Wesley's Tool-Box

Musical instruments must be shaped and tuned right to have proper sound coming out of them. If a 3D design of an instrument is shaped right, a 3D printer that can accurately reproduce it would make a properly working version, then. Makibox had been working reasonably, provided that I don't push it too far. So I wanted to see if it was up to the challenge. The result is what you see here.

Looks alright, doesn't it? But can it make any sound at all? I'll let you see (and hear) for yourself with this video.


Read on to see the steps taken to make one.

A 3D printer needs a host software that sends various commands for printing. In the case of Makibox, an in-house developed one called 5DPrint does this. It's made as a Chrome web app, which runs on top of the Chrome web browser, and thus supports multiple platforms.

Unfortunately, a recent Chrome update seems to have broken the data communications to the printer, and many users are reporting that 5DPrint no longer recognizes the printer, including myself. Luckily, there are other, more capable host software out there. One of them is Repetier-Host.


As you can see, it has no problems making Makibox work. However, a bit of configuration is necessary. Read on to find out.