Chiff and Fipple Forums

My neighbor has a 3d printer. For five pounds I bought the files to print a high D Qwistle, and emailed them to my neighbor.


Below is the whistle, just off the printer. It prints in multiple pieces: three barrels, a two piece mouthpiece, and three rings. My neighbor said he found that as the files were delivered they are two tight--even when he reduced the size of the tenons by 1%, They were still so tight that he had to really force them together. The tuning slide on this won't budge, for example. So he's tweaking it and printing another




Here's how it sounds: the mistakes are partly because it's new to me and the spacing is a little unfamiliar. I just got it ten minutes ago. It needs to be cleaned up and sanded a bit

Edit: I just noticed that the mp3 file got cut off somehow, and I didn't save it. so the song starts in mid phrase


http://spokeshave.net/music/moloney's.mp3

I would say that it tends to clog quickly--you can hear it clearly at the end of the tune--but that may improve with some fine sanding. I'd say so far I don't like the feel of the very thick barrel

Anyway i think it's amazing and cool.

Nice work! I have no access to a 3d printer, so I simply bought the Qwistle v2.0. It is a great instrument and mine never clogs. So I guess it might be the material or like you wrote, some sandpaper might fix it.

Interestingly very shortly after I posted I broke the whistle trying to get the barrel pieces apart for sanding. I wrote to Mr. Lindsay, the developer, and he responded that it was common that different printers would produce slightly different results, and that sanding the tenons to get a proper fit first was advisable. My neighbor has another one on the way and so I'll try that. I'lll also try smoothing the windway.

It's a very interesting technology.

That is so cool!

It is! My neighbor is printing another one right now, out of a different color material. We'll try sanding it to get a better fit.

It takes about seven hours to do the three barrels, which are the largest components. The machine itself is quiet and can be stopped and will resume right where it left off, so the project can survive a power outage. You can change colors at any point, by subbing in a new reel of the material, which is more or less like fishing line.

My neighbor has used it to make toys for his daughter, knobs for his oven, after the originals broke, and replacement parts for some of the trim panels in his car. He's kind of an inventor. I don't think its an especially high-end machine, as he's a thrifty guy. He built it from a kit

PB+J wrote:It takes about seven hours to do the three barrels, which are the largest components.

Seems to me, since plastic tubes are easy to come by and work with, it would be more practical to print only the whistle head, designing it to fit typical schedule 40 CPVC or PEX pipe.

Tunborough wrote:

PB+J wrote:It takes about seven hours to do the three barrels, which are the largest components.

Seems to me, since plastic tubes are easy to come by and work with, it would be more practical to print only the whistle head, designing it to fit typical schedule 40 CPVC or PEX pipe.

Yes I think that's probably right.

re: the breakage

what about printing it horizontally so that the grain lines are oriented along the axis instead of perpendicularly? This should reduce the tendency to break, at least from the typical forces a whistle experiences. The tradeoff would be a small amount of warpage, and more trimming/sanding the support structure afterwards.

Printing it horizontally I assume would raise issues with how it was attached to the base.

My neighbor printed another one, and at this point I'd say aside from the novelty I'm really unimpressed. It took a lot of sanding to get the parts to fit together--I chucked them in a wood lathe, which made it reasonably fast, but dong it by hand would have taken a loooong time. The material itself is fairly fragile and easily broken. I assume that getting a plan that works to the same tight tolerances across a lot of printers, using different materials, would be nearly impossible. There are obviously big differences in 3d printers, with different resolutions and possible materials. I looked at uploading the Qwistle plans to Shapeways and having them print it, but it would have been close to 100 dollars. There are obviously big differences in 3d printers, with different resolutions and possible materials.

The whistle I have doesn't sound all that good. The second register is painful and coarse sounding The mouthpiece parts don't fit very well and will need sanding and then gluing up with a gap filling glue. My neighbor is a very capable guy with a lot of attention to detail. It might be some issue with calibration of his machine, or the specific materials. But at this point I need to do a good deal of work to get this where i want it and Generation will sell me a whistle with lots of fun surprise eccentricities for 10 bucks.



If I were to continue with this experiment I'd try printing the mouthpiece and fitting it to an existing tube or a tube I drilled myself

For 100 dollar you could just buy the Qwistle v2.0 directly from Donald Lindsay. Mine is pretty nice. The sound is very clear, it doesn't clog, the finish is smooth. It is printed from some type of nylon that is also used to recreate vintage recorders and other wind instruments (at least that's what is says on the homepage). The only "negative" aspect -- it sounds almost too pure, not like a traditional tin whistle. My wife doesn't like it, she thinks it's too shrill in the 2nd octave.

What would you estimate is the cost of materials when 3D printing this at home?

RenaissanceGuy wrote:What would you estimate is the cost of materials when 3D printing this at home?

My neighbor says roughly 5o cents. plus the cost of the machine, which he already had

You should try printing in in ABS then it can be smoothed using Acetone vapors.