Will 3D printers change the face of pickup-making?

[Peter Naglitsch]

The sister company to my day job is already using 3D metal printers to "print" out mechanical spare parts so that they don't need to have old stuff from 30-40 years laying on shelves collecting dust. The finish is impressive right out of the printer. However it's neither desk top size of fitting for an ordinary sized wallet

[Mark Hammer]

That was precisely one of the main points made repeatedly in that issue of MAKE: that it could make production of one-off or infrequently-ordered parts possible.

One guy had a story of a friend's older car that needed a now-unobtainable window handle. They had the broken one, did some scanning, and printed off a new one.

Here I'm thinking of some of the pics we've seen here, over the years, involving broken bobbins from long out-of-production pickups. Glue the pieces together, scan it (and 3D scanning is the counterpart of 3d printing), digitally edit it for a better printout, and print it so it's one piece instead of several and some glue.

[David King]

Besides glue we might also look into ultrasonic welding which has been around forever. I see the welders popping up on ebay.
Sonics Hand Held Ultrasonic Welder - YouTube

[jonson]

Kind words indeed and thank you David but no I don't intend to pop my cloggs if I can help it just yet. I know I'm slowing down and each winter I feel it more and what I use to do all night now takes all night to do but I will try and stay. When I go I will keep my eye on you all but the thought of seeing Spence "as much as I love the boy" in a field with one back leg of a sheep in each of his wellington boots worries me as much as it worries the sheep. Forget that though and think that laser time and print time and all cnc stuff need not be as expensive as normaly quoted. Do your own program or scanning and your own dxf drawings because that's where all the money goes and then get your quotes and it's alot cheaper than you think.

[Spence]

[Spudmurphy]

I saw these "in the flesh" - I was astonished!! Great finish too!!

[Spence]

Welcome Spud. Nice to see you here.

[Spudmurphy]

Thank you very much Spence. I don't think I can contribute much to the pickup side of things but I'll pop by in a while (When I'm not on the Ernie Ball forum that is)
I was amazed by those 3 d bobbins -awesome finish on them too.

[dougsnash]

I have a Makerbot Thing-O-Matic that I am using to build the plastic parts of my pickup winder. Just like any new technological hobby, the 3D printer has a fairly steep learning curve so don't expect it to be plug and play. I have not yet tried to make any pickup bobbins but I see no reason I would not be able too. Due to the limitations of my machine, however, I would have to build bobbins is sections and glue them together but a they wouldn't be that hard to make.

As for the plastic, there are several different types. My machine uses ABS which results in a "Lego" kind of plastic. The end product of my 3D printer is not smooth but can be finished to a polished surface with a bit of work (sandpaper and acetone). The big limitations I face with my machine are the maximum size of my build platform and the inability to make overhanging parts. My machine is two generations old and newer machines are much bigger and supposedly easier to use. There are options for dual color printing which could allow for water soluble support structure like the pro machines but I can't do that sort of thing with my older model.

If you are interested in 3D printing at home, check out Home (I am a satisfied customer not affiliated with the company). The supposedly consumer models are still going to cost well over $1000.00 but they are an interesting piece of engineering. I don't think we are quite to the point of everyone having a "Star Trek Replicator" in their home but 3D printing has some potential.

[verhoevenc]

If you look at the recommended accessories for that flash forge printer cited earlier, it's all ABS plastic. Which is actually the kind of plastic used for tons of guitar applications. That said, I believe ABS is known to shrink... U over years, not days.

I REALLY like the idea of befriending someone with a 3D printer, having them pump out a couple non-standard bobbins and then just buy a home moulding kit, make a master, and be set for life! Would open up experimenting with ideas like near field humbuckers to more people.
Chris