Feb.4, 2015 | By Alec
It looks like 3D printing is slowly but certainly taking over the music industry too. In recent months we’ve seen various fun, impressive and original 3D printed instruments pass by, from high-quality nylon guitars to the fantastical Helmotz’s Harmonious Homebrew instrument. But while most 3D printed instruments essentially consist of a 3D printed body combined with traditional components to produce sounds (ie. guitar strings and amplifier, or the beer bottles), a recent project by engineering student Daniel Olson is a 100% 3D printed: the Three Valve Trumpet.
The most important components: the three valves.
As you can see in the photos above, his Three Valve Trumpet has the complete look and feel of an actual trumpet, and it is based on Olson’s own Bach Stradivarius model 37. Olson, who is currently a student at the University of Michigan, created the complete design himself using MeshMixer and SolidWorks. These where then 3D printed in 17 separate components in ABS, using his MendelMax 2.0. Who says you can’t print anything worthwhile on a desktop FDM 3D printer? All in all, he guesses that he used about 350 grams of filament to print a complete version, though he had to redo a couple of parts as well.
These separate components were subsequently assembled with the inclusion 3 metal springs (as there are obviously some moving parts to it as well). To assemble it, he coated his parts with acetone, though a few parts (particularly the valves) needed a bit of polishing and sanding before everything came together. "It is a long difficult process to make this. Almost all the parts require post printing work and some require a lot of it. It's not something you're gonna make in an afternoon, or two, or three, or a week", Olson added.
But the question on everyone’s mind is: how does it play? And how does it compare to an actual trumpet? For starters, you can decide for yourself by watching the clips below, but Olson himself concluded that "the sound quality and playability is honestly pretty bad." However, for the untrained ear and with the knowledge that this is a simple and cheap ABS production, I must admit to being quite impressed myself.
As a veteran of the trumpet, Olson himself doesn’t agree and that is partly the reason why he shared his designs freely on Thingiverse: "I look forward to seeing what you can do. It was fun process all around. The reason I am posting my files is so people can try their hand at improving the design and to print it for themselves." In short, he invites everyone to improve upon his designs and make it a true competitor for a traditional instrument. Would you like to give it a go? You can find his easily-printable designs here. Looking at this inventive, cheap and surprisingly easy instrument, I wonder how long it will take before we can enjoy the first 3D printed orchestra…
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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Nice work, and some clever engineering. To my ears the 3D-printed trumpet sounds thin -- plus the designer seems to have trouble playing it in tune. The 3D-printed mouthpiece is not bad, though. The characteristic sound of wind instruments has a lot to do with the material they're made of. Even seemingly minor differences (like whether the brass is coated with a layer of lacquer, or not) change the tone in a way that is usually obvious even to untrained listeners. I would love to see someone print a brass instrument through metal-powder sintering.
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