Halloween Skeleton-Themed Toy Train

Hello! This is the skeleton-themed toy train I designed for my Advanced Engineering Honors class at Benicia High school. This was one of the first projects that I've 3D printed, and I really enjoyed the process of designing and creating this train.

Some initial notes:

• The hitch magnet shown in the image was not designed on Fusion 360, so it will not appear in the renderings of the project that were generated using Fusion. I added the hitch magnet after the train was printed.
• The distance between the train wheels and the placement of the hitch magnet are all consistent with conventional toy train measurements. This means that this train is compatible with commercial toy trains. It is also compatible with the Halloween-themed trains that were created by the other three students in my class, as pictured above. Our trains from left to right are: my (Juhi Yadav's) train, Katelyn Pagsolingan's train, Owen Sherry's train, and Leo Wen's train.

• Fusion 360 software
• 3D printer
• Clear and blue filament
• Hitch magnets (2)
• 2 mm metal nails (4)
• 1/4" screws (2)

My first step in designing this project was creating a 3D model of it on Fusion 360. I measured a Thomas the train toy to approximate the dimensions for my train. Then, I began designing it on Fusion. I designed each of the parts (the train body, the train base, and the cow catcher) separately, then combined them into a single assembly. Shown here are the renderings of my Fusion models.

Next, I 3D printed the components of my train. I printed eight wheels, two bases, a cow catcher, and my train body. For this project, I used an Ultimaker 2+. I printed most of my train in clear PLA filament except for the cow catcher, which I printed in blue PLA filament.

Once all of my parts were printing, I had to attach my wheels to my bases and figure out how I would connect my train to other toy trains. For this project, I used two train bases (as pictured above). I chose to use two bases so that my train could turn and move around curves on the track more easily.

First, I attached the wheels to the bases. I had created two holes running through each base in the place where the wheels would fit on Fusion 360, but I soon realized that these holes would be too small for my axles to fit. I ended up having to drill these holes slightly larger so that my axles could fit through them. I cut off the heads of four 2 mm screws and used the screws as axles to attach my wheels to the base. I had also designed small indents in my wheels on Fusion 360 so that they could fit around the axles snugly, but I also needed to drill these so that they could fit.

Next, I attached a magnet to each base so that my train could connect to other toy trains. For this, I had to coordinate the polarity of my magnets so that they followed traditional conventions and could attach to any toy train that used a magnet connector. After a couple of attempts, I was able to successfully attach these to each base with no modifications to my original design. These magnets enable my train to connect to any other toy train that also uses magnets for connection.

Then, I used 1/4" screws to attach my two train bases to my train. This step also worked with no modifications to my original design.

Finally, I attached my cow catcher to the front of my train. Although I was anticipating having to use a drill to make the indents that I had created in my train body wider or deeper, my cow catcher fit in with no issue.