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(4 votes) 
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Hi All
I know that I've not been around much of late.
M
y recent 'botched' surgery. My rather bad reaction to the general anesthetic. And a bad reaction to the new medication meant to fix the prior two problems mentioned, has made it rarher difficult over the last five weeks for me to play the violin. my fine motor skills have been effected somewhat.
But my GP tells me that it will pass 
HOWEVER, I have still been working on the fiddle in other ways.
I've managed to get my hands on a 3D printer.
And of course the first thing i thought of was 'violin bridges'. So I made a prototype and here it is. I mounted it on one of my cheapy fiddles as i wasn't game enough to fit it on my Raggetti first up just in case there was a major problem.
So here are the pics. A video may follow up soon.
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of 
..... What was I saying???? 
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It worries me that the synthetic material (A lot of 3d stuff is ndone in nylon) might be too soft, especially in a warm climate.
Now if there was a way to 3d print carbon fiber and epoxy!
I've considered looking into laser cut or waterjet cutting the carbon fiber material in sheet form and see if that would work out, it's twice as strong as aluminum and 1/3 the weight. Might be a good choice. Be careful with the synthetic material.
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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cdennyb said
It worries me that the synthetic material (A lot of 3d stuff is ndone in nylon) might be too soft, especially in a warm climate.Now if there was a way to 3d print carbon fiber and epoxy!
I've considered looking into laser cut or waterjet cutting the carbon fiber material in sheet form and see if that would work out, it's twice as strong as aluminum and 1/3 the weight. Might be a good choice. Be careful with the synthetic material.
@cdennyb
Hi Mate
I don't think it's nylon. It's 'very' hard and the temps around here have been reaching 40 degrees C + lately. There is no sign of softening or warping 'Yet'
And the sound is not bad on the cheapy violin. Will be making one for the Raggetti soon.
would like to see anything that you do with the CF in the future.
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of ..... What was I saying????
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Absolutely, I'll keep you in the loop. I was able to do an evaluation and some testing on a "home made" bridge from a guy selling them on the internet a year or so ago and it didn't go too well for him. Here's a copy of the report if you're interested. It's actually quite funny.
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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What a review he got. I don't think I'll give that reviewer one one of my Australian Black Wood bridges LOL
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of ..... What was I saying????
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@Ferret - good to have you back with us again, and hope you get back to actual playing very soon ! Intersting stuff there from both of you - I liked Denny's professional report. Cool - if that "thing-that-called-itself-a-bridge" had put gouges on old Hermano, I would have just been pretty annoyed, if it happened on my Concert - I'd be looking to hire a hit-man!
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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I was very impartial and honest, as that is what he wanted. Of course, after getting that report in the mail, I didn't hear anymore from him. And I saw that the product was removed pending some modifications to production. LoL. He had quite a following on The Violinist forum, and much of it was down right mean.
Nothing in there was wrong unfortunately. 
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
Honorary advisor
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Hey Ferret ,
Hope yer doin' better now ...sorry to hear you've been goin' through that ...get well soon ....hospital is no fun and even more no fun when ya have to go back again ...meds , chemical cocktails are another issue as well ...hard to play when yer feet arn't on the ground ...lol
Feel better soon ....
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Thanks Tucs @Tucson1
will get over it
Btw..... I bought one of those 'horse bows' , nice. Have ordered some hand made arrows
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of ..... What was I saying????
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Hey , that's great ...horse bow is fun ...get to use a parting shot ...how 'bout a pic in the break room ?
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I think the 3D printed bridge is a darned interesting experiment, Ferret. Does the material allow for fine tuning the printed bridge a bit with a file or knife, like a trad wooden one?
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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DanielB said
I think the 3D printed bridge is a darned interesting experiment, Ferret. Does the material allow for fine tuning the printed bridge a bit with a file or knife, like a trad wooden one?
@DanielB
Hi Dan
Yes mate. Quite easy to fine tune. It's 'workability' is very similar to wood.
And if you have a bridge that is already fitted up for a violin the way you like it, you can make an exact copy needing very little clean up. Or you can copy a blank and shape it from scratch.
i'll will be making a few. Can do different colours as well.
Will try to do a video soon so that you can hear how it sounds. Myself, I reckon that it sounds quite good.
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of ..... What was I saying????
Hi Ferret, glad to see you back again after your circumcision surgery,,,oh wait,,,was that the one that they messed up on?? Oh wow,,Not good hearin a doc say oops on that one..I oughta delete this,,how do you delete this??/,,,I sure don't want ya gettin excited over this post after that surgery,,,how do I delete this,,,HELLLLLPPPP.
The bridge is way cool.
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@MrYikes
LOL. Not a problem mate. I had 'that' kind of surgery way before I can remember. All went well with that.
It's the cancer aftermath that is the bummer
Will be making a few more of the bridges. I reckon that it has actually made the 'cheapie' fiddle sound better 
They're really cheap to make.
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of ..... What was I saying????
Yeah, but think of all the pretty nurses you have been able to meet. See, you're a lucky man.
About your bridges: Making corrective bridges for people could be a good thing for you. Lots of violins have dimples and depressions that need special feet. This is fascinating.
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Very very cool project John.
Looking forward to hearing about those "effects" going away soon for you. 2015 to me says.. "ENOUGH ALREADY" with my buds and the health stuff.
I am glad you have other violin projects.
Three cheers for feeling better as soon as possible.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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cdennyb said
It worries me that the synthetic material (A lot of 3d stuff is ndone in nylon) might be too soft, especially in a warm climate.
@cdennyb
Dennis
Sorry to be slow on following up on this point mate
The plastic is on to the many types of PLA plastics. Very hard, with a melting point of 190 degrees C. (That is rather warm )
We could use ABS which I am told is even harder with a melt point of 240 degrees C
We made a second bridge last night for my much loved Raggetti. I fitted it this morning and it sounds good to me.
The only down side to the fitting was that I broke a D string. As I was tuning I was looking at some wear and tear on it and was thinking, "This is going to break." And it did. 
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of ..... What was I saying????
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Since it can be trimmed/sanded to fine tune it, and the material is hard enough to be durable for at least a reasonable number of years, I think you may be on to something, Ferret.
Sure, maybe it won't have exactly the characteristics of hard maple. But it could be a consistent quality/characteristic place to start from. Or not a bad alternative if someone doesn't live right next door to a shop where they can just go and buy a new bridge if something bad happens to their current one.
The 3D printed bridges could also be a reasonable "baseline" for comparison while looking for a more traditional material bridge that sounds better.
Since they can be trimmed to fine-tune and fit them, I don't see any reason what they couldn't at least sound fairly good and work pretty well. As good as aged maple? Well, we don't know at this point. Who knows? The 3D printed ones might be even better in some cases.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Cool guys. I like it. One question one could ask is why carbon fiber violins have wooden bridges when the options are so vast with composite. One could use nylon strings and that would make it completely waterproof. I guess the metal windings are not really a problem anyway when it comes to stings.
I'd be interested in a great carbon fiber/plastic option for when we move onto a boat permanently later.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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@Fiddlerman
Pierre
I'd be happy to send you a couple to try if you like.
I like the sound of my Raggetti with its new one on.
You won't have to do much more than redress the feet to suit your fiddle
Just PM me an address to send to.
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of ..... What was I saying????
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