3d art drawing of a violin

To celebrate the release of a new formulation of our White Resin, Formlabs engineer Brian Chan challenged himself to create a fully-functional audio-visual violin, using a 3D printer.

Nosotros partnered with violinist Rhett Toll to debut the violin in a new video, featuring an original song composed past Rhett and recorded on the 3D-printed violin.

"It was an amazing opportunity to work with Brian and Formlabs on this project, and take the chance to perform on such a modernistic spin of an instrument I've been playing for 23 years," Rhett said. "The audio quality of the violin Brian engineered was unbelievable, and the technology is admittedly incredible."

Read on to get an within look at Brian'south pattern process, including downloadable .STL files of the violin, and watch the video to run into and hear the violin in activeness.


See and hear the violin in action in our new featuring an original vocal past Rhett Price

Formlabs Engineer Brian Chan on Modernizing an Icon

The violin's course is very recognizable. It's been around for centuries, and has barely changed in design. Violin music has evolved to such a high level that the instrument has attained an almost legendary condition in our culture.

The difficulty of designing an acoustic instrument is that it needs to audio accurate, without the help of amps, filters, and other things yous can utilise for an electrical instrument. For a violin, the entire body of the instrument contributes to the sound, so the geometry, internal structure, and cloth properties all come into play.

A few years ago I built a traditional wooden, manus-carved violin based on tracings of a Guarnerius in a book from 1884, Violin Making, Every bit Information technology Was and Is past Edward Heron Allen. This twelvemonth, I tried to do the same with modernistic blueprint tools and 3D printing.

Brian Chan's violin design

Traditional Violin Beefcake

The violin has evolved into an organic shape that is closely tied to its function. The neck supports the iv strings, which stretch over a bridge pressing onto the hollow body. In the heart of the body, there is a waist to permit full movement of the bow.

The front end confront of the violin is traditionally fabricated from bandbox, which is flexible and calorie-free in weight and so that it tin vibrate responsively. Some of the force of the strings (and some of the lower frequency vibration) is transmitted to the maple back of the instrument via the sound post—a spruce rod that is friction-fit in between the front and dorsum plates. Along the inside of the front face is the bass bar, a strip of woods that reinforces the front end and helps transmit the vibrations to the whole surface.

I wanted to design a 3D-printed violin to have the same internal structure: a hollow shell with the soundpost near one side of the bridge, and a strengthening bar of fabric along the inside of the forepart. Later, I would experiment with the dimensions of these diverse elements, but it was of import to become the nuts correct.

Modeling a Violin in CAD

Modeling in Onshape

A violin is difficult to draw on paper and fifty-fifty harder to draw on a estimator. The most notable features of a violin's geometry are the front and back plates and the scroll.

Brian Chan's violin sketch

What helped me effigy out how to model the front end and back faces was a doodle I sketched years ago (redrawn here with more detail) of how to ascertain the torso of a violin. Many computer programs create surfaces as a sort of warped cartesian plane. Because these surfaces are based on a grid, they can accept upwards to iv natural singularities, which would correspond to the four corners of a rectangular grid.

Brian Chan's violin design
A loft of the front of the violin in Onshape, showing cross-sections (outlined in orange) and guide curves.

Luckily, the violin body has four corners, while the balance of the boundaries are smooth. In Onshape, I was able to define this shape as a loft, with corners of the cantankerous-sections located at the corners of the violin. To constrain the loft to the right shape, I used the C-shaped outlines and the centerline profile as guides. These cross-sections and guides are based on actual outlines of a Stradivarius violin, which can exist found in the same volume I used to construct the traditional Guarnerius violin.

Brian Chan's violin design
Basic loft of the violin scroll in Onshape, with a side view (in orange) and surface lines (in black) showing the local orientation of the spiraling side faces. The side view and all the surface lines are individual sketch features which tin be modified to change the overall shape of the curlicue.

The scroll is another iconic piece of the violin that I was able to define using a well-placed loft. The cantankerous-sections were continued past a 3D screw-like guide that went along the edge of the scroll; I later on added chamfered edges and fluting to match the fashion of a traditional coil.

Brian Chan's violin

The Violin Prototyping Process

I originally wanted to create 1 3D-printed violin, simply to bear witness that it worked. Indeed, the first i worked for a while, simply equally we tested the prototypes, it became clear that numerous improvements would be necessary. By the fourth dimension we shot the video with Rhett, I had built 5 different 3D-printed violins.

I printed the violin using the Class 2 and Formlabs' White, Blackness, and Tough Resins. Stereolithography made sense for this project because the violin needed to be strong enough to withstand several different directional forces, and SLA parts are isotropic, meaning that they are every bit strong in every direction. Too, the complex geometry of the musical instrument demanded tight tolerances for both small and large features, which the Form 2 was able to impress consistently.

Printing on the Form 2

See what you can create with a Form 2

Explore the materials to observe the one that fits your needs.

Asking a Gratis Sample

Version 1
Thick panels, no reinforcement

The first violin played well, but the sound was noticeably muted in comparison to a traditional violin. Additionally, over time, parts of the violin warped under the strength of the strings. After a month, the trunk was and then curved that the strings were touching the fingerboard and it could no longer be played. This warpage was a combination of the creep of plastic nether high stress (there's virtually 10kg pressing down through the feet of the bridge) and not enough post-curing of the parts.

Meanwhile, even though the fingerboard was reinforced past iv brass rods, it was not rigid enough, and I had modeled in some bullheaded holes from which I could non articulate all the resin later on printing. The isopropyl alcohol and resin caused these areas to swell and crack over fourth dimension. Considering everything was glued together at this indicate, large upgrades were not really possible, so I retired the first violin.

Printing and assembling the scroll

Version ii
Spiral-on cervix and fingerboard, thick panels, carbon fiber reinforcement on body and fingerboard overhang

After the warping of the first violin made information technology unplayable, I designed a new version with carbon fiber struts running forth the within. I also fabricated the neck/scroll assembly detachable, as well as the fingerboard. This allowed me to easily replace 1 of the components if it broke or needed a re-design. I post-cured all of the parts much more thoroughly to reduce the amount of warping. These changes resulted in a much more stable construction, but over time, function of the cervix warped nether the tension of the strings. Information technology was clear that more carbon cobweb struts were needed to stiffen the neck, as I did with the torso.

Several musicians who tested the violin mentioned that it was too heavy and non loud enough. I considered making changes to the design that would solve these 2 problems too.

Assembling the violin

Version three
Spiral-on neck and fingerboard, sparse panels, carbon fiber reinforcement on body, fingerboard, and neck

The main departure in this version was that the front end face was much thinner (1.seven mm, a reduction of most one-half from the original 2.7 mm). Thinning the face resulted in a much louder sound, since the strings don't have and then much mass to vibrate. I also reinforced the neck with 2 bars of carbon cobweb and hollowed out much of the cervix and scroll to make the instrument lighter. A few trials with musicians confirmed that the instrument sounded much meliorate, and wasn't such a strain to concord while playing.

Brian Chan's violin design
Exploded view of the violin, showing all 26 3D-printed parts (strings and other off-the-shelf hardware omitted).

This third and final (for now!) violin consists of 26 3D-printed parts that tin can be printed in just 4 or five overnight prints on a Class 2. All of the additional hardware, like strings, screws, and carbon fiber rods are easily obtained (more information on Pinshape).

"Once the pattern was finalized and I brought the violin home to write and record the track, I was extremely surprised by the sound," Rhett said. "This entire project has completely challenged my perspective on what can be successfully created with a 3D printer, and it's exciting and inspiring to see things like this in my lifetime, and to exist involved in the process of creating information technology!"

Rhett Price playing Formlabs' 3D-printed violin
Violinist Rhett Price plays Formlabs engineer Brian Chan's 3D-printed violin. Visit Rhett's Facebook page to hear more of his music.

Create Your Ain 3D-Printed Violin

When a valuable object is crafted, one tends to focus on the finished product, and treat it as a sanctified object every bit presently as it leaves the creator's hands.

When information technology comes to a project like this one, created with the aid of cutting-edge design tools and 3D printing, the virtually of import "object" is not the concrete violin, only the blueprint itself, which tin (and will) keep to evolve. Now that the background has been laid, we tin can experiment endlessly with different dimensions, materials, and other parameters to run across how they affect the sound and playability.

I hope that other tinkerers will take up this pattern and add their own changes as they see fit. To try it out, download the violin files from Pinshape, along with the original Onshape pattern.

I wait forrard to seeing your versions soon!

Download on Pinshape

cunninghamcumeartand.blogspot.com

Source: https://formlabs.com/blog/designing-a-3d-printed-acoustic-violin/

0 Response to "3d art drawing of a violin"

Post a Comment

Iklan Atas Artikel

Iklan Tengah Artikel 1

Iklan Tengah Artikel 2

Iklan Bawah Artikel