3D printer produces a flute
JAN 21, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.024990
New Scientist : Although three-dimensional printers have already succeeded in making plastic replicas of almost anything, from an insect’s wing to copies of their own parts, now a team from the MIT Media Lab has used one to re-create the intricate design of a flute, writes Sandrine Ceurstemont for New Scientist. Amit Zoran and colleagues made a digital model based on a metal flute, which was then sent to a 3D printer. The printer constructed the flute in four parts over 15 hours, using three different plastic composites. The goal was not to create a flute superior to the metal one, but rather to produce one that’s acoustically and ergonomically similar. When tested by a flautist, the plastic flute was given the thumbs up for sound.
© 2011 American Institute of Physics
