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hmmm.... Just came across something interesting....

 

I'm currently saving up to buy a 3d printer. I have one in mind, and it's got a really big build envelope. it's 305x460x280mm. Now, i did some checking, and with a lot of guitar bodies, it's long enough to fit in a body, but just not wide enough. It's actually short on a LP by 12mm. So, I was just thinking, consider my old fanboy guitar, the Airline. That's made from 2 pieces of plastic, rubber binding around the side and a big chunk of wood down through the middle. Now, what if I printed a guitar in 4 parts. The two tops and bottoms would be held together by binding in a similar way, but the left and right sides would be fixed to the wood bit in the middle. I just wonder how difficult it would be to hide the seam down the middle...

 

ideas?

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ok. So i'll try to explain.

 

On the printer itself, you have 3 important parts to consider:

1. Fillament

Consider this like your "Ink". There's a few materials you can choose from, depending on your printer. These are typically some sort of plastic, like ABS, but you can print in rubber, wax, metal, plastic, even a few odd materials like chocolate and nylon (there's a company that prints bikinis.)

 

2. Hot Plate

This is the platform where your object will be printed onto. It's kept at a warm temperature till the printing is finished. These often move with the dispenser.

 

3. Dispenser

This looks like a needle, and is essentially like your printhead. The material comes out of this, like a syringe that's constantly full.

 

So how does this whole thing work?

 

Well, you design your guitar in 3d, using whatever software you like. Sketchup, Rhino, 3ds, whatever. Then you convert it into a milling file, similar to what they use in a cnc. When you press print, the printer slices it into layers, and automatically works out things like support structures, which will snap off easily when the whole thing is done. Then the printer heats up the tip of the fillament, essentially melting the plastic, and squeezes it out onto the hot plate one layer at a time ontop of the next. When the piece is done, you're left with a solid plastic part that can be sanded, painted, whatever. Fillaments come in a range of colours, including sparkly pink, and fluorescent colours, and printers will print to an accuracy of about 0.08mm.

 

Think of it this way, instead of starting with a block of wood and carving out your guitar, you're taking all the sawdust and gluing it all together to make your guitar.

 

edit:

the guy presenting seems like a douche, but he explains it pretty well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMLIiJFRinY

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Neil, it would probably be worth doing a scaled down one first and working out how you'll hide the seam and fit it together etc.

 

Miniature Airline nao.

 

Actually on that note, have you ever seen those miniature guitars they sell on eBay? They do like really small but accurate versions of famous guitars , even MoCs and stuff. If you used the 3D printer, you could probably do far better and more accurate ones and put the guys on eBay out of business.

 

1) 3d printer

2) make little gayocasters

3) ?????

4) profiterole?

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yeah I'd probably make like a 1:5 scale first. I did another bit of research, and it turns out there's 2 really good commonly used methods of getting rid of seam marks, regardless of which of the 2 fillament types you use. The first is to sand it down, and the other is to use a diluted acetone, which will melt a little bit of it. The second one is supposed to give better results, but you have to do it in a well ventilated area, as abs stinks when it melts.

 

Either way, it should be easy enough. I'd me more concerned about things like the binding, the neck and the wooden core. I'd start with a shape that I can get cad files for, like a tele. I actually think I have the mill files for a MoC somewhere on my old laptop. The main reason I'm getting the 3d printer is for college work, but it'd be handy for making guitars. And then if someone wanted things like a surround for a twisty kaoss pad, or a pickguard, I could do that too.

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If someone got one large enough you could make a one piece guitar :pope: So much sustain!!

 

I thought you could make them out of metal? And you could do high density plastic, Dan Armstrong Plexiglass and the such.

 

See, the problem is that ones for home use are still kinda at an infant stage. The one I was looking at is one of the biggest build envelopes for a home one. The other side of it is that you've a limit on materials with home use ones.

 

If you want to use high density plastics, metals etc, you need an industrial one. The next category up from home use ones is commercial ones. Same sized build envelopes as home ones, but they range from €5000 to about €30000. Industrial ones go from €30000 up. I could just about afford the home use ones.

 

edit:

Dave, in terms of sustain though, if I was building one, with a wooden core, I'd imagine that depending on the type of wood you could have a big effect on sustain. I'd love to see what the sustain is like in the Airline models, and then see what their cores are made of.

 

bonusedit:

Turns out the airline uses a maple middle. Maple good for sustain?

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I can see it now... "WeTweetedDom Guitars: 3d Printing Toans since 2012."

 

Not sure about the name.

 

Pot o' tone guitars: 3d Printing Toans since 2012.

 

alternatively...

 

pot o' tone guitars: all balls out since 2012.

 

pot o' tone guitars: we know nothing because citizen erased was recorded on a 7 string

 

I even have the logo ready (recycled from st patricks day 2009)

 

neildot.png

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practicing recording for the knt factor, i brought out some of the analog big guns for a primitive filter patch which sounds weird coz i moved the mic like a meter apart from the amp, i need more mics. i promise it weren't half bad in the room. should have recorded it directly but i wanted analog harmonics and room toanz.

 

revving up the filter-4 octaves of e-skrillex-daft punk(like almost, i don't know the notes)

 

[soundcloud]

[/soundcloud]
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