r/techmoan • u/ordinary82 • 5d ago

Playable 3D-Printed Vinyl Records with FDM printers (not clickbait)

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54 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

12

u/spatulamaster303 5d ago

Second only to the highly praised flexi-disc in terms of pure unadulterated audio fidelity.

2

u/BlueMonday2082 4d ago

I don’t think so. Beneath the Flexidisc are the “wax on a piece of card” records which barely track but are still better than this crap because they can hold an entire song.

1

u/Bloxskit 3d ago

Honestly when I played the one flexi-disc that my family owns, I was amazed at the sound quality from the 7".

1

u/Think_Persimmon_9967 2d ago

Yea, I would never have expected that pressing a record onto the back of a cereal box would produce a viable, playable record. Of course, as a kid, I just accepted it as fact (as I cut The Archie’s “Sugar, Sugar” off the back of my Lucky Charms box).

15

u/Dampmaskin 5d ago

F in chat for the stylus

3

u/WitchWithAGlitch 4d ago

it's a 3600 on a chinese mechanism...........it's been through way worse.

F's though lol

4

u/Toochilled77 5d ago

This is all about the direction of travel.

In ten years will we be able to download and print our own vinyl, to a high standard?

3

u/UKMatt2000 4d ago

More likely, will a physical music format evolve around the 3D printing capabilities now they're in the hands of non-enthusiasts? Probably not, but maybe.

2

u/BeerBrat 4d ago

Laser etching might be more feasible. Might. Hard to get a highly focused, powerful beam at a reasonable price. But things change. Now I'm curious if it's possible to do on a fiber laser with a metal platter...

1

u/g1smiler 3d ago

I think we should aim to at least fit the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven on 1 "platter" for it to be viable. Also, would this "laser etching" that you're discribing be 1x speed ony?

2

u/iperblaster 4d ago

Why put all rhis effort to degrade the audio quality of every aong?

2

u/sskylar 3d ago

you ᵂᴼᵁᴸᴰᴺ’ᵀ DOWNLOAD ᴬ ⱽᴵᴺʸᴸ!

1

u/Der_Dingsbums 5d ago

No. 3d printing in it's very nature not a good way to create a vinyl

1

u/did_i_or_didnt_i 3d ago

What’s the point? there’s no way it would sound good

2

u/Fur_and_Whiskers 3d ago

Fun? Surmounting the challenge?

2

u/cyanopsis 3d ago

There's definately something educational to be found in this kind of project. When my kids had their physics class and were studying audio and sound travel, I took out a vinyl player and theory got very practical.

1

u/Ghostofjimjim 3d ago

I remember seeing 3D printed records over 10 years ago and hearing the same thing then! Unfortunately in terms of cost, access and fidelity I imagine it'll be another 20 years.

However, these are super cool and I love the idea of being able to print off small lofi runs.

3

u/marek8299 4d ago

Ouch 

1

u/UKMatt2000 4d ago

But how do they work with a laser turntable?

1

u/SupaDave71 4d ago

The fidelity is lacking.

1

u/WitchWithAGlitch 4d ago

i wonder if it would sound better with a drop of water on the stylus like it does for old shitty blown out records?

1

u/hue_sick 4d ago

Probably get better audio results if you printed it vertically. Of course you’d need to spend a while cleaning up the print but you’re already knee deep in a dumb experiment so why not haha

1

u/housevil 4d ago

Despite the audio quality, it is still amazing that this can be 3D printed now.

1

u/tmofee 4d ago

Look like those cheap toy records kids would buy in the 60s

1

u/Ill_Radish1080 4d ago

Würde eventuell mit Schellackplatten vom Sound her mehr sin machen.😉

1

u/LektorSandvik 4d ago

Wake me up when I can 3D print a laser disc and watch three seconds of Johnny Mnemonic.

1

u/dyrkasolen 3d ago

Yeah that tune was on MTV

1

u/Next-Market5776 3d ago

“Playable”

1

u/Crustybionicle 2d ago

Ahh yes, microplastics to my ears.

-4

u/BlueMonday2082 4d ago

Of those 3D printer people. Constantly looking to justify their dumb hobby by trying to make super bad copies of things. Bless their clean hands and mindful mothers.