws so the pedestal binders can be attached to retain the wheel assemblies and provide the means to remove them as necessary during the design, build and fit checking of the overall locomotive model.  Several other holes on the FDS and MIDS frames other than the pedestal binders will need to be drilled and/or tapped as well.