If you don’t know what I’m talking about – you probably don’t need them. This is a pretty niche project – even for me.

I was introduced to renowned Hurdy Gurdy maker, Neil Brook – as I needed a skilled (and patient) luthier to do some light restorative works to a battered 1970’s Yamaha acoustic guitar I inherited from a sadly deceased friend.

In conversation, we arrived at the subject of digital design and 3D printing – an area he had explored before in regards to the manufacture of highly accurate and repeatable tangents – however it hadn’t been possible at the time.

Skipping to the point…

I modelled a protoype in Autodesk Fusion, to Neil’s wooden pattern – and 3D printed it as a test – to see if I could meet the tolerances required (pretty bloody tight – couple of thou out and we’re filling the scrap bin).

Prototype approved in principle, meeting the demanding tolerances – we moved on to material selection. Common plastics suitable for 3D printing are PLA, PETG and ABS – all have their own respective advantages and disadvantages. After some trial and error – and a few more prototypes – we settled on PETG (Polyethylene Terephthalate with Glycol) but with strands of carbon fiber laced into the filament – this adds a level of stiffness and abrasion resistance that is quite suited to the application.

I have now found someone to produce these for me – and I hold a limited stock. They are available on order from me at josh@dureng.co.uk for £25 for a full set (30 long, 30 short – 18mm, 10mm) – worldwide postage is available.

Now this little side project is ‘finished’ – I can start working on something else from the pile of future projects. It was an interesting challenge to take a product from design, to prototype, to manufacture, and then to outsource the ‘production’ runs out to a third party – there are options available in the future for injection moulding but the costs to have the moulds milled from aluminium are fairly high for an entry point.

I do still have some limited capacity for general design and engineering projects, so please do get in touch if you have a problem that needs solving.

Please find a link to Neil’s write up here.