Tag Archives: whistle

Loudest 3D Printed Whistle – now with 100% more science

Posted on by
Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle v1

Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle v1

I ordered a decibel meter from Amazon the other day so I could drop some science on the claims from various 3D printed whistles on Thingiverse.  There are several that claim to be the loudest.  Well, today, I began my quest to put these claims to rest.

The closer the decibel meter is to a sound source, the higher it registers.  To eliminate some of these variables, I placed the decibel meter on a counter in front of me and a chair 24 inches in front of that.  For each of the whistles I was testing I stood just behind the chair and gave the whistle three hearty puffs.  The decibel meter, which was set to record and display the “max” reading, would then tell me the loudest reading for that set of three whistle toots.

Without further ado, I declare the “Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle” by Whistleblower on Thingiverse the clear winner at 121.1 decibels.  Both whistles by this designer took the top two scientifically determined spots.

NameThingiverse IDMass (grams)PricePrint Time (minutes)DecibelsSubjective Rank
Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle [v1]29330213.9$0.1222121.11
Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle [v2]29330213.7$0.1118111.53
v29 (Over 118 db!)117916013.9$0.4290110.44
2 chamber whistle (LOUD) [w5]26165128.1$0.2449109.52
Emergency Whistle with Solidworks 2014 source4951721.2$0.047101.85
Whistle Ring Modified [v2]20271151.6$0.05990.86

Just how loud is 121.1 decibels? 1  Well, for starters, it’s just above the pain threshold of 120 decibels.  It’s louder than:

  • Your iPod headphones at maximum volume
  • A baby crying, next to your ear
  • A full symphony orchestra
  • The subway
  • A sporting event
  • A chainsaw
  • A jetski
  • A marching band

It’s on par with:

  • Thunder
  • A shotgun
  • An ambulance siren
  • A rock concert

And, if you didn’t have earplugs, you would exceed the daily safe exposure limit for 121 decibels in 7 seconds.

There may be louder whistle on Thingiverse2 and, if so, please let me know.  I’ll print the model and test against the others in my arsenal.

Default Series Title
  1. This page has several charts to help explain. [↩]
  2. Or some other online 3D design repository [↩]

Loud 3D Printed Whistle Test, Take 2

Posted on by

Impatient for my decibel meter to arrive from Amazon and eager to get more feedback on the loudest 3D printed whistle, I brought the four loudest whistles to work and enlisted the help of two friends.  We performed the test much the same as the last time – only this time they were on one end of a large parking lot and I had driven to the far side to blow each whistle once, then repeated them each once.  Here’s the result on their subjective test:

NameThingiverse IDMass (grams)PricePrint Time (minutes)RankDecibels
Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle [v2]29330213.7$0.11181TBD
Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle [v1]29330213.9$0.12222TBD
2 chamber whistle (LOUD) [w5]26165128.1$0.24493TBD
v29 (Over 118 db!)117916013.9$0.42904TBD

Whether the1 loudest whistle is the v1 or v2 of the “Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle,” Thingiverse user whistleblower clearly designed an amazing, quick printing, low cost whistle.  It has a very high pitched piercing tone that can be downright painful to be near, let alone create. 2

As before there’s a number of different things that could be happening here.  Perhaps the particular tone of this whistle travels better through open spaces (such as a parking lot) rather than through a door and down a hall (such as inside my house).  I know there are some whistles that require a lot of blowing power to hit maximum volume and others which almost “choke” on too much pressure.

In two days my decibel meter will arrive and I’ll try all of these tests again and post a new table.  If you think you’ve got a contender or have seen a really loud whistle on Thingiverse, let me know in the comments so I can print and test it.

Default Series Title
  1. Subjectively [↩]
  2. Again, I had my earplugs in for the test [↩]

Loudest Whistle on Thingiverse… The Answer Might Surprise You!

Posted on by
You'll need a pair of these earplugs

You’ll need a pair of these

Whistles have been a staple on Thingiverse for years, probably because they’re such a small, simple, and impactful way to demonstrate the usefulness of a 3D printer. 1 I don’t know how many there are, but there are a LOT of whistles on Thingiverse.  I’ve been curious about which whistles on Thingiverse are the loudest and conducted a semi-scientific experiment to figure this out.

Six whistles

Six whistles

I say “semi-scientific” because I don’t have a decibel meter.2 My methodology was to have my family at one end of the house while I went to the other side, closed the door, put in my earplugs, and wailed away on six whistles as hard as I could.  In any case, here’s my findings:

NameThingiverse IDMass (grams)PricePrint Time (minutes)RankDecibels
Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle [v1]29330213.9$0.12221TBD
2 chamber whistle (LOUD) [w5]26165128.1$0.24492TBD
Extremely loud and compact emergency whistle [v2]29330213.7$0.11183TBD
v29 (Over 118 db!)117916013.9$0.42904TBD
Emergency Whistle with Solidworks 2014 source4951721.2$0.0475TBD
Whistle Ring Modified [v2]20271151.6$0.0596TBD

I added a few columns that may (or may not) be of interest to you.  I indicated the weight of each whistle, because sometimes I want to know how many whistles I could produce off a single spool of plastic.3  Sometimes I want to produce the loudest whistle for the time I have to produce a whistle.4  I showed the cost per model5 , because it brings me so much joy to know I can make my daughter’s classroom louder than a jet engine for less than the cost of a pack of gum.

I know there are a number of important variables are are simply not addressed in this test.  Different frequencies sound louder or might be easier to hear through the door.  I tried to blow each whistle the same amount, but some whistles are louder with less forceful or more forceful blows.  Once that decibel meter shows up, I’ll be sure to post another update.

Default Series Title
  1. Photo by mosambers [↩]
  2. Yet.  At <$20 on Amazon, you can be sure I’ll be adding actual readings soon [↩]
  3. With careful design, approximately 2,500 whistles per kilogram of plastic [↩]
  4. The v2 of this whistle is the clear winner [↩]
  5. Assuming a spool costs about $30, shipped [↩]

MOAR WHISTLES

Posted on by

The other day I was trolling Thingiverse1 looking for the best quick-printing model to show off DIY 3D printing to 3rd graders.

After a bit of searching, I found it: the simple whistle.

There are whistles a-plenty on Thingiverse, but the DarkAlchemist remix of the muddtt Emergency Whistle is easily the smallest by far.  I compared these two against several other options, tossing all of them into my slicing program and doing a visual double-check for good measure.

Emergency whistle, clear PLA as designed by DarkAlchemist

Emergency whistle in clear PLA as designed by DarkAlchemist

There’s no doubt about it – these are SMALL.  They are less than 2.7cc2 and weigh about 1.2 grams a piece.  Best of all, they print very quickly.  Printing just one whistle with 0.2mm thick layers, including printer warm up time, took 7 minutes.  10 whistles at once?  Only 47 minutes.

Naturally, I took the opportunity to print up 20 more whistles.  This is what 30 whistles looks like:

THIRTY emergency whistles, clear PLA as designed by DarkAlchemist

THIRTY emergency whistles in clear PLA

That got me thinking – could they be even smaller?!

Turns out they can.  I redesigned the whistle in OpenSCAD with a hacky thickness adjustment.  In doing so I discovered that the existing designs on Thingiverse used 1mm thick walls.  A one-millimeter wall thickness is pretty good if you have a small part that needs to be sturdy – but a bit of an overkill if you just need a small functional quick-printing thing.  By removing the little loop at the end of the whistle and creating a wide hole in the top of the whistle, I reduced a fair bit of plastic while keeping the ability to be connected to a cord.

I exported a version with 0.5mm thick walls and a copy with 0.4mm thick walls.  Printed at 0.2mm layers the 0.5mm thick walled version was functional – but the 0.4mm thick walled version was not.  The layers didn’t fully overlap, causing small gaps which prevented the whistle from making any noise.  Printing the 0.4mm thick walled version at 0.1mm layers3 turned out both beautiful and functional.  Best of all, they’re 1/3 the weight of the 1mm version!4

Three emergency whistle in black ABS as remixed by MakerBlock

Three emergency whistle in black ABS as remixed by MakerBlock

A friend recently suggested that his plastic filament supplier of choice ships via Amazon Prime for a ridiculously low $22-23 per kilogram.  Ignoring the amortized cost of the robot and electricity, I could make about 2,500 whistles for about 0.88 cents a piece!

Now, just imagine the following scene.  I take my HedonismBot ((As my MakerBot Replicator 1 Dual Extruder is named)) to my daughter’s third grade class.  I show off the robot printing a single whistle and call a random student up to test it.  Thank you, a pat on the head, and the whistle is yours!  Golly, I guess that’s the whole show everyone.  Oh, you want a whistle too?  Check under your desk.  You get a whistle!  You get a whistle!  You get a whistle!  You ALL GET WHISTLES!  What’s that?  Your sister is in second grade?  It just so happens it only took 80 hours of printing to make enough whistles for every damn student, teacher, and student teacher in the school.

MOAR WHISTLES.

  1. and Youmagine!  I can’t forget you Erik and Team Ultimaker! [↩]
  2. Close approximate dimensions: 8mm x 8mm x 42mm [↩]
  3. Basically, twice the vertical “resolution” [↩]
  4. Just 0.4g each?! [↩]

Your argument is invalid.

Posted on by
A pink panther lady with Walt disney’s brainy-head bottle opener whistle!

A pink panther lady with Walt disney’s brainy-head bottle opener whistle!

Okay, Erik, my excuse is that I can’t help myself.  If someone asks me to do something ridiculous, I just can’t not do it. 1

But, man, who actually wants a pink panther lady Walt Disney’s brainy-head bottle opener whistle?  That’s just crazy, dude.  You can print out Pink Panther ladies all day long, but how the hell do you explain printing one of these to your wife?

  1. Can I misuse OpenSCAD, or what??? [↩]

New favorite test object?

Posted on by

The low profile whistle.

Not sure if it came out well?  If it whistles, it came out fine.  If it doesn’t, you need to tweak the profile more.  That’s a crazy dead simple non-subjective litmus test.  It’s a big-ish file, clocking in at 14 minutes, but this is for the “large” whistle.  I need to download the SCAD file and try out one of the small whistles.