My journey with 3d printed Ukuleles

Samster

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I'm in the middle of 3d printing a soprano ukulele.

I've seen a fair few online, but I'm really interested in seeing how the sound compares to other ukuleles! It's hard to tell from YouTube videos, and I've had a fair share of experience with many different makes, woods, styles etc.

After the success of the use of plastics in Ukulele's like the Flue, Fluke, and ovation Ukulele's, I thought others here might also be interested in it too, so I thought I'd share the journey!

I'm more than happy to answer any questions!

My progress so far!

I've printed the body in two pieces, and currently in the process of printing the neck!

I'd like to say a massive thank you to solstie for the design!

IMG_0806.jpgIMG_0808.jpgIMG_0822.jpg
 
The thickness of the body, particularly the top looks a bit thick and I'd be worried that the uke would be very quiet on account of that, much like wood ukes that are overbuilt or have a top that is too thick.

Most wood ukes, seem to top out at about 1mm thickness for the top, back and sides...but i dont know what the stress tolerances are for PLA or ABS...

Quietness is not a bad thing, if that is what you are aiming for though.

How long did it take to print? Did you do it at home, and on which machine?

Thanks for sharing! and please report back with updates! :)
 
BTW - I'm pretty sure that Flukes and Fleas are injection-molded from a resin that has a blend of ABS, polycarbonate and fiberglass, but I'm not sure about the Ovation ukes.

I read that one of the reasons for doing the injection-mold instead of 3d-printing is the turnaround time, however, I'd expect that Magic Fluke company has a 3d-printer in-house or makes use of one at a Makerspace in order to test out prototypes, since the one-off costs are usually lower than the injection-mold process...

But I am no expert, however I hope to have a 3d-printer at home in the future...
 
Wow, there are a lot of 3D printed uke designs floating out there! Some of them seem to sound pretty good. How long has it taken to print the two body pieces? Is the neck finished yet? What material are you using? the same for all the pieces or are you changing the specific raw materials for the various pieces?
 
The thickness of the body, particularly the top looks a bit thick and I'd be worried that the uke would be very quiet on account of that, much like wood ukes that are overbuilt or have a top that is too thick.

Most wood ukes, seem to top out at about 1mm thickness for the top, back and sides...but i dont know what the stress tolerances are for PLA or ABS...

Quietness is not a bad thing, if that is what you are aiming for though.

How long did it take to print? Did you do it at home, and on which machine?

Thanks for sharing! and please report back with updates! :)

So far it's taken around 60 hours of printed, I've hedged my bets by printing it thicker and in the middle of sanding it down whilst the neck prints, which has around 6 hours of a 19 hour print. It's currently around 3mm thick, so will probably end up around 2.5mm. After a few days of use, depending on how it feels, I might take a little more off.

It's printed in abs, but I'm also doing a little bit of playing with a. Couple of designs to ad some sound holes to the side of the Ike that will be facing upwards towards you whilst playing, I have a cheaper use that I love playing which has a large sound hole on the sound, which I love the sound of, it's amazing the sound difference with a sound hole facing you!
 
I've always wanted a 3d printer, and after the price began to fall, and reviews got better I couldn't help myself, it's been as enjoyable as the journey with the Ike! I'd definitely recommend getting on,!
 
Wow, there are a lot of 3D printed uke designs floating out there! Some of them seem to sound pretty good. How long has it taken to print the two body pieces? Is the neck finished yet? What material are you using? the same for all the pieces or are you changing the specific raw materials for the various pieces?

It's going to take around 60 hours all in all, but I've been very cautious with thickness and infill, s which I do think I've gone denser and thicker than unneeded to!

It's all in abs so far, however the infill sensity settings, layer height and wall thickness vary beteeen body and neck!
 
And not that it is the primary concern, how much are you spending on raw materials? And how much was the printer?

So far I've used around 1/3 of a spool, which equates to around £5/$6.40 of material!

The printer it's self was £400/$520

I didn't buy the printer to print ukuleles, there's also lots of projects I had planned, more just a cool new toy really!
 
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