3d printing

Let us know when you print (and hand-finish!) your first tinwhistle.

—Patrick
I have 3d files for them already. I just am afraid FDM will lack the print dpi required for a good tinwhistle. Tiny tiny tiny variations can make a big difference in sound and tuning. Back when I was running that particular experiment, I was sending the files off to be printed SLS
 
I love the filament. We haven't tried gradient yet.
I dove right in with gradiant silk PLA...just started playing with PET-G day before yesterday. I like the feel of the finished items in pet-g...they feel less brittle, and the material properties (chemical resistance, strength etc) are amazing, but it doesn't make nearly as clean-looking finish.

I've been using TTYT3D for the gradient silk, because they had color combos I wanted. It has a few bad reviews on amazon, but I find that drying mine for 4-6 hours in my big Cosori dehydrater at 110F made it print just fine.
 
THERE it is.

—Patrick
I'd feel better about it if it was my own design. But it's not. And I also don't have much use for a low G whistle.
So...I've been working on designing my own D whistle. I have the body pretty much nailed down and am now iterating on the head design. The following is my printed whistle body stuck on an Abell brand whistle head. I'm super happy with the results so far.

 
Sounds a lot more airy than I think you'd really want, but I guess you can't beat the price!
(assuming you already had a head lying around)

--Patrick
 
Sounds a lot more airy than I think you'd really want, but I guess you can't beat the price!
(assuming you already had a head lying around)

--Patrick
Airiness is an artifact of the microphone I'm using to record. It'd also be caused by the mouthpiece and not the whistle body--it's not evident at all in person except as a little complexity in the tone (which is a desirable trait). This is the whistle head I play in sessions all the time. :)

speaking of whistle heads...
 
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Next is to experiment with orientation.
Which direction of "grain" sounds the best?

--Patrick
I think I'm printing the only way possible on this printer without having to clean out a bunch of support material. Basically printing them standing up. If I print them on their side, the whole tube is a giant overhang, and rather than a little tree of material on the outside I can grow up to support the mouthpiece, the entire inside has to be supported.

20231112_202504.jpg
 
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I think I'm printing the only way possible on this printer without having to clean out a bunch of support material.
I figured you were, I just didn't know if you'd endure the headache of the other orientations in order to see whether something like "60/45/30deg angle, holes up" made any difference to playability/sound/etc.

--Patrick
 
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