I use my FDM printer for tons of guitar related templates and things. Its great for things like custom sanding blocks, router jigs, and I even made several radius blocks that work awesome.
My son made new handle for his rice cooker, using a 3D printer. The only thing is that the rice cooker now has one black handle and one red handle. That said, I'm impressed!
for me, a guitar builder as well, 3d printing products don't look exactly like the factory-made products, they have the layer lines that require way too much time sanding to make them look equally good and smooth and it just bothers me (I have a fdm printer, I'm not using resin). but it's great for prototyping and also for making jigs, one of my first jigs I made was a hole guide jig for a multiscale instrument that had individual baseplates per string, super useful. tool holders, drawer organization, parts for a pickup winder I made, all of that is just super useful, but personally I haven't find as much success into actually printing guitar parts. now I have a simple CNC running and I'm designing a guitar that I can easily swap pickups for pickup testing porpuses, 3d printing really expand your way of manufacturing. but it's very expensive in money and specially time investment as you mentioned it, FDM printing is way cheaper for porototyping.
You could always print some kind of bracket or brace needed in your workflow of building guitars. This would be something that you currently have but could be tweaked to improve a process. Of course- only you would know what that would be.
I've been looking at ways to improve my guitar building process. 3D printing was one thing that came to mind. But I was unsure how useful they could be (unless you're talking about 3D metal printing of custom bridges and such). This video has been most helpful. Thanks for sharing your insights!
Well said. Generally, if you can buy a part then buy it. I've got both filament and resin printers. 3D printing is best for anything custom or low volume. Resin is capable of amazing resolution, but it's a bit of a chemistry project and you need gloves etc. FDM is great for larger parts that don't need crazy detail. I find it simpler for bigger, functional things. It's great for prototyping all kinds of ideas. For inventors and creators I think 3D printing is fantastic. I had no idea that I'd find a reason to print hundreds of things over time when I first decided to experiment with one.
I agree, they are best suited for one off or custom parts and prototyping. I have a filament printer and I find I use it quite a bit for doodads around my shop.
I use my FDM for making headstock templates and cavity templates and its great for that. Then I just transfer to mdf so I dont have to worry about melting my template
I would suggest you try and print pickup covers using the new wood fiber filaments (you can spray the inside with conductive paint if you need the shielding), i have a model boat hull printed with this material and it can be sanded and clear coated and can look very unique and high end.
If we can get to point where we can 3D print metal as easily and cost effective as plastic then I expect it to be more useful for guitars. The ability to make a unique custom bridge would really open up some creative pathways in the guitar building process.
Looking forward to see what you come up with for the 3d printer, I use one for model car and aircraft making and never thought of using it in any other way, so I'm really curious, cool video
I've gotten some 3-d printed bobbins from a buddy of mine and they work and look great -- the custom color options are a nice touch. Obviously, there would be certain things that it might not be cost-effective to make yourself, but I think it's definitely worth tinkering with for some of the things you mentioned -- custom bobbin colors or spacings, knobs, custom truss rod covers, cavity covers, jack plates, etc. -- tons of potential for customization there! (Maybe custom inlays? Might be too small/delicate, so not sure) Any chance some of your 3-d models/designs may make their way to the eguitarplans site? I bet there's a whole community of DIYer guitarists with 3-d printers. Also, it might be cool to include 3-d models of things like the cam you used for the DIY guitar pickup winder traversal mechanism -- heck, you could probably print most of what you'd need for a decent winder minus the motor and a few other small electronics
Hi there i new to your channel but I make 3d printed guitars as a hobbies so far i design it i got my local music shop to set it up and would love your input on it, trust me might be fun see what 3d printers can do. If you interest pls reply and thank you.
I guess it depends a lot on the uniqueness of the parts you are developing/printing. If you're just going for casual parts/geometries, it's not worth the effort since injection molded parts are so cheap. The surface quality of the parts is also an important factor. Injection molded parts have an excellent surface finish. Resin printers are considerably better at that than filament printers, but are they good enough? I am very curious.
Resin printers can do jewelry levels of detail. I've printed keycaps and gears that are perfect. You can definitely do ABS-like items, but you probably won't get a custom color without painting it. My mind was blown when I bought one (4k). That said, there is some experimentation needed to get the exposure right and learn how to support a model so it prints properly.
You can consider speeding things up by creating a silicon mold from a custom printed knob design for example. You can use colored epoxy to pour and make your custom parts in the mold. Just a thought.
Of course. U need to figure out a humbucker ring that fits a p90 in it so u can get a p90 in a humbucker guitar as direct drop in and no routing of the pickup cavity. I've seen them in a les Paul before and that would be insane. You'd make a killing and people could get a p90 in a humbucker guitar...it's genius!!!
There a lots of companies that make humbucker size P90s. They are similar but not exactly the same because the dimensions need to be different. You can't fit an actual P90 in a humbucker cavity because they are significantly wider than a humbucker.
Can pickup voices be tailored/altered with miniature transformers and such? Alumitones use something like one but I wouldn’t want amplification but profile nudging.
Realistically 3D prints are just too fragile, and they take too much time to be a good production option. What one could do though, is print say 10 rings, and the cast them into a mold, then use a more robust resin epoxy to make the parts. Maybe Chris could print you some up, sell ten of them, doubling his prediction, and you could mold them and sell them. You both win.
@@larryjeffryes6168 Sure. The tone control on a guitar uses a variable resistor and capacitor to make a passive low pass filter. You can similarly make a passive high pass filter to cut back on the low end. Lots of websites out there that explain passive filters.
Your videos are extremely inspiring! One of the finest in your craft I’ve ever seen. Thank you for taking the time with ALL of your videos.
You are so welcome!
I use my FDM printer for tons of guitar related templates and things. Its great for things like custom sanding blocks, router jigs, and I even made several radius blocks that work awesome.
My son made new handle for his rice cooker, using a 3D printer. The only thing is that the rice cooker now has one black handle and one red handle. That said, I'm impressed!
for me, a guitar builder as well, 3d printing products don't look exactly like the factory-made products, they have the layer lines that require way too much time sanding to make them look equally good and smooth and it just bothers me (I have a fdm printer, I'm not using resin).
but it's great for prototyping and also for making jigs, one of my first jigs I made was a hole guide jig for a multiscale instrument that had individual baseplates per string, super useful.
tool holders, drawer organization, parts for a pickup winder I made, all of that is just super useful, but personally I haven't find as much success into actually printing guitar parts.
now I have a simple CNC running and I'm designing a guitar that I can easily swap pickups for pickup testing porpuses, 3d printing really expand your way of manufacturing.
but it's very expensive in money and specially time investment as you mentioned it, FDM printing is way cheaper for porototyping.
First thing I did for my Bass with my Resin 3D Printer, was a thumbrest that doubles as a pick holder 😄
That's a great idea!
You could always print some kind of bracket or brace needed in your workflow of building guitars. This would be something that you currently have but could be tweaked to improve a process. Of course- only you would know what that would be.
I've been looking at ways to improve my guitar building process. 3D printing was one thing that came to mind. But I was unsure how useful they could be (unless you're talking about 3D metal printing of custom bridges and such). This video has been most helpful. Thanks for sharing your insights!
Well said. Generally, if you can buy a part then buy it. I've got both filament and resin printers. 3D printing is best for anything custom or low volume. Resin is capable of amazing resolution, but it's a bit of a chemistry project and you need gloves etc. FDM is great for larger parts that don't need crazy detail. I find it simpler for bigger, functional things. It's great for prototyping all kinds of ideas. For inventors and creators I think 3D printing is fantastic. I had no idea that I'd find a reason to print hundreds of things over time when I first decided to experiment with one.
Just printed pickuprings for P90s 😊
I agree, they are best suited for one off or custom parts and prototyping. I have a filament printer and I find I use it quite a bit for doodads around my shop.
I use my FDM for making headstock templates and cavity templates and its great for that. Then I just transfer to mdf so I dont have to worry about melting my template
Standard parts, no. Not cost/time effective or necessary. But custom parts?…. That is something worth keeping the printer around.
I know nothing about 3d printing, so this was good.
I would suggest you try and print pickup covers using the new wood fiber filaments (you can spray the inside with conductive paint if you need the shielding), i have a model boat hull printed with this material and it can be sanded and clear coated and can look very unique and high end.
I have a resin printer.
I 3D print custom guitar parts on my FDM printer all the time which cost mere pennies in comparing what I would pay for something custom made.
If we can get to point where we can 3D print metal as easily and cost effective as plastic then I expect it to be more useful for guitars. The ability to make a unique custom bridge would really open up some creative pathways in the guitar building process.
I’d use 3D printing for lost positive, clamshell or silicone mold making. Otherwise throughput is unacceptable.
I wanna 3D print the body and neck lol it's just hard to find a suitable material
I think it’s also worth to have a filament printer to use it to print bigger parts, to make your own tools.
Looking forward to see what you come up with for the 3d printer, I use one for model car and aircraft making and never thought of using it in any other way, so I'm really curious, cool video
I would use. Pet water bottle filaments and print them. U have unlimited plastic bottle source that costs nada
I have a question. Would a filament printer make parts with the same quality as a resin printer, or should I forget filament printers all along?
I've gotten some 3-d printed bobbins from a buddy of mine and they work and look great -- the custom color options are a nice touch.
Obviously, there would be certain things that it might not be cost-effective to make yourself, but I think it's definitely worth tinkering with for some of the things you mentioned -- custom bobbin colors or spacings, knobs, custom truss rod covers, cavity covers, jack plates, etc. -- tons of potential for customization there! (Maybe custom inlays? Might be too small/delicate, so not sure)
Any chance some of your 3-d models/designs may make their way to the eguitarplans site? I bet there's a whole community of DIYer guitarists with 3-d printers.
Also, it might be cool to include 3-d models of things like the cam you used for the DIY guitar pickup winder traversal mechanism -- heck, you could probably print most of what you'd need for a decent winder minus the motor and a few other small electronics
Hi there i new to your channel but I make 3d printed guitars as a hobbies so far i design it i got my local music shop to set it up and would love your input on it, trust me might be fun see what 3d printers can do. If you interest pls reply and thank you.
I guess it depends a lot on the uniqueness of the parts you are developing/printing. If you're just going for casual parts/geometries, it's not worth the effort since injection molded parts are so cheap. The surface quality of the parts is also an important factor. Injection molded parts have an excellent surface finish. Resin printers are considerably better at that than filament printers, but are they good enough? I am very curious.
Resin printers can do jewelry levels of detail. I've printed keycaps and gears that are perfect. You can definitely do ABS-like items, but you probably won't get a custom color without painting it. My mind was blown when I bought one (4k). That said, there is some experimentation needed to get the exposure right and learn how to support a model so it prints properly.
You can consider speeding things up by creating a silicon mold from a custom printed knob design for example. You can use colored epoxy to pour and make your custom parts in the mold. Just a thought.
If I was manufacturing, that's exactly what I would do.
Of course. U need to figure out a humbucker ring that fits a p90 in it so u can get a p90 in a humbucker guitar as direct drop in and no routing of the pickup cavity.
I've seen them in a les Paul before and that would be insane.
You'd make a killing and people could get a p90 in a humbucker guitar...it's genius!!!
I doubt I'd sell more than 5 a year.
There a lots of companies that make humbucker size P90s. They are similar but not exactly the same because the dimensions need to be different. You can't fit an actual P90 in a humbucker cavity because they are significantly wider than a humbucker.
Can pickup voices be tailored/altered with miniature transformers and such? Alumitones use something like one but I wouldn’t want amplification but profile nudging.
Realistically 3D prints are just too fragile, and they take too much time to be a good production option. What one could do though, is print say 10 rings, and the cast them into a mold, then use a more robust resin epoxy to make the parts. Maybe Chris could print you some up, sell ten of them, doubling his prediction, and you could mold them and sell them. You both win.
@@larryjeffryes6168 Sure. The tone control on a guitar uses a variable resistor and capacitor to make a passive low pass filter. You can similarly make a passive high pass filter to cut back on the low end. Lots of websites out there that explain passive filters.