3D Plasticaster Build

[andybanks]

I've been waiting to see this all together. Well done!

So what are the big take-aways from this build for the next poor sucker who tries this?

I'm thinking along the lines of:

1. know that finishing on the inside is nearly impossible after it is made, so get the slicer settings as good as you can to get the best finish possible off the printer.
2. joins need to be considered as they will be critical to the finish, small surface areas are hard to keep together
3. consider the weight and how you can balance the guitar overall (I am thinking of including a pocket or 2 in the design to allow for some ballast to be included to offset the neck weight)
4. It is possible that timber from neck to bridge may assist with sustain and playability. It may also assist in reducing the need to shim critical dimensions like the neck joint to get a good action?
5. The sky is the limit in terms of design, but don't forget to consider how comfortable the end result will be for the player.

I see ODD Guitars is using SLS printing and Nylon (which is still out of the home-builder price range) but they do have some cool ideas.



Again, congrats on making it work. It does certainly make for a conversation piece if nothing else. :-)

Andy

[lunaticds]

I've been waiting to see this all together. Well done!

So what are the big take-aways from this build for the next poor sucker who tries this?
SNIP....

Thank you. It's been a journey.
Your list of takeaways is pretty much on point. You really want to know how to nail the slicer (I don't really) and know how to nail your printer down to it's absolute maximum potential or it's just plain hard work. You'd get a lot better finish that would need a lot less effort to tidy up. It'd make the whole thing a lot less daunting and probably more enjoyable.
Timber through the centre is probably not a bad idea. If one was planning to run a trem, it'd be a pretty worthy idea. As it is I added my own support through the back of the cavity from under the bridge to the edge of the section the neck goes to.
Balance-wise, the fact that the centre is solid plastic helps give it some weight.

My shimming was more to do with a crap cheapo neck that had a narrow heel. I've only really shimmed it where it needs to be. I did note though that the screw holes did produce a lot of solid build up at the entry to the holes which was also playing havoc with the neck seating. Getting rid of that helped.

The joins are reasonable except the lower section with the electronics cavity going to the centre. All of the other joins had about as much surface area as you could get. Using a decent 2 part plastic epoxy looks to be key in making these solid. That said, they're hard to marry up perfectly, and some of that is to do with how the slicer will handle extra layers on the outside and how you've oriented the piece.
It's also worth being really mindful too of where you'll need supports. They can be terribly difficult to get out depending on how your slicer behaves. You can't underestimate how much work this adds stripping out heaps of supports. It also burns a lot of filament and the time adds up when you're printing something that can take over a week.

Overall you need to be committed to print something like this - whether you're keen on just printing it to say you've done it (like me), or you're aiming to make something super duper top shelf, it still takes a lot of commitment. No matter how you slice it, it's a long, slow process. Bad things can happen and the print fails - this happened to me on my first section about 1/3rd of the way in - my Octopi server lost the plot. Little things that cost you time, filament and power.

My only other suggestion would be to consider instead of a complex body like this, go for a "solid" body design - one that has outer sections that have a low infill so they're light but solid enough, and a high infill centre to support the bridge and neck. You'll end up with a far more "normal" looking guitar with a lot less surface area to prep and far greater surface for gluing. And if you're gonna do it to a bass, consider fitting metal rods through the centre to add support from the neck to the bridge as filament like PLA isn't quite strong enough.