I thought it would be neat to try cutting a QR code stamp. (Skip to the end to see the one time I was able to get the stamp to work)
Getting the pattern ready for carving
The obvious problem is this would require an incredibly detailed and precise approach to carving. To get the smallest QR code that can still contain a URL, it would be limited to 16 characters, the lowest error correction (7%) rate, and would still have 21×21 pixels (441 total). After a little testing, I realized the code needs a little white space around the QR code to read properly. This means 23×23 pixels all carved into a less than 1″ square area. I know from the design of the eraser carving station that the eraser is 24.5 mm wide… so each pixel is roughly 1mm square.
I tried several things that definitely did not work well:
Printing the design in one of my templates, trimmed, colored in with a pencil, taped in place, then rubbed onto the eraser to transfer the design.
This didn’t really work very well since the pencil trace to rubbing process introduces a lot of error. I tested this by trying to scan the reversed drawing on the eraser. Didn’t work at all.
The 1mm wide pixels would have been a nightmare to cut with even the smallest carving blade, so I switched to my craft blade. The blade is so sharp and incisions so thin, that many times it was difficult to see where or whether I had made a cut. Once I switched from a vertical cut to a 45 degree angle, it seemed to get a little bit easier and cleaner.
After I was about a quarter done I tried using a fine tip sharpie to color in the pixels. After a lot of hassle, I could get this to scan, so I kept going.
The darkened pattern was still a bit messy and my cutting wasn’t significantly better.
I flipped the eraser over and tried a new tactic. I taped a template to the eraser and tried to cut the design through the paper. This didn’t work well because when I cut very small pixels out of the design, the paper quickly lost cohesion and then became useless.
Finally I pulled up a large picture of the QR code on my laptop and tried to keep to the design as best I could. It wasn’t pretty – but I was done.
The results were less than stellar. The leftover ink from the sharpie discolored the inkpad a little and got transferred onto the first few stamp impressions. Out of a dozen different impressions, only one could be scanned by my phone.
Darkened with a sharpie, partially carved
If I tried this again (and, let’s be honest, I probably will) I would use the template / pencil transfer method just to place “landmarks” and then refer back to the large display on the laptop.
Stamp, stamp, stamp
Lastly, I was able to get just one impression that could be scanned:
One single scannable stamp impression
The reason the bit of paper is a little oddly shaped is that I had stamped onto a piece of scrap cardstock. I’d stamped on other pieces of paper, cards, and even on that same piece of cardstock. This was the one time it worked.
I recently stumbled across the world of fantastically charming mini prints and carved erasers by Serena Rios McRae aka Cactus Clouds Art. This short Instagram post provides an excellent overview of her process.
These looked like so much fun, I bought a pile of cheap pink erasers off Amazon, repurposed an old set of stamp carvers we had lying around (I had done some linoleum block printing back in high school and my wife had a small stamp making kit from years before), and gave it a shot. The kids had a great time with this while I fretted about whether they were going to jab their fingers and how many bandaids I’d have to have handy.
After their first stamp, I hacked together a 3D printed holder. Despite measuring the erasers carefully, it was too long and really, too big for what it needed to be. Here you can see version 01 taped to a piece of mahogany wood left over from my ukulele project.
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There were several problems with this first attempt. The holder was a little too long, so the eraser would shift back and forth. It was also much bigger than necessary. I designed it with those large fins on the side to make it easy to tape down, but it really wasn’t necessary and just made rotating the eraser holder a little more unwieldy. While my kids were carving things using this holder, I went to work printing a few accessories.
3D printed screw top blade container, extra blade handle
The blades came in a little plastic baggie, so I printed a bespoke screw top container for them so they can be stored securely. I also printed another blade handle so that two people could carve stamps at the same time – one using the original wooden holder and the other using the printed holder.
The next version was more compact and had dimples on the edges which I hoped would make it easier to hold. I also added some little ridges inside so the eraser wouldn’t fall through. Here they are:
Eraser holders for carving, versions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
The dimples didn’t work. They weren’t deep enough and my hand couldn’t really grip it very well to keep it from moving while I was carving. The area for the eraser was a little too long. Versions 2-5 involved tuning the length just right. Each one takes about an hour to print and used about $0.30 of plastic. The final result fit the erasers like a glove. They nestle in the holder perfectly and are easy to poke out using the little hole. Admittedly, they might only fit the specific cheap erasers I found.
Here’s my process:
I created a page of eraser templates, which match the length and width of the large and small edges. Of course, the long section matches the long side of the eraser – but the shorter section only matches the short side of the eraser if you tip it over.
Eraser templates
I got to use several iterations of the eraser holder for this next section:
All the pieces, laid out nice and orderly
The process is pretty easy. Put the eraser in the eraser holder – it should slip right in, drop in snugly, and lie flush with the top edge of the plastic holder. After cutting out a paper strip, it’s trimmed to size, creased to locate the central point, and a pencil drawing (drawn as I’d like to see it printed). This is taped upside down onto the eraser, rubbed along the back (a coin would work very well, but I just used one of the extra eraser holders), and the design is neatly transferred to the eraser. The neat thing about this process is that I could design something in Inkscape, print it into the template, and color it in with the pencil for transferring to the eraser.
Lastly, let’s see the result!
Eraser stamp!
As you can see, the final stamped result matches the orientation of the little drawing. I just wish I’d saved the little scrap of paper with the original drawing on it! The eraser holder was a joy to use and the final result looks every bit as great as I was hoping.
If I keep making these, I’ll probably want to upgrade my setup to include Serena’s recommended stamp pad and sharpener (you’ll see them linked in Serena’s Amazon link above). I’d like to design something to make easy to hold the eraser, center it, and make a clean even stamp, but don’t have a great idea for one yet. I’ll keep pondering this and maybe whip something up this weekend.
I recently entered my DIY soprano scale travel ukulele in the California State Fair and wanted to add a post giving an overview of the materials, design process, progress pictures, sound test and extra information:
1. Final Project Photos
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2. Materials
African mahogany
stainless steel rod for the bridge, cotter pins cut and filed for the frets, various hardware (black oxide nuts, bolts, and washers), with fret markers hole punched from iridescent cellophane and laminated into the finish
strap hand stitched from seatbelt material, paracord, and upholstery thread
custom 3D designed, printed, and finished elements
standard ukulele tuners and soprano strings
3. Very fast photo montage with a sound test played on the ukulele
4. Build Process
I blogged my journey from June 5, 2022 when all I had was just a plank of wood and a dream through some updated 3D printed parts in 2023. Fair warning – there’s … a lot.
My experiment with a multi-piece turn around didn’t work. The idea was for a multi-segment turn around where each string could be tightened and that portion of the turn around would be able to rotate as needed independent of the other pieces. I simply did not account for the kinds of stresses the pieces would be under through normal use and string tension. Each segment deformed, resulting in none of them being able to rotate and the slightly less rigid turn around bowing slightly under the pressure. I couldn’t get a great picture of the deformed parts, but perhaps this will give some idea.
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In the end, the best result for my ukulele has been a 3D printed turn around, finely sanded smooth, unadorned by paint, with a small amount of lubricant (I’ve used machine oil) over the metal bridge and across the turn around. These simple elements have, hands down, beat the over engineered / over designed pieces above. If they were printed out of a more rigid material, milled or turned from solid metal, created by using a system of washers, or made using a full length bolt, I’m sure it would have worked better.
The design of my turn around uses captive nuts in the plastic core, secured by bolts on either side. This ends up being dramatically easier and cheaper than trying to source very long Chicago bolts and posts – but has a minor downside in that the two bolts don’t actually connect. As long as the material between the two bolt ends is strong enough to withstand the continued forces of four strings under tension, there shouldn’t be a problem. However, even printing the turn around with the best orientation for printing strength in PLA didn’t result in a part that could withstand these forces for a long time. 1 One of my ideas for this part involved using bolts that were possible slightly longer or of different lengths so they would both tighten slightly into the same captive nut, resulting in one “continuous” piece of metal for the turn around core, then using washers to ensure / assist in minor distance adjustments.
Here’s how it looks today:
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I don’t plan on any more improvements for this particular ukulele. I’ve deeply enjoyed playing it since it became “finished enough” to be playable in August of 2022. That said, I’ve been thinking about how I would create another one.
CNC Cut Wood. I spent the vast majority of the time on this project just rough cutting the wood to size using a combination of hacksaw and coping saw blades. I spent a ton more time shaving wood off the neck using rough files. Starting with a piece of wood that was already the approximate dimensions and only needed finishing would feel like starting at the 90% mark.
Different Wood. I went with mahogany for a variety of reasons – but cost was one of the biggest and dumbest of these. The difference between a plank of mahogany for $10 and the most expensive wood from Rockler at maybe $30 is a rounding error when the project took more than 100 hours of my time. I’ve suggest that wenge, zebrawood, ironwood, or walnut would be my choice for another attempt. Of these, I am leaning towards walnut for a deep brown, possibly gray finish.
Strap Attachments. The strap was not quite an afterthought. I had always planned on using nylon webbing / seat belt material for the strap and had designed printed strap buttons for hooking the strap onto the ukulele, but in the end I just couldn’t bring myself to drill holes in the finished uke. This was just as well since I had wanted to try using some paracord in a project for a while. After using a flame to seal the ends of the paracord and webbing, the result was way too thick to use in my sewing machine and had to be hand stitched. I’m not great at hand sewing, but it is functional. Given the dark colors of the thread, paracord, and webbing, the haphazard stitching isn’t very noticeable. If I really took my time with it I might be able to do a better job. If it came to that I might want to use some silver or light gray thread to add a little pop.
Acoustic Improvements. I’ve noticed a dramatic change in the quality of the ukulele sound when I place a book, empty box, or large piece of rigid cardboard between the uke and myself while I’m playing it. I’ve thought about how this could be incorporated into a new design by creating a system for bolting, attaching, or otherwise connecting a larger section to the ukulele. Another incredibly interesting option is the plastic sheet used by TitchTheClown. He used thumbtacks to secure a sheet of plastic from a soda bottle against the ukulele, then a heat gun to tighten it into something like a drum surface.
I recently posted my method for making DIY heat transfer vinyl t-shirts without a craft / vinyl cutter. I used the process to make an Avatar: The Last Airbender themed t-shirt, then a set of four Fallout themed t-shirts for the entire family. After that I designed, cut, and ironed several more t-shirts. (You’ll see me refer to ironing the design several times, but each time I ironed the vinyl through a piece of parchment paper, to protect the design from scorching and the iron from being marred by melted plastic)
I learned a few more things along the way and thought I’d share these newb-mistakes and pro-tips.
But first, how about some pictures?!
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Cutting Designs
Just be careful and go slow.
Design Size
I tend to make designs that are no more than about 6″ wide. This has seemed to be a really good size to show off a cool design, but also fits neatly in the center of an 8.5″x11″ piece of standard printer paper. You could make something a lot larger, but for all of my designs, this has worked out really well.
Preparing Designs
I forgot to take a picture of it, but it helps to draw an X and Y axis into your drawing. The purpose of this is to help orient your design at the center of the fabric. After I had cut out the design entirely, I then used the craft knife to cut triangles into the protective layer pointing towards the center of the XY axis center of the design. Then, once this was done I could draw the XY axis lines on the protective layer.
I used a yard stick to estimate the center line of the shirt, which I could then align with the XY axis lines on the design itself.
Position Your Design
After looking at various other t-shirts, I decided they tended to look best when the top of the design was about 3″ lower than the bottom of the “V” in my v-neck shirts.
Once I had the shirt on the ironing board, I also put pieces of masking tape with a pen line on the ironing board to help me position and orient the yard stick repeatedly.
Heat / Press
Unlike my first attempt, I made sure to really push hard on the iron. The idea is that you’re not just melting the vinyl adhesive, but actually melting it into the fabric. If your iron isn’t hot enough, you’re not ironing long enough, or you’re not pressing hard enough, it won’t actually melt into the fabric.
When you’ve melted it properly, you should see an almost… bubbly texture underneath the protective coating. Then, once the vinyl is cool and you’ve peeled the coating off, the vinyl should look a little rippled since it is taking on the texture of the underlying fabric.
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Iron, Cool, Wait, Inspect Vinyl, then Peel
I made this mistake with the arc reactor t-shirt. As I peeled the protective coating off, in one spot the vinyl got pulled up and in another spot it tore the corner off a sharp trapezoid in the design! While it is possible I didn’t have the iron hot enough or press hard enough, I think the most likely explanation is that I didn’t wait long enough for the vinyl to cool – so it was still molten enough to be adhering to both the shirt and protective coating, causing the design to be damaged and torn.
Peeling Direction
If your design includes very thin or sharp little pieces (such as the pointy trapezoids in the Iron Man arc reactor), consider changing the direction of the protective coating peeling to avoid peeling towards a sharp point. These little points have so little surface area they can easily stay stuck to the coating and get pulled off the shirt, ruining all your hard work.
Repairing Mistakes
The problem with making a mistake with heat transfer vinyl is that if you make a serious mistake to your design or application, you may have ruined a shirt. (I would 100% wear a comfortable shirt even if the design wasn’t perfect.) However, a little mistake doesn’t have to be the end of the world. I made two mistakes on my arc reactor t-shirt, that I was able to fix well enough that they probably wouldn’t be obvious to the casual observer.
Yellow arrows show where the design pulled up and wrinkled slightly. The red arrows point to where the design tore and was repaired.
The design of the arc reactor is about 3″ across, to give you a sense of the scale and size of the mistakes. You can see two slight wrinkles in the vinyl, pointed out by the yellow arrows. The red arrows points to where you can barely make out what appear to be wrinkles – but show where the design was torn and repaired.
I didn’t find any really good way to fix the wrinkles, other than to really iron those areas very very hard. It mostly pressed the wrinkles flat and they’re barely noticeable on the shirt. Between the shimmery / reflective quality of the vinyl and uneven way a shirt would hang on a non-rectilinear organic body or form and the size of the wrinkles on the small design, it’s almost imperceptible.
The torn design was initially quite heartbreaking. By the time I had worked on this shirt, I had already created five other shirts without any kind of mistake. It just so happened I either incompletely cut the design out (I don’t think so) or was a little impatient as I peeled the design (probably), and tore a pretty big piece off of the end of the right side trapezoid pointed out by the red arrow. I tried to use my craft knife to peel the tip of the trapezoid off the protective coating, but it wasn’t working and I ended up mangling it beyond repair. After stewing a bit, I figured I would simply cut out a new trapezoid piece and iron down over the torn piece. I made sure to cut the new piece very slightly larger (we’re talking probably only 0.5 mm in each direction) and position it carefully over the damaged section, before ironing it down very firmly, waiting for it to cool down all the way, peeling the coating, then ironing it again. Once again, I think the damaged portions wouldn’t be noticeable to most observers.
I would guesstimate a 5-foot long and 12″ wide roll of heat transfer vinyl could comfortably make 10-15 good sized designs and as much as 20 if you’re very careful. Let’s say you can only make about 14 designs out of a roll, to be on the conservative side. At about $7 for a basic color roll, this about $0.50 worth of vinyl per shirt. My wife bought me several 2-pack blank v-neck shirts in assorted colors for about $14 per pack. Ignoring the cost of my time (it’s a hobby, remember!) this is only about $7.50 per custom shirt. I think this could make a really cool and inexpensive project for a class, letting all the kids make their own designs (by cutting the vinyl with scissors instead of craft knives, if they’re young) or to create a set of team shirts for a field trip or club.
Not only has this been a very fun and inexpensive hobby, I end up with a great looking custom t-shirt at the end that will probably last years.
I’ve got several more designs I’m working on and look forward to a few more updates.
Heat Transfer Vinyl T-Shirts (Without a Craft Cutter)
I’m going to commit the sin of a thousand online recipe websites and give you a bit of backstory before I get to the method. If you don’t like fun, feel free to skip the first few paragraphs.
I recently watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra with my kids. 1 Both shows were fantastic, but one particular character from A:TLOK was my absolute favorite. Varrick Iknik Blackstone is a fast talking, sometimes erratic, flamboyant industrialist / inventor voiced by John Michael Higgins. Imagine a cross between Tony Stark and Zaphod Beeblebrox.2
Psst… Do the thing!
You can find a few t-shirts out there which feature Varrick’s catchphrase3 and logo for Varrick Global Industries… but they all seem to suffer from at least one flaw. They all appear to depict the logo mirror flipped with the big sail on the right hand side. I think I know why too. An artist under the username of RogerBernstein on DeviantArt posted a very large, high quality version of the Varrick Global Industries logo in 2017, which just so happened to be mirror flipped. His image has the distinction of being one of the first Google Image search results for “Varrick Industries Logo.” I’m thinking people swiped his work, perhaps altered it a little bit, and then slapped it on t-shirts. I mean… just look at this…
This doesn’t look right
Why am I so sure these logos are mirror flipped? I paused TLOK during scenes in Season 2 – 4 when you can see Varrick’s yacht, near a plane, on a plane, on a jacket, and near some jewelry. Now, I’m not even close to the kind of cosplayer / propmaker who has the patience, concentration, or dedication who can recreate their favorites props with meticulous planning, research, measuring, and endless revisions. Even so, I’d at least like my designs to face the same direction as the show. There are lots of other pictures showing this orientation, but this was the easiest one to locate.
The logo is partially visible on the yacht to the right side of the image
Anyhow, with the help of GIMP, Inkscape, the pause button, and my trusty laser printer, I created my own design for the Varrick Global Industries logo – ready to put on a t-shirt.
Basics
Creating a design with “heat transfer vinyl” is reasonably straight forward. The heat transfer vinyl is a thin sheet of vinyl stuck to a sheet of clear plastic with a mild adhesive. You cut away what you don’t want, leaving the mirror of your design still stuck to the clear plastic, turn it over on a piece of fabric, and melt / fuse the design onto the fabric with heat.
With access to a craft cutter ($250 – $1,000) and a heat press ($100 – $300), you could automate a lot of cutting work (but you’d still have to manually pull the excess vinyl out of the design) and have really fine control over the heat (if that was important to you), but none of that is actually necessary. While these things might be helpful if you creating designs all the time, you don’t really need much more than some heat transfer vinyl and stuff you already have (a way to cut it, an iron, and some fabric).
Materials
Heat transfer vinyl.
Also known / marketed as “HTV,” you’ll probably want to look for “stretch” or “stretchable” heat transfer vinyl if you intend to putting it on wearables like a t-shirt or similar. If you’re not putting it on a wearable, you could probably get away with non-stretchable HTV.
As this was my first such attempt, I went with some relatively cheap stuff that was only $9 for 5-6 feet worth of material. I bought two rolls – one was a blue-purple metallic “chameleon” and the other was a dark silver-gray reflective. Under normal indoor light conditions both look fantastic. In brighter light they’ll look… well… brilliant.
Pro Tip: If your HTV came in a roll and packed in a box, consider keeping the box. I normally discard boxes, but this way I can stack the rolls easily without having them roll away.
Craft knife & Cutting Mat. You may not be using a vinyl cutter, but you’ll still need a cutter. If your design was very simple or you wanted to live dangerously and freehand it, you could probably get away with just using scissors. We have an old medium size (12″ x 18″) cutting (possibly self-healing?!) mat which works well for most of our purposes. These days they’re relatively cheap and definitely worth springing for a 2′ x 3′ model.
Printer paper or Sharpie. I created my design on the computer and printed it out (mirror flipped), then taped it to the HTV, then taped that down on the cutting mat. If you wanted to just freehand your designs, you could just freehand the design directly on the HTV first.
Tape. Masking or blue painter’s tape. The HTV arrived rolled up pretty tightly, so it definitely wanted to roll up while I was working. The tape kept everything down and in place while I worked.
Iron. The HTV I purchased recommended applying heat for 5-15 seconds at 300 – 330 °F. Our iron doesn’t list the temperatures – just the settings for different materials. I ended up using the “Wool” setting based upon 30 seconds worth of internet research and going to Wikipedia. The Wikipedia article suggested wool, silk, and polyester would all result in about 300 °F temperatures. While I can’t vouch for the actual temperatures, the wool setting worked really well for me.
Ironing Board. I suppose an ironing board isn’t strictly necessary. But, it sure was nice to have a big, flat, soft, narrow surface to lay my shirt on in order to iron it flat. You could probably get away with putting down a blanket on a board or some sheets on top of some cardboard or a table. However, if you already own an iron, chances are you’ve got access to an ironing board.
Parchment Paper. I used parchment paper because it’s cheap, plentiful, and non-stick. It’s also slightly translucent, which makes it great for making sure everything is positioned properly and visually seeing when the design is starting to melt into place. I’m sure there are lots of other nonstick options, but this worked well enough that it would definitely be my go-to in the future.
Optional:
Yardstick. This is helpful in finding the center line for the t-shirt when you’re ready to apply the design. It’s helpful, but not necessary. Since you’re just using it as a straight edge, you could make do with just a long piece of straight cardboard.
Specialty Tools. You can buy specialty tools for “weeding” heat transfer vinyl, special tools for centering designs on shirts, and special heat pressers to apply vinyl. For a few shirts now and then, I don’t think any of these are necessary.
Process.
A Note On Double-Checking. As the old saying goes, measure twice and cut once. While there are very few “mission critical” steps to this process, there are a few points where it makes a lot of sense to spend the time to legitimately completely check and then double-check something.
Double-Check the Vinyl. Depending upon the type of HTV you get, it might have two or three layers.
Two Layers. If it is two layers, there will be a thick clear/clear-ish protective plastic coating and the vinyl. The side of the vinyl facing the protective coating is the part that will appear on the outside of your fabric and the side without the protective coating is the part that will melt and adhere to your fabric.
Three Layers. When there three layers, the vinyl will be sandwiched between the thick clear protective plastic coating and (at least in my case) a blue film on the back. Again, the side of the vinyl facing the protective coating is the part that will appear on the outside of your fabric and the side with the thin film is the part that will melt and adhere to your fabric.
I would recommend checking your HTV by cutting a thin corner off and peeling it to see how many layers you have. I was alerted to this two/three layer issue by reading a lot of reviews. My chameleon blue-purple vinyl had three layers and the dark gray reflective only had two. You could probably remove it before you started cutting out your design, but you’ll definitely need to remove the film layer before ironing.
Pro-Tip: I would also recommend labeling the box your HTV is in with “two-layer” or “three-layer” to help yourself remember which kind you have when you come back to make a new design next time.
Double-Check the Design.
For most applications, you’ll want to mirror-flip your design. You can do this in the graphics design program of your choice, probably using some printer settings.
Pro-Tips:
If you’re trying to create a vinyl pattern from some photograph, magazine page, or similar, you might want to photocopy it and then trace the design onto the back of sheet it’s printed on using a lightbox.
Unless you’re creating a multi-layer process, consider making your entire design two-tone black and white. When it comes time to cut out your design, this will make it a lot easier for you to remember which parts should be cut away and removed.
You’ll be removing lots of areas from the vinyl in a later step. There’s no harm to your design if you “over-cut” into these areas. Overcutting allows you to ensure you’re definitely separating sections of the design from the parts that will be discarded. I would recommend actually drawing in these “over-cut” spots into the design, either as part of the design process or manually with a pen after the design has been printed out.
I like to add the word “reversed” to the design, so I’ll remember to actually mirror flip it.
Since most anything I’ll be creating will fit on a t-shirt, I like to make my designs fit into a standard 8.5″x11″ sheet of paper. I created a template to do this which has several guidelines and a border 1/4″ all the way around the sheet to make sure the design can be printed within the printer’s margins.
Apply the Design. As suggested above, you could cut out your design with scissors or perhaps even built it out of scraps of vinyl. If you wanted to create lettering or follow a very precise pattern, I’d definitely suggest designing on a computer, printing it out (reversed), then taping the design to the vinyl so it doesn’t shift as you cut it, and taping the vinyl to the cutting mat so that doesn’t shift as you cut.
Cut the Design.
I used a craft knife and went slow, using steady medium-hard pressure to cut out the design. When I wasn’t sure I had cleanly cut all the way through the vinyl, I went back and cut that area again. Having done this a few more times since I started the blog post, I can say that I didn’t need to cut this hard – and could have used a medium pressure. More than this and the clear plastic layer gets cut or scored. This isn’t a problem, but it doesn’t lay flat quite as well any more.
As you cut, be mindful of the areas you’ll be removing that you can “over-cut” into and those areas of your design where you won’t want any knicks and cuts.
I made a point of “over-cutting” the critical pieces, especially at corners, because I did not want to chance the vinyl tearing as I removed the excess pieces. A single section tearing or stretching would basically ruin the entire design and require starting over.
I had to be sure I was cutting through the printer paper and cleanly through the vinyl, even at the risk of gouging the protective layer. I was very surprised the protective layer held up as well as it did. It was clearly scored where I had cut into it, but except for some very small parts, I never cut all the way through it.
Once your design is cut out, use scissors to cut the entire area out of the vinyl roll. I like leaving a 1/4″ allowance everywhere just so I know the scissors aren’t going to affect my design.
Pro-Tip: Before you start cutting, it might help to take a moment to plan out your cuts, draw in the areas for “over-cutting,” and even to make sure to darken in those areas that will be getting cut out to help keep things clear while you’re cutting.
“Weed” the Vinyl.
“Weeding” the vinyl is the process of pulling out all the vinyl pieces you’ve cut out that aren’t part of the design. While there are lots of cheap weeding tool options for sale online for $5-10, I just used the point of my craft blade to pick these little pieces out. I suppose it might help to have tweezers, a pushpin, a paperclip, or a toothpick, but the craft knife worked perfectly for me.
I’d recommend going slowly, especially at corners, and making sure the parts getting removed are fully cut free from the design elements that are staying.
Iron Fabric. Definitely take the time to iron your fabric flat. It would be a shame to discover a wrinkle on the underside of your t-shirt because the design was warped only after the vinyl was fused to the fabric.
Orient the Vinyl.
Once my pattern is cut and weeded, it’s ready to be placed on the t-shirt. You can buy patterns, templates, and devices for centering a design on a t-shirt, but these seem unnecessary if you’re willing to simply be careful. Heck, even if you had these specialty tools, you’d still need to be careful.
I made sure my t-shirt was flat and centered on the ironing board, there were no wrinkles in the fabric, the amount of the shirt hanging on the left and right sides were about equal, and then used a yardstick to estimate the center line of the shirt running from the tag down.
I put the design about four inches down from the neck in my shirt after looking at the designs on other t-shirts I had purchased.
If you chose to cut out your design so there was a little extra room all the way around it, the empty clear protective plastic layer will still be “tacky” and help keep the design in place.
Pro-Tips:
It wouldn’t hurt to double-check that you’ve got the exposed vinyl side facing the fabric. You definitely don’t want it melting against the parchment paper or your iron.
One of the nice things about printing the design with guide marks and registration marks was that it made it a little easier to orient the design neatly on the shirt. I printed a second copy of the design, then placed it on the shirt – then put the vinyl design down on the shirt underneath the paper.
Before you place the vinyl on the fabric, take a moment to double check there are no stray pieces of weeded / discard vinyl stuck to the protective layer. They’ll be impossible to remove once you’ve started ironing.
Cover with Parchment Paper.
My design was only about a 6″ diameter circle, so I only needed a piece of parchment paper slightly larger than this. Since the parchment paper isn’t really consumed by this process, I went ahead and got a big square of it so I can reuse it on other shirts.
The parchment paper I’m using is slightly translucent, which made it easy to ensure the design hadn’t shifted and so I could make a few last second adjustments.
Iron The Vinyl.
Obviously, read and follow the directions for your specific heat transfer vinyl. The vinyl I purchased recommended 300 – 330 °F for 5 to 15 seconds. I don’t have a fancy iron, so I heated the iron to the “wool” setting (estimated to be 300 °F) and ran the iron over the parchment paper, pressing firmly, in a small circular pattern for about 15 seconds in each area. I kept the iron moving so as not to scorch any part of the design, the shirt, or the parchment paper.
Pro-Tips:
It never hurts to do a few test pieces. I tried ironing both kinds of HTV onto an old undershirt to make sure the heat settings worked, I understood which sides needed to face against the fabric, how I would remove the backing once it had been ironed, and how it all worked.
Having now done this a few times since I started the blog post, I would recommend putting something rigid or semi-rigid under the shirt. The first time I ironed the design, it looked great – but came out slightly wrinkly in the wash. I re-ironed it using really heavy pressure and the same shirt has held up in the wash ever since.
Remove Backing.
The instructions for my vinyl told me to “hot peel” the backing. I took this to mean that I should carefully remove the clear protective coating from the heat fused vinyl. There were a few small spots where it looked like the vinyl wanted to come up a little bit, but the backing came up cleanly everywhere.
Cover and Iron Again.
Since there were a few small spots where it looked like the vinyl might have come up slightly as I was removing the backing, I put the parchment paper back down and ran the iron around the entire design for about 5 seconds in each spot.
Don’t Wash for 24 Hours.
My instructions say to wait 24 hours before washing the garment. I spent a while on this design, so I wasn’t about to chance it by throwing the shirt in the wash.
Iron Again (Optional).
After I washed the first shirt I made, the design appeared to have buckled slightly. After a second ironing, it has stood up to repeated washings without a problem.
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Heat Transfer Vinyl T-Shirts (Without a Craft Cutter)
I’m going to reference these shows and their contents a lot. I don’t own their intellectual property, they do, I just wanted to make a fun t-shirt for myself. [↩]
Sometimes you just gotta roll up your sleeves and craft your own fix
I recently purchased Minecraft for the PC (Windows 10) and tried to install it. It was brutal, but I got through it. I’m documenting my experiences here in the hopes it helps someone else.
The download was incredibly slow, would time out, get stuck, would give me the message “queued in position X,” or would simply not work at all. Sometimes it would download 10 or 50 MB and then stop. It was pretty frustrating. I tried a number of things and eventually found a constellation of things that ended up fixing the problem.
Things That Helped / Worked: From Simplest to Most Complicated
Making sure I was on a speedy wifi network.
The easiest first step was to get off the wifi extended and onto the main wifi network.
Ended all Minecraft processes / programs that were running.
Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager. (Right clicking on an empty space on the task bar can also bring this up as an option in the context menu.
Right click on any “Minecraft” processes as select “End task.”
Sign out of the Microsoft Store app.
You should see a two letter (probably your first and last initials) circular icon in the top menu bar for this app. Click “Sign out”
Reset the Microsoft Store app.
Start / Windows Button -> ⚙️Settings -> Apps
Scroll down until you see “Microsoft Store,” select it and click “Advanced options”
Click “Repair,” let the computer do it’s thing, then click “Reset.”
Make sure the time zone and clock are up to date.
This sounds kinda crazy, but it’s a legit reason why Minecraft might not be installing. Many programs try to synchronize and authenticate each other across the internet – using agreed upon times as a basis. An incorrect time might be used by a malicious person or program to breach a system.
Anyhow, here’s how you apply this fix:
Start / Windows Button -> ⚙️Settings -> Time & Language
Turn on “Set time automatically” and “Set time zone automatically” and click “Sync now”
Check to make sure you didn’t cripple the download speeds yourself.
When setting up my PC I had crippled Windows download speeds to 0.1 Mbps. While this helps my day-to-day computer usage and prevents Windows from chewing up all my bandwidth to update itself, it also crippled anything I wanted to download through the Windows Store app. I’d recommend removing all bandwidth caps while trying to download Minecraft.
Notes:
I can’t be sure, but Windows does a lot of stuff behind the scenes, but having checked the installed apps after Minecraft was fully installed, I noticed several other apps were also installed. I believe the Windows Store needed to install a bunch of other programs and app / dependencies before it would actually allow Minecraft to download. You may or may not see these pop up.
Things That Did Not (Seem To) Help
Restarting the computer didn’t seem to help. I suppose it’s worth trying.
Trying to install a prior version of Minecraft for Windows 7/8 didn’t work either. They seemed download fine – but wouldn’t run at all.
Trying to install the Minecraft Java version first. I ended up uninstalling all versions and all launchers and starting from scratch.
I hope this helped. If you’ve got some other fix that worked or idea how to help, I’m sure plenty of others would want to know. Feel free to leave a comment.
I’ve been playing my DIY travel soprano scale ukulele for about a while now and it’s been really great. If I lightly strum it, it’s quiet enough that someone a few feet away might not notice. If I really go for it, you could hear it across the room. If I put a board of some kind between the ukulele and myself, it sounds considerably richer and louder.1 I started compiling some additional thoughts after the first week:
String Stress.
The strings seemed to stretch a little as I played the ukulele over the course of the week. I had to slightly tighten the strings each day to keep it in tune. The first day there was a lot of variation – and by the end of the week it barely needed any adjustment at all.
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That said, the string tension has caused the strings to bite into the wood above the zero nut and seem to have caused a hairline crack in the turn around. I suspect after a week of being stretched and compressing the wood just a little, it’s not going to continue to bite away at the wood.
Zero nut, string holes, string ties.
As several other builders have noted, once the strings are tensioned, they start to bite into the wood. I tried to avoid this problem by using a hardwood, but it’s clear there is still some element of this on the ukulele. Some ideas:
Placing an additional 3/32″ fret above the zero fret and a hair below the string holes would likely prevent the strings from “biting” into the wood. Of the various ideas that occurred to me, this is probably the flat out simplest, easiest, most immediately effective solution and involve the least amount of changes to the existing build.
I’d toyed with the idea of drilling the holes out a little larger and inserting a thin plastic or metal tube which would serve as a smoother path for the string while also preventing this “biting” problem. This would be a very complicated fix for a simple problem and involve some variation of sourcing the tubes, drilling larger holes, cutting the tubes, and glue the tubes in place without obstruction. I’m not crazy about any of these steps – and more than that, I think it would be overkill and not have the right aesthetic for this project.
My off-the-shelf ukulele has a slotted bridge, where the strings are tied into a knot, slid through a small opening, over the bridge, across the frets, the nut, and then the tuners. There’s no reason I couldn’t put a 3D printed slotted nut at the top of the ukulele. There are several possible benefits to doing this, with little downside:
It would eliminate the need for drilling four holes in the top of the ukulele for the strings. Printing a 3D model could ensure exacting spacing for the strings. The plastic could be affixed with screws, bolts, or even fit over the end of the ukulele.
Once the requirement for drilling small holes for the strings is removed, other interesting possibilities arise. When I installed the Graph Tech tuners, I found they were very slightly smaller than the holes I had drilled and reamed out for the chrome tuners I already had on hand. There’s no special need for the screws in the turn around to be #10-24’s. Perhaps they could be screws that match the same holes drilled for the tuners? If so, I would only need a single drill bit for the tuner and turn around holes. (Though, it would be hard to find sweet sweet black oxide hardware to match this diameter.
Turn Around.
The slight crack in the turn around appears to be at just one end with the 1st / A string. This might be the paint cracking – or the plastic itself.
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I can’t really tell unless I loosen the strings and then pull the turn around out. (Something I don’t want to do). I bet if I redesigned the part so the nut was placed a little farther in the model (so there was more plastic at the end of the turn around), printed with a higher infill, added more captive nuts, and/or increased the diameter of the bolts, this problem might be mitigated. That said, it’s a very small crack, likely only superficially cosmetic, and unlikely to cause the plastic to actually fracture.
Having very nearly reached the “end” of this project… I can’t help but turn my mind to how it could be improved. If I succeeded in building a better model, I’d have two sweet ukuleles. If it was a horrible failure, I’d have gotten some fresh air, a little exercise, and still have one sweet ukulele.
Potential Improvements / Process Changes In a New Version
Saws.
Japanese Pull Saw. Upon seeing my project, two friends recommended a Japanese pull saw. I think it would be an amazing tool – except that the way I have the “head” of the ukulele wider at the top, I don’t think it would work very well. I sketched out a design for a different kind of ukulele template that would be amenable to a several straight cuts. A saw like this might cost $20-40 and would save a considerable amount of time clearing the wood away from the fretboard. This would still leave a fair bit of work on the interior of the body. Chances are this saw would instantly justify it’s expense in the time savings on the fretboard alone.
Scroll Saw. A cheap scroll saw can be picked up new for $100-$150. Without a big workbench, having the integrated table to go with the scroll saw would be a huge help. I’ve ballparked my time investment into this ukulele at around 100 hours. 2 A scroll saw could be used around the entirety of the ukulele, from along either side of the fretboard, chopping the top off the head, to cutting out the interior cleanly. I plan to do an in-depth post-mortem at some point detailing the time I spent on each aspect of the build, but I know I spent hours over weekends cutting the ukulele. I suspect even going very slowly with a scroll saw, I could cut the entire ukulele out in a single morning with much cleaner cuts than what I could accomplish.
Jig saw. While I own a jigsaw, I didn’t use it in this project. I wanted to use as many handtools as possible and keep the entire process about my struggle in turning this plank of wood into an instrument.
Drills.
Drilling. Andrew suggested clamping a piece of sacrificial wood on the top and bottom of the board.
Power Drill. Obviously, using a power drill makes drilling the holes for the tuners, turn around, and strings much easier. It was difficult to drill perfectly perpendicular. However, I have some ideas…
Drill Press. A drill press would be fantastic, but too expensive for this project, too big to move or keep around. Maybe I know someone local who has one I could use? (The Sacramento lending library doesn’t loan drill presses)
Drill Guide. Looking through Rockler’s website I found several drill guides that allow you to drill perfectly perpendicular to the surface. Now, this gave me an idea… for designing a 3D printed jig / drill guide to drill through a piece of the sacrificial wood on top of the side of the wood. I’ll come up with a sketch.
Hand Drill. Annnnnd, if I’m already creating a 3D printed jig / drill guide, why not build it with an integrated hand drill? The drill I created is good enough in a pinch, but while researching 3D printed drills, I found this amazing pump drill which rotates in the same direction whether it is pumped up or down. What I like about these ideas is that it is entirely possible to cut, drill, and carve the ukulele using all hand tools. Admittedly, some tools I 3D printed, but hand tools nonetheless. I kinda like the idea of a specialized tool for drilling holes into a plank of wood for creating travel ukuleles.
Zero Nut
Reinforced Zero Nut. Just adding another 3/32″ cotter pin above the zero nut should be enough to keep the strings from biting into the wood. This is likely the easiest solution – and easiest one to retrofit into the ukulele I’ve built.
“Slotted Nut.” I tied a knot in the strings before putting them through the string holes in the head and all but one of the string knots were pulled up into the wood. I expect this will be a real problem when I need to change out the strings. I think I could create a 3D printed piece which would act like a slotted bridge, but screwed or bolted into the wood above the zero nut. It would need to keep the string lower than the zero nut, but this seems like a solvable design issue.
About a month after I started writing this
Bridge. I’m happy with the bridge. However, I noticed in Daniel’s latest video he used a metal rod with two brackets on either end to place the bridge a precise distance from the nut. While I have no intention of making a pile of ukuleles, it would be nice to precisely place the bridge.
Frets. Some of the frets were glued in at a slight angle which will have an impact on chords, but perhaps so much I could detect. If nothing else, some of the frets look very very slightly off.
Turn Around.
The turn around installed in my ukulele right now looks good – but has one minor flaw. Since it is plastic (sanded smooth) and painted, it is a fair bit “grippier” than a piece of anodized aluminum like the tattoo grips Daniel uses. Adjusting the tuners still affects the tension of the string – between the tuner and the turn around, but the string tends to bind over the turn around, meaning any tightening or loosening of the tuners doesn’t have an immediate change to the sound until the ukulele has been played a bit. This makes tuning take a bit longer.
I’ve come up with a design I’ll get to in a little bit, below.
Wood. I bought two pieces of wood when I started this project. One piece of mahogany and another piece of scrap hardwood. I thought I might start on the scrap hardwood, then progress to the inexpensive (~$10) mahogany. I just went ahead with the mahogany first at my wife’ suggestion. There are several other dark hardwoods I think would look really nice – and provide a stark contrast to the cotter pin frets. If I started again, I would get a piece of wenge, zebrawood, ironwood, or walnut – just based upon the look alone.
Tuners. The Graph Tech Ratio tuners are low profile, inline, lightweight, and the most expensive single part of the ukulele at about $30 for a set. They’re also totally worth it. If I make another ukulele, I’ll buy these right at the start.
Sound Board. When a thin rigid box or a large piece of honeycomb corrugated cardboard is placed between my chest and the ukulele, it sounds a lot louder and richer. However, it’s not easy to hold the ukulele properly as I do so. I have a few ideas about creating a ukulele body shaped “soundboard” the travel ukulele could be clipped / secured into.
Changes Since I Started This Blog Post
I started this blog post around August 28, 2022 and am coming back to it around October 10, 2022. In that time I made a few adjustments / changes to the ukulele. Most of these are detailed in this instagram post on September 12, 2022.
Re-Designed Turn Around. The silver and black turn arounds had been accidentally printed at 20% infill and started to show stress fractures around the captive nuts. The captive nuts were also seated too close to the first and fourth strings, putting extra pressure where the plastic was the thinnest. I redesigned the turn around to put the captive nuts exactly between the first two and last two strings and reprinted it at 100% infill before filing/sanding/painting. Since the turn around is still one solid piece, there are still minor string binding issues when tuning.
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Re-Re-Designed Turn Around. I’ve now designed a new multi-part turn around which trades simplicity for several improvements.3 It is now comprised of a “core” which looks like a thinner version of the original turn around and four “rings” which slide over the turn around to allow each string to turn that one section by itself – allowing the tuning tension to be transferred immediately to the string. The reason for the grooves in the core is the interiors of the rings have little ridges which keep each ring from being pushed out of place. One side benefit of this system is the captive nuts are no longer visible, creating a cleaner look. I’ve printed, but not yet sanded and painted this version, but it looks to be the best one I’ve created so far.
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Larger Countersunk String Holes. In order to put the new turn around in place, I had to remove the strings. Pulling the strings out was a lot harder than I had anticipated. As I tuned and played the ukulele, the strings were wedged deeper into the string holes. I had to use thin pieces of wire and other bits of string to get them out. Once they had been removed, I used my DIY hand drill to widen the holes on the underside and made sure to tie additional knots in the string so they couldn’t get wedged in place.
Fret Markers. And since I was removing the strings anyhow… I might as well install my DIY fret markers. The fret markers are small circular cut-outs of iridescent cellophane I cut out with a hole puncher. I put a sticky-note on the cellophane and a piece of paper on the other side, then punched. Doing so gave me perfect little circles. (Trying to punch out circles from cellophane without the sticky notes just tore or mangled the plastic). I sanded the fretboard between the frets until it was as smooth as I could manage. Then I used a glue stick on the fretboard where I wanted the fret marker and pressed it in place. Once it had dried, I then added a few coats of finishing oil to hopefully seal the fret marker in place and then wax over everything.
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Reinforced Zero Nut (“Negative One Fret”?) Before putting the strings back in and before I added the oil and wax, I also sanded the area above the zero fret and glued in an extra 3/32″ cotter pin just barely under the string holes. The result has been great. The strings can’t touch the wood at the edge of the string holes, so they can’t bite into the wood causing the ukulele to go out of tune over time. (I’m sure the strings will stretch a little, but at least I can remove one source of error).
Gluing and holding zero fret reinforcement into place
There’s not a lot I’d do to update / upgrade / change this ukulele. I could get to finishing (sanding, painting, natch) and installing the newest turn around and strap buttons, making a strap, and possibly a carrying case. These are all lower priorities for me as I’m pretty much just enjoying playing it right now.
Default Series Title
See my last post for the decibel meter readings [↩]
Hi folks—this is Tim, I came to know MakerBlock through my attempts at making a travel ukulele too. So here’s a guest post postmortem (guest postmortem?) about my most recent build! For some background, this is my second travel uke build. My first was an early pandemic project, but I accidentally used some wood that was way too soft, and was very limited in my tool access (including living in a small apartment with neighbors who didn’t take kindly to craft projects). For this second attempt, I’ve sourced better materials, which was a big help. Unlike MakerBlock, I don’t have access to a 3D printer, but what I do have is some basic power tools—jigsaw, sander, drill and the like—courtesy of the very handy Ryobi One interchangeable battery system. Also, I’m lucky to live close to a number of hardware/gardening stores, so I was able to spend a long time wandering up and down the small parts drawers looking for a random thing that would work well.
I’m also a hobby leatherworker, and you’ll see in some of these photos a leather backing I made for the ukulele. I’m not sure how much extra volume it gets me, but it’s light, easy enough to travel with, and I can just take it on and off if I want. It definitely doesn’t hurt.
This is less of a blow-by-blow, and more just a series of notes and thoughts to help people avoid issues that I’ve faced, and to give hints along the way.
Closeups of my truly hideous first build.
Wood:
The standard dimensions of these travel ukulele plans are nicely suited to 1×4 pieces of wood (which are more like 3/4×3.5” when you measure them). I kept mine at full width, and for the second time in my experience it led to problems with the tuners, but more on that in a sec. I bought a piece of decently affordable hardwood from my local lumber store, and cut it down to shape using a jigsaw, and sanded it to bejeezus using both a rotary sander and by hand. It came out fantastically smooth in the end, and I finished it with butcher block oil, which looks lovely. The hint about dampening it for an extra sanding step was fantastic on really getting it to feel smooth.
Hardware supplies:
I used a large cotter pint pin for the zero fret, but for the other frets I cut small slits with a coping saw, and put in fret wire. It was pretty affordable on Amazon (though I try not to buy from them if I can avoid it), and I could cut it to size and very gently tap it into place with a tiny rubber mallet I already had. However, with my little hand saw, it was hard to get the cuts to a consistent depth, so they’re a bit all over the place. One or two of the frets fell out, and I had to give them a bit of wood glue to keep em in place.
Cotter pin for fret 0, small cuts and fretwire for the rest.
The rod for the bridge was oddly difficult to find. I searched through multiple hardware stores, and couldn’t find any straight, appropriately sized, metal rods. What I eventually did was get a long metal bolt, and used a jigsaw to cut off the head. This worked, but ended up being super buzzy and weird sounding, I think my strings reverberated against it oddly. So instead I used a measure of hardwood dowel, which I love the look of, but is bowing a little under the pressure of the strings. The little brackets were also a nightmare to track down, I eventually found appropriately sized one in the hardware store in the lawnmower engine parts of the bits and bobs aisles, of all places.
For the turnaround, I didn’t like the look of making one from washers (one of the methods recommended in the various Circuit and Strings blogposts) and all the tattoo machine grips (another similar rec) didn’t have 4 slots so wouldn’t spread out symmetrically. Instead, I ended up using a hunk of a dead branch from our backyard that I more or less cut down to size, and then drilled a hole through the middle of. I was able to put cuts in it for the strings, and then waxed it a bit with paraffin wax to give them a little lubrication. However, even so, wood definitely has more friction than using metal or plastic, so sometimes the tuning is fiddly as the strings don’t adjust as finely as I would like. For the post, I used furniture bolts, with washers to adjust spacing as needed. The nice thing about furniture bolts is that they come in a bunch of lengths, and use allen keys on both ends, so can screw in really tight. Though the end for receiving the length of the bolt is wider by necessity, so requires a slightly larger hole.
The too short tuners extended to fit, the buzzy metal bridge, and the weirdly spaced tattoo machine grip turnaround.
The more-stable and longer guitar tuners, wooden dowel bridge, and homemade wooden turnaround.
The tuners. Aye. Truly the bane of my existence. The biggest issue in the planning phases was in that printing off and designing the overall shape, I made the branches of the uke too thick. I was using these cheapos . Most ukulele tuning machines/pegs/whatever aren’t designed to go through a 3/4” wide piece of wood (which I learned after purchasing multiples that didn’t work). Short of countersinking the holes from the inside of the uke (which I definitely didn’t have the tools to do) I was forced to make some really heavy modifications. With friction tuners, I found that I could take them apart, and extend the posts by matching the bolts with a longer version that I found in the hardware store (I think the long, super thin, very tight thread bolts are called gun or gunsmith screws or something bizarre?) However, it still worked poorly, the strings pulled the tuners out of shape, and it went out of tune almost instantly—the friction from tuner-on-wood was simply too little grip to hold the necessary tension. While I prefer the way the friction tuners look on these travel ukes, I swapped them for these tuners for guitars—which have much longer posts. However, getting them to fit was a kludge due to hole-diameter issues, which I eventually fixed with a rasp and some elbow grease. Opened the holes slightly, forced the collars of the new tuners in place, and used wood glue and clamps to make sure they’d stay there.
What I did find in my research is that many of the companies have specs available on their websites that tell you exactly how long the posts are, and how big of a hole they need. Compare below my original cheapos vs the ones I ended up with vs those cool GraphTech ones.
One of the most useful tool I found was this fretboard creator that lets you specify how many strings you want, and at what tuning, and it’ll generate a proper, printable chart for you to use to place the frets and turnaround and whatnot. Or you can use the tables it generates to measure them by hand. (I used this info to generate the necessary size and number of frets)
Things I wish I’d done differently:
Here’s the thing: the shape of the ukulele can be incredibly flexible. You can just freehand a design to your own tastes. What I would do would be to actually make a significantly wider neck, to give more space between the strings, so my enormous uncoordinated hands don’t feel so damn cramped. Using the tool above, I would also make sure that I space the strings accurately, and have a decent amount of space in from the edge of the neck to the 1st and 4th strings. And I would make the “arms” of the ukulele more like 0.5 inches thick to make the tuners fit more easily. I would also countersink the strings at the head of the uke, because it looks better and is less scratchy.
About half way through the project I bought a couple of jigs, including a self centering one for drilling. I wish I’d had that from the start. It would make for holes that are perfectly straight and exactly in the center of the wood, which would be a definite improvement over me marking it with a pencil and then the drill wandering off of alignment. They cost less than $20, come in all sorts of wild shapes, and they’re pretty neat.
In the meantime, I have the ukulele, and it’s mine, and I made it. Does it sound good? No. Am I good at playing it? Also no. But! I’m currently traveling for 7 weeks, and I brought it along to futz with, and it’s a really fun thing to travel with. I was able to unstring it completely in transit, and restringing and tuning only took probably 10 minutes. Since it’s made from a single piece of hardwood, it’s pretty damn durable. It’s so quiet that it won’t bug anyone around me when I practice (blessing or curse, depending on your take). And if something terrible happens to it? Well, all the more reason to make another one.
I’ve tended to avoid referring to this project as a “ukulele” and usually refer to it as a “piece of wood” or “plank.” Today I’m calling it a ukulele since I was able to actually string it up and play it.
Bridge.
I wasn’t happy with the bridge brackets. They looked uneven and even after plenty of time to dry, they still felt… gummy? Tacky? Grubby?? Not great, in any event. I sanded them last night, again this morning, 150 grit, 400 grit, and then 1500 grit, washed them with soap, washed them without soap, set them out to dry, spray painted them again, set them out again, and this time after several hours they were dry. They went onto the bridge and then the plastic posts in the ukulele with minimal post-processing. It fit snugly with a little bit of force and went flush against the body of the ukulele.
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Strings.
I’ve never added strings to a ukulele before, so this was entirely new to me.
I watched this video again and then dove into putting the strings on the ukulele. This was another of those moments which felt a little tense. In the end, it was really just the idea of doing something new and possibly ruining a string or a set of strings. 3D printing is so forgiving. If I screw something up in design or printing or finish… I can just make more. Wood and strings and metal are not so easily fixed. Anyhow, it all turned out okay.
Using what I’d learned from Soph, I decided to tie a knot in the strings, leaving enough extra so they could be fed back into the string holes, preventing any sharp bits from poking me as I played.
I had drilled the string holes under the ukulele with a slightly larger diameter drill bit than the one at the top, so most of the knots disappeared into the holes. Whenever I need to replace these strings, it will probably be a pain to get them out again, but that’s a problem for future me.
I play my ukulele with a “C” tuning, so these strings my wife bought me to go in my regular ukulele worked just fine. If you’re right handed, play chords with your left hand and strum with your right hand, then when you grip the ukulele neck in your left hand, the 1st string (A) would be closest to your fingers and the 4th string (G) would be nearest your thumb. Going from the thumb-side to the finger-side, they would be 4th / G string, 3rd / C string, 2nd / E string, and 1st / A string. I put a sticky note on my ukulele while I added the strings, one at a time, so I wouldn’t get anything mixed up.
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After I got the strings on, I wrestled with tuning the strings. They seemed to go out of tune pretty quickly – but I suspect this is due to the strings stretching a little.
I’m glad I waited to install the strings and bridge until I had the black oxide hardware. I’m sure the chrome or stainless steel would look great, but I prefer these design elements together.
Volume.
It’s a quiet instrument, but actually sounded a little louder than I would have expected. After playing the travel uke for a few minutes, I grabbed a nearby checkbook box lid and put it between the ukulele and my body, which seemed to add a bit of volume. As you know, I have a decibel meter from my whistle experiments, so I performed a little science for you.
Instrument
Decibels
Travel Ukulele, strumming
57.9
Travel Ukulele, playing
73.6
Travel Ukulele (with box), strumming
64.8
Travel Ukulele (with box), playing
75.8
Soprano Ukulele, strumming
82.7
Soprano Ukulele, playing
94.5
I was pleasantly surprised the checkbook box added so much to the volume. It was an audible difference to myself and my family. I may try this again with a wood box, plastic box, plank of wood, and sheet of plastic. I have to wonder if something as commonplace as a frisbee would work well. If so… awesome.
Sound.
I recorded myself playing the first few bits of House of the Rising Sun first with my store-bought soprano ukulele, the travel ukulele, and then the travel ukulele with the checkbook box lid underneath it. I start off each 45 second sound test with a single downward strum on each chord before playing the first part of the song.
Here’s a single video comprised of the three clips one after another.
Turn Around
The stainless steel turn around I swapped out for the black oxide ones (for purely aesthetic reasons) were only 1.25″ long because that’s what Home Depot had easily available. Since I could choose almost any length and style, the black oxide machine screws are button head, socket drive, and 1.5″ long. Since the ukulele is exactly 3″ wide, there was a chance the screws would touch in the center preventing the turn around from being secured in place. Adding washers preventing this from being an issue – while also looking neat.
If you’re willing to use a 1″ long machine screw, there are a lot of other potential choices for materials. You could get bronze, steel, black oxide, chrome, nylon, etc. I can’t be absolutely certain using 1″ screws would be fine, but I’m pretty sure it would be. The plastic is really sturdy with thick walls, beefy infill, and able to withstand a fair amount of lateral compressive force based on how I chose to orient the print.
Fret Markers
I suspected that just using a hole punch on the cellophane wouldn’t work well. I tried it anyhow. :) All it did was deform the cellophane. Then I tried it again after pressing the cellophane into the sticky part of a post-it note. I then tried punching it with the hole punch upside down and right side up. I didn’t see much of a difference either way.
In a perfect world, I would not have strung up the ukulele yet, figured out the fret markers, maybe added another layer of finishing oil, waxed again, and then installed the strings. I was impatient, so I just went for it.
Before I add fret markers, I’ll want to finish a larger piece of scrap wood1 to test the optimal glue and whether different sides of the cellophane behave differently.
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Now, the ukulele is playable, but it’s not done done. Here’s what’s next:
Figuring out fret markers
Sanding and painting strap buttons
Making a ukulele strap from seat belt material and heavy duty rip stop nylon, possibly with a 3D printed buckle / slider
Write up a post-mortem of what I learned
Always print extra parts, order extra parts, cut extra pieces, and finish extra test parts
Testing materials, paints, finishes, and adhesives
Be bold – maybe I’ll ruin a plank of wood, a string, or two months of work. Or maybe I’ll end up with a ukulele.
Default Series Title
That is to say sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding, wetting, sanding, sanding sanding, sanding, finishing oil, sanding, finishing oil, sanding, finishing oil, sanding, finishing oil, sanding, waxing, waxing, and waxing [↩]
