3D Printed Bobbins

[pilotingPete]

Hi All,

I 3D printed some pickup bobbins the other day. I have yet to wind them with wire, but I'm kind of geeked about 3D printing right now. I'm really interested to see how technologies mesh to meet a goal.

Anyway, thought you might be interested to see. You can download the *.stl files from thingiverse for free if you want to print some of your own too. A link to the *.stl's is in the blog post below.

3D Printing a Strat Pickup Bobbin | Whirly Pup

[Mark Hammer]

As for the potential for wire snags resulting from imperfect surfaces, I wonder how one would address this. Is there a suitable form of tumbling one might adopt? Or is this one of those close-attention-and-maximum-prayer situations?

[jack briggs]

As for the potential for wire snags resulting from imperfect surfaces, I wonder how one would address this. Is there a suitable form of tumbling one might adopt? Or is this one of those close-attention-and-maximum-prayer situations?

sandpaper?

[Mark Hammer]

Maybe. I've tried sandpaper on some older Japanese plastic bobbins, and they don't sand smooth like Fender-type flatwork or even HB bobbins. They tend to fray, even with finer grain emery paper.

That's one of the things about 3D printers: you don't have infinite choice of printing materials, and are restricted to whatever melts in your print-head.

[pilotingPete]

As for the potential for wire snags resulting from imperfect surfaces, I wonder how one would address this. Is there a suitable form of tumbling one might adopt? Or is this one of those close-attention-and-maximum-prayer situations?

Typically I smooth out prints with small needle files, scrapers, and sand paper. That would work perfectly well here. My main reason for avoiding it all together is a labor stand point.

There are different 3D printers that would make this problem moot. For instance, light cured resin, or the laser and powder type. It is just with the "cheap" FDM printers you need the support structure for overhangs greater than 90 degrees.

[David Schwab]

a friend of mine 3D printed a few Gibson style humbuckers and had me wind them up.

Here's the unwound humbucker after he did a test assembly for fit. The bobbins are one piece, i.e., not a top and bottom.

They needed a little sanding on the edges.

[potatofarmer]

If you're using ABS, acetone vapor has shown promise in smoothing 3D-printed surfaces: Slick Trick Adds Much-Needed Shine to 3-D Printed Parts | Design | WIRED

Haven't gotten into it myself but I remember this from a year and a half ago.

[pilotingPete]

a friend of mine 3D printed a few Gibson style humbuckers and had me wind them up.

Here's the unwound humbucker after he did a test assembly for fit. The bobbins are one piece, i.e., not a top and bottom.

They needed a little sanding on the edges.

Nice work there, David! Your friend made some nice prints too! I wonder if he will be sharing the *.stl files? I put mine up on thingiverse here Electric Guitar Pickup by pilotingpete - Thingiverse

I still haven't wound mine, but I'm looking forward to winding them up. I think I am going to postpone that until my new winder is complete, kind of like a maiden voyage type thing. Hopefully, that won't be too much longer, I have a class this weekend to learn how to use a laser cutter for cutting out the case of my winder.

It's definitely cool seeing new tech and 3D printing in lutherie!

[David Schwab]

Nice work there, David! Your friend made some nice prints too! I wonder if he will be sharing the *.stl files? I put mine up on thingiverse here Electric Guitar Pickup by pilotingpete - Thingiverse

I still haven't wound mine, but I'm looking forward to winding them up. I think I am going to postpone that until my new winder is complete, kind of like a maiden voyage type thing. Hopefully, that won't be too much longer, I have a class this weekend to learn how to use a laser cutter for cutting out the case of my winder.

It's definitely cool seeing new tech and 3D printing in lutherie!

He might have posted them. I seem to remember him saying that. I'll ask. He printed out four sets of pickups, and I wound them up. I didn't hear them yet, but he liked them.

Back in 2007 he printed me some flatwork for a set of pickups: