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3d Printed Rickenbacker 4003 Bass

#61
BruceWane said:
As @MattZilla said - learn that machine inside and out, then use it and your new, valuable skills to earn extra money doing what 3d printers do well. You could easily have a career that will allow you to buy the stuff you want.

At this stage of technology, 3d printers aren't really the best tool for building complete guitars. However, the skills involved in 3d printing would certainly carry over to CNC routing/machining. CNC is a very, very good tool for making guitars, so if 3d printing is something that interests you, something you have a talent for, get into it, make some money doing 3d printing, then expand into CNC.
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I plan to do that in the future, this one is just me trying to see how far I can rake this.
 
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#62
Gojira72 said:
I plan to do that in the future, this one is just me trying to see how far I can rake this.
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Ah, OK, have fun!

If you need a source for CF components, I've had good service from dragonplate.com - reasonable prices, good quality, quick shipping. Much better selection and pricing than buying CF reinforcements from any of the guitar lutherie suppliers.
 
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#65
Hi there, I didn't read the rest of the thread but I have extensive experience with 3D printing. I have started my own custom fit 3D printing company, and I am currently interviewing as a lead designer at another 3D printing company right now.

For starters, you're going to want to find a printer that can accommodate such a large body size. I'm pretty sure that most SLS 3D printers would do the trick. Another thing to look into is Carbon's 3D printers, although I'm not sure their bed size can accommodate a bass guitar body... You could also look into HP's Multi Jet Fusion technology.

A cheap desktop printer simply will not do the trick. Even assuming you could find one with a large enough bed size for a guitar body, the process they use (FDM- Fused Deposition Molding) is incredibly weak.

The industrial-grade HP Multi-Jet Fusion 3D printers, any SLS 3D printers, and the Carbon 3D printer are all capable of creating high-fidelity, high-durability parts...but you will have to contract the work out. These printers often go for $100,000+, and that's just the starting price. There are plenty of companies that own these expensive 3D printers and print out any of your files for you. I've had very good experiences with Northwest Rapid Manufacturing, based out of Oregon.

There is a company that made guitar bodies using SLS 3D printers (they used nylon for the material). Just search "3d printed guitar" on google images and you'll see a bunch of results. I believe 3D Systems did them....but the necks were still made of wood.

If you want to 3D print the neck (I REALLY don't recommend that), you will need to make sure that the grain of the part is going in the right direction. Just like wood, 3D printed parts also have grain (with the exception of the Carbon 3D printers, which are dimensionally stable in all axes). The neck will be your biggest challenge. I'm not even sure that there are any print beds capable of accommodating a bass guitar neck+headstock...unless you printed it in parts....but that has a lot of structural problems.

I vaguely remember seeing an acoustic 3D printed guitar made from SLS Nylon at a tradeshow. I have no idea if it made it through even just a couple of days beyond the tradeshow.

If you have any questions for me, don't hesitate to ask. I'm sorry if most of what I said was already covered in this thread.
 
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#67
Gojira72 said:
Hell, ive spent nothing on this printer. I already had the filament, the software is free, and I got the printer for free as well
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Fair enough, but maybe come up with something you could make on the printer that you could sell to gain actual cash to buy an actual Ric?
Cute little cable caddies seem to do well as do other small simple items. I see them all over the place claiming to be 3d printed along knife scales, pistol grip panels, and a ton of other items.
 
#68
Gojira72 said:
Sadly the broke part is mostly true.....
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The definition of broke is relevant to your location. I cant imagine a teen with parents working , especially in a rich country in a high tech industry , using an expensive device that consumes plastic by the 100s of $. Even if you have them for free.

But the will to make something for the first time is not :) I like the mentality. In the same mentality i fixed my truss rod almost for free[see link in signature] when all people told me it was silly to even try

There is local saying that goes like "Poverty is inventing new crafts"
 
#69
I think this is awesome! Kudos for working on this! Don't let all of these negative people stop you. If people listened to these types of comments in the past, we would never have new ideas, technologies, etc.

Keep it up!
 
#73
Gilmourisgod said:
Reading through more knowledgeable 3D printer posts, the idea of using a wood through neck blank with just the body wings printed makes a lot more sense. Keisel makes a nice paddle headstock through neck blank. The body wings are glued on real Rics, that seems a lot more do-able.
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This seems to be the way to go. Then again, if you go this far then you might as well buy a couple of slabs of maple as well. :laugh:

With this plank 'blank', OP would have to route for pickups, bridge (if they use the Rickenbacker bridge), wiring channels etc. This quickly becomes a traditional bass build in all but the construction of the wings!

Part of me wants OP to do the whole thing with 3D printing. Various friends and relatives have sent me links to '3D printed guitars', and usually they are just a Les Paul-shaped plastic framework with a very oldschool plank of wood running through the middle. None of the heavy lifting is done using anything new or exciting.

3D-printed_guitars.png
 
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#74
Hardware will be tricky-- 3D printing a bridge and tuners can go one of 2 ways... Also, the dual truss rod will be hard to pull off.

I'd do the body in 3 parts, neck and headstock together, then assemble it all. Good luck!
 
#79
Gojira72 said:
It is very much and experiment of what 3d printing can do
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Then I guess there's no real passion for getting an instrument that will actually be played. Good luck, although it seems like a lesson in futility unless success can breed contempt.

I must admit, I don't understand needing to do something of this magnitude where the relation to actual bass playing is most likely microscopic in it's finality...

Might be fun, I guess... But at my age, I can't spend hours on things that don't offer a return on LOE...
It's hard enough practicing and networking... IMHO.

;)
 

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