With great help from Klunk, it's taking shape. Done the test piece in aluminium as it's what I had to hand. Just need to run the finishing path and do some engraving:
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Nice. Great gift idea BTW.
What size is it? Will it fit in a camelback so you can use it as a 3D map, and are you going to paint it with roads, footpaths, bridleways etc. to make it more functional?
Obviously you won't need contour lines.
(only joking, I like that. Can you give us a link to the original thread about producing it, I missed that one.)
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/profile/stevied - scroll down to threads started (I believe in teaching a man to fish)
Looking good
Currently 315mm x 63mm but can scale up or down easily now.
Original thread here: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/turning-contours-into-a-3d-model
That is awesome, I shall forward the thread to the wife for christmas ideas.
I do miss home. 🙁
I'd like it a little wider, to put the hills in context with the east and west. But then I'd probably have two, one painted up with the landuses and one with solid geology.
I can see my house! No. Wait. It's a bit of swarf....
Finish cut came out a bit like digital camo so need to have a play with settings.
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What a neat idea 🙂 out of interest could you make it with other materials such as a block of seasoned Oak?
Thats cool!
Doubles up as lincolnshire on the reverse side 😆
Go on, mister. How much?
Ski, can do it out of most materials but think oak might be a bit too grainy to get a decent finish. Will be trying to get some decent plywood asap as I think that would look great..
Stoner, no idea yet. How much do you think they would be worth?
great project, could you vac form it and make some casts for the masses?
If you call yourself an artisan then you can easily add 50% on whatever price you decide!
If you call yourself an artisan then you can easily add 50% on whatever price you decide!
Gnartisan, surely?
Cool, i'd love to see one of Strouds five valleys.
Would be really nice in some sort of laminated material like ply but with thinner sections. I reckon it would emphasise the gradient a bit more.
Noice!
I had to draw the buggers once. In a semicircle to fit a beermat. There're always more summits than you think. Yours is much cooler even if computeriserised!
*Edit. You must do May Hill, the outlier...
V impressed sir.
Surprised how small in height and volume British camp looks compared to W beacon (I think I'm looking at the right bit)
Still, with no trees, the conservators are happy 😉
Love it, great present idea.
That's great! Please add me to the list of people who would like to know once you have decided on pricing. Spent much of my childhood in and around the Malvern Hills, special place in me heart
Looks awesome, how about a smaller on as a keyring?
(a mint idea I'm sure you'll agree)
Id love to see it in ply wood, with 2x vertical scale and a thinner base below datum. About 500mm x 120mm.
I hate to bid up the price too much, but I reckon £25-50 wouldn't be too far away in wood.
I have no idea what an aluminium blank costs.
In the right place, with the right presentation, though I reckon you could ask £100.
Further to my comment above about laminated materials. It would be doubly awesome if it were possible to match the thickness of the laminations to the actual height gain so each layer was the equivalent of 10m.
Very cool. Something like this but less extortionate and you could be on a winner!
http://duffylondon.com/product/tables/abyss-table/
very nice
Nice. Could be interested depending on materials and £s
I'm missing home too....
That would lovely somewhere in my house....
Not read the previous thread but would be great if people could send you a set of OS 'squares' that includes the area that they want rendered and you translate that into one of these 3D things.
Everyone (except the flat landers) gets to own their local/favourite topography.
Everyone (except the flat landers) gets to own their local/favourite topography.
you can always cheat with the vertical scale.
What an excellent idea. I'd be quickly setting up a small company and offer production of favorite areas and some special focus areas as a standard (Mendips/Chilterns/South Downs etc.) with a small premium on the special requirements.
Offer in a range of materials, not too many...
Enjoy making them
Enjoy selling them.
When you have this set up I'd like one of the Ironbridge Gorge and one of my bit of the South Downs.
Crack on Son.. 😀
North Downs please, in 3mm 3-ply, each mm=1m of gain?
That's my thinking bb...
I live in Cambridgeshire. Just send me some ply, I'll be fine.
Seriously nice work though, I like that a lot.
[i]Just send me some ply, I'll be fine[/i]
Do give it a good sand with some 1000grit first though.
you can always cheat with the vertical scale.
I remember doing something similar for GCSE geography with cardboard, to do the actual scale would have meant thin paper for each contour, to get it to look as steep as an actual hill required corrugated card. Even something steep like kinder scout, if you did it at the same 1km=2cm scale as 1:50k OS mapping it would be 4mm of height gain (200m) over 4cm.
If this becomes a thing, I'd so be up for one of the Malverns. Our house up here on the edge of Glasgow has lots of pictures of the malverns all over it. If I look out of my window and squint a bit, with the inversion carpeting the base of the Campsie Fells, I can almost feel like I'm home, almost.
Somehow Malvern has managed to become a very special part of my families lives. Our visits back home to hobbiton 😉
My daughter is only 15, but is planning on when she can move there to live.
Have a look at [url= http://mapsculpture.co.uk ]Map Sculpture[/url]. They do raised relief maps in various materials (wood, bronze, aluminium) and sizes.
That's ace, love it. If you took that and dropped it somewhere in east anglia, it'd qualify as a descent.
I definitely want one in plywood! Don't even really care where of but obvs. somewhere among
the Purbecks.
I'd totally buy a local pentlands one.
I can get 5m mapping done locally for a pretty good price. The one I have machined is os 50m which may explain the pixelation I've got currently. 5m would be, ooh, 10 times smoother.
What sort of areas would people be I retested in? I can have a look at prices of the mapping for those areas..
That is stunning! I'd love one of those 😀
Gonna get it anodised? Would look great purple anodised....
😆
Dartmoor! depending on price of course 🙂
If you are canvassing for areas that would be of interest, I would be interested in Pentlands and sure three would be many more. Though there are a few ridges of hills that would lend themselves to the format you showed, to do it justice you would need a more square area. Will watch with interest
I would be very interested in a peak district version. It would be nice to have a permanent record before DCC flatten the lot.
How large could you go?
BTW, how are those XTR chainset caps coming along?
The Yair end of the tweed valley, if it could incorporate the three brethren it'd be brilliant.
(or the maiden's paps near hawick)
Max size I could do would be about 600mm square, should be a decent size.
XTR caps are on the back-burner at the moment I'm afraid..
Mine are a bit specific, although might not be 😀
1) Ironbridge George incl the Towers down to Jackfield, Incl Coalbrookdale (but leave out Broseley :wink:)
2) South Downs Incl Warsash/coast North to Cheriton, West from Owlesbury East to Steep. If thats too big then incl Warsash/Hamble River, North to Cheriton, West Upham, East to East Meon but must include Privett and High Cross.
Plys fine, what other materials you intend to offer?
New version taking shape. 16" x 4" Should be 10x more accurate than the 1st one.[img] 
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Kickstarter.....
Travis - Member
Kickstarter.....
Good option !!
Ooooh, looks good with the 'contour lines' cut into it!
Travis - MemberKickstarter.....
Would this require kickstarter if you already have access to a CNC tool?
You could just set-up a simple website & offer popular sections of landscape on there, or a 'custom' option for an extra set-up fee.
How about Etsy? Could be a good way of setting up some kind of marketplace?
yeah Contour lines are looking good.
Need to carve out the MTB tracks though 😉
I think here are a few people on here, who would be very keen on buying one, but obviously, cost of materials and time need to be accounted for.
If the OP has the facility to offer other places, as well, then that could be positive.
Maybe the Kickstarter isn't for the CNC, but in help with mapping and getting a better picture of what he needs to make.
Interested
Would like a long mynd/caer caradoc version
Kickstarter is a good shout, I'll look into it.
The CNC's are at work so I only have to pay for materials, programming and machining time.
Once I've got an idea of time I'll know how much they'll cost. Individual maps can ve purchased so I can, hopefully, do any area of the UK. The bigger the area the more expensive the map though.
My father-in-law lives in and loves to walk in the Malverns, but will probably be moving down to the SW with us in a few years - would definitely be interested in one as a gift for him. Add me to the list!
Machining finished, now for the frame
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Wow! that is really impressive, interested to hear prices when you sort it all out.
nice. is that 1:1 scale for elevation or slightly exaggerated.
What kind of frame will you give it? A dark wooden bezel?
Oh yes! That looks great! Gonna give it a clear anodise?
Just a thought for future efforts; it might be worth leaving some flat plate around the edge that the frame can sit against?
Interested to know what the total machining time for that is?!
Will work out a price asap.
@Stoner: Yep, 1:1 for scale. Taken from 5m resolution imagery. Will see what my bro-in-law has in the workshop. Was thinking oak but dark wood would be good.
Looks great. Genuinely interested. If the price is right I'll quite possibly take two or three and would be interested in other areas as well.
EDIT - specifically south Lakes valleys of Kentmere and Longsleddale
Wow, this is fantastic, I have to have one. Please let us know a price when you can figure one out.
Aye, I'd love to have one of the local area! Would be perfect in the office.
needs some stick on trainset grass, trees and sheep
Finished and framed in oak:
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If you're interested drop me an email
steve_dees at hotmail.com
Absolutely stunning. Well done!
OP, looks like you've got all your software / hardware sorted, but for those others interested in this thread, these sites might be worth a look...
[url= http://makezine.com/2014/11/15/3d-printing-topographic-maps-using-lidar/ ]http://makezine.com/2014/11/15/3d-printing-topographic-maps-using-lidar/[/url]
and
[url= http://dougmccune.com/blog/2014/12/30/using-shp2stl-to-convert-maps-to-3d-models/ ]http://dougmccune.com/blog/2014/12/30/using-shp2stl-to-convert-maps-to-3d-models/[/url]
Looks a bit like few rashers of streaky bacon wrapped in tin foil.
I want one.
Can you do locations on request? Would be nice to see the South Downs including a portion of coastline.
Three brethren end of tweed valley. Pretty pretty please.
How about Han Solo?
Slimjim/OHI, yes, that's the plan. If you can give me an area you'd want done I can price up the mapping files etc.
Prob best to email me: steve_dees at hotmail.com
I'm pretty sure Han Solo has bin dun 😉
Been doing a bit more work on these today. Made a few small sections to try different options.
One has gone for black anodising.
Here's a polished one:
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And a 'contours' one done using a normal end mill:
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Beautiful thing!
That contours one is surprisingly good looking, depending on your decor / taste possibly even nicer that the smooth ones. You're really onto something here, if your prices are reasonable I'll definitely be a customer.
Yeah, I really like the contoured one too. Polishing gives it an antique look.
Can you do one of behind the Nationwide?
^^ What areas are the last ones you posted above, Stevie?