Recent Wired Magazine article on eFabrication

[Chuck(G)]

Mo, who said anything about drawing sheet brass? You simply start out with a solid block of brass that's slightly larger than a tuba and machine away anything that's not a tuba.

[Tom Holtz]

You simply start out with a solid block of brass that's slightly larger than a tuba and machine away anything that's not a tuba.

Now, I'm off to find that slab o'brass!

Or maybe titanium...

Or maybe chocolate... A chocolate tuba...

How about balsa wood for the airport-bound tuba player?

"I'd like a MW 2155 carved out of a block of frozen chicken, please..."

[Rick Denney]

I mused at the horizon of possibilities of photographing, rendering, and morphing current models into virtual form, emailing them on to a shop with 3D-capable drill, and receiving back within days our very own model?

I think you'll find that they make things intended for machine use not for being pretty. You'll have to do the polishing and plating yourself.

And I think you'll find that cadding up a mouthpiece isn't quite as easy as you think, considering how hard it is to measure a hole. You'll make a casting of the inside and measure that up, and it still won't be the same.

But I have downloaded eMachineShop's software some time ago with the intention of cadding up a specially deep recessed lens board for my view camera. It's still on my list.

Rick "intrigued but not yet enough to make it happen" Denney

[evan]

It is an interesting idea. Probably converting a CAD file to something readable by a computerized lathe would involve some $$$ time from the machine shop. I have been tempted to try "printing" a mouthpiece or two using the rapid prototyping machine that I have access to at work:
http://www.objet.co.il/Products/eden330.html.
Unfortunately it is plastic, but I think it would be interesting to vary the cup shape of an MPC, while maintaining cup volume, and see what happens. (i.e. conic -> bowl -> something weird)

It might also be interesting to draw up a mouthpiece and submit it for their "Instant Pricing" and see how much it costs -- maybe that titanium piece would be affordable! Personally, I'm going to hold out for depleted uranium.

-Evan

[Chuck(G)]

Stereolith has been suggested for prototyping mouthpieces here, but the result is pretty fragile and maybe not very playable.