Clarinet reed  

RE: Clarinet reed

Intersting.  I wonder if the sound changes with infill%

RE: Clarinet reed

@cwbullet

That is an interesting thought, I have been using 100%, looking in the slicer only a small area in the thick part of the reed would have any infill.

I certainly don't play well enough to tell if any slight difference in tone would be due to the reed or my technique, so wouldn't be able to really test it.

It took some work adjusting the first layer settings to get a PLA reed to come out the same as the PETG ones, and there is a big difference in tone, low notes take more effort and higher ones sound better.  A cane reed still sounds better for the high notes, so I think it's still too soft, scraping them along my fingerprints the cane reeds ring at a higher pitch, PLA next, and PETG is the lowest.  If I can capture the sound well enough I may do a quick video of that.

RE: Clarinet reed

There is a real difference to the timbre of woodwind when the whole instrument is printed with differing fill percentages.  A couple of years ago I produced a set of recorders at 100% - they played at least as well as cheap commercial plastic models. At any lower fill level they lost all resonance and played 'dead.'

I very rarely use high fill percentages so for me they are exceptional prints.

I have made plenty of 'yoghurt pot' reeds for double reed instruments; shawms, bagpipes, cornamuses; for the gentle, domestic type performance they work well but for brilliance of tone cane or spindle-wood are far better.

I haven't printed any reeds, so this thread is of interest.

My instinct would be to align the printing direction with the lay of the reed for as many layers as possible so the stiffness of the extruded, stretched, polymer molecules contribute as much as possible to the overall response.

And this might be a case where carbon-fibre filled filament would score.

Cheerio,

RE: Clarinet reed

Interesting.  I will follow the thread.  I don't have much musical talent, but the concept of printing an instrument is fascinating.  

RE: Clarinet reed

Wordfence sure has made this site a pain to use...  Using the embed video button sets it off but posting a link still seems to work....

Video of the ringing sound the PLA and PETG reeds make:

RE: Clarinet reed

@martya

On the basis that the instrument can only resonate to the frequencies generated by the reed you need as much stiffness, as much high pitch response as possible. {For non musicians: not just for the high notes but also for the high frequency components of the complex waveform that gives the instrument its characteristic sound.}

Post processing might give some interesting results.

I would try printing PLA slightly heavy and then fining and finishing by wet sanding.

Also impregnating the print with hard glue or resin to tighten the response - but this will also add weight and slow the natural frequency so it may be a balancing act.

Cheerio,

RE: Clarinet reed

Try PC blend.  It tends to be very stiff.  

RE: Clarinet reed

Perhaps a vaporsmoothed asa/abs would do? Tho not as stiff as other materials.

You should get a perfectly smooth outside, wihch could be further wetsanded to shape?

RE: Clarinet reed

Vapor smoothing would probably mess up the flat bottom, it's critical that the bottom of a reed is smooth and flat.  It must be an air tight fit to the mouthpiece.  And if PLA is not quite stiff enough ABS won't do.  Also I don't think I'd want to put printed ABS in my mouth.

PC blend might be a good candidate, but don't think I'd want to put that in my mouth either because of the ASA.  If I ever get some I may try it just for a short test.

Things I may try are slightly thicker versions of PLA and PETG, or much thicker version and sand them down on a drum sander...

I could try quenching, that would increase hardness but don't know if it works with PETG or PLA.  I've don't lab tests on pure PET and know it can be quenched.  It would be tricky to do without it losing it's shape, usually you quench by melting and rapid cooling, not sure if it does anything to go from "soft" to cold.  I could try one of the PETG reeds heated on an aluminum plate in the oven at maybe 200°C then dump it into cold water and see if it does anything.

RE: Clarinet reed

Just realized the level of flatness needed on the bottom of the reed rules out any quenching or annealing, no way it would stay air tight levels of flatness unless it could be pressed down onto a flat plate somehow.  The smallest amount of warp would ruin the reed.

But I think I will try raising the build plate temperature to the glass transition temp during a print and when the print is done take the build plate off and put it in the freezer.