iReed for Saxophone/Clarinet/Oboe customizer

thingiverse

This customizer crafts a precise model of saxophone/clarinet reed, mirroring its construction. It builds upon the ideas in my previous customizer (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1927038), and expands the capabilities to utilize an extensive range of curvature values for vamp crosscut across each element. Each element is further specified with its height percentage between tip base thickness (0%) and butt thickness (100%). An additional parameter controls how much reed length is covered by vamp. The parameterized model of this customizer can be described as a cone section comprising elements of varying radii raised by tip thickness, intersecting with the cylinder of reed blank. The reed blank is parameterized by: Reed Overall Length; Reed Cylinder Radius - defining curvature at the reed place in contact with ligature; Reed Butt Thickness - specifying maximum thickness of ligature part of the reed; Reed Butt Width - determining ligature reed end desirable width; Reed Butt Width Stability - specifying percent of constant width of reed from butt side calculated from overall length; Reed Side Curvature (Flat, Negative, Positive) - defining form of reed side not belonging to constant width part of reed specified by Reed Butt Width Stability: Flat specifies linear cut of side, Negative specifies concave form of each side, Positive specifies convex form of each side; Reed Tip Width - specifying tip end width; Note that Reed Cylinder Radius and Reed Butt Thickness influence what is the maximum Reed Tip Width makes sense, otherwise tip end exceeds rest part of the tip; Reed Tip Round - defining rounded form of the tip end - which part of Reed Overall Length is rounded with ellipse, or ellipse semiminor axis; Reed Tip Initial Thickness - specifying tip end thickness. It is used as base thickness of vamp, which is added to all elements Reed Vamp Crosscut Rise; Each element specifies two parameters in this model: Reed Vamp Crosscut Rise Element N - defining percent of element edge rise between Reed Tip Initial Thickness (0%) and the level of Reed Butt Thickness (100%). Usually Element 0 has 0% rise; Reed Vamp Crosscut Curvature Element N - defining absolute value for radius of curvature for vamp crosscut at the element edge. Two neighboring elements curvatures define complex surface of the band that crosses vamp. That is it. Happy experiments with this reed engine. Note that I did not test the reed model with default settings. Default settings simply show flexibility of the new customizer engine in defining reed vamp surface. Updates: 05/14/2017 - added two parameters to the model: Reed Butt Width Stability Reed Side Curvature Both may be useful to create model of double reed for Oboe, English Horn, Bass Oboe, Bassoon, and many other, because they require special form of reed side. The double reed can be constructed from two printed reeds created with this customizer and either regular reed staple or modeled reed staple printed on 3D printer. Models I developed and tested with this customizer: Clarinet Bb: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2338906 Tenor Saxophone: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2552007 Alto Saxophone: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2478608 Soprano Saxophone: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2501672 Bariton Saxophone: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2873379 Print Settings: Printer: JGAURORA Z - 605S Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: Layer 0.04-0.1 mm Nozzle 0.4 mm Infill: 100% is must for the printed reed to work Notes: Usually I used ABS for the reeds experiments, but I think about PLA as well since ABS is softer than cane material used for natural (vs. synthetic) reeds. PETG is also successful replacement for ABS. How I Designed This I used OpenSCAD