Reinventing the Bachi 2: Slow Progress

General
#1

It’s been longer than i planned before updating the bachido community so this is long due.

Firstly, i’ve designed a rudimentary handle and have sent it in to be 3d printed by the lovely men and women at Shapeways (the future of all small-scale production, highly recommend them). Here is a terrible image from Sketchup:

http://imgur.com/LeJ4pVS

Secondly, i’ve ordered sheets of Derlin (guitar pick material) in many different thicknesses, but none of them seem to replicate the strong yet flexible feel of a bekkou head. Once the handle arrives i’ll be trying out several layerings of these thin sheets in hopes of that working out. If not, i have some other plastics on hold in my research folder that i’m looking to experiment with.

The handle has quite a bit of fine tuning to go though. Right now i am prioritizing structural stability vs. hollowness (3d printing expenses go as a function of volume) and then making it aesthetically pleasing. The ‘grip’ material was just ordered and should be in within the week.

Sadly, university is not far off and the already slow progress on this project may be slowed further. I thank everyone for their interest and support and want to let the community know that this continual input of curiosity and creativity i’ve seen on the last post are encouraging.

Until next update then! See you all around the boards.

#2

So basically the plan is to get a mold of that 3D image and then you will add stuff to it to make an ergonomic grip?

#3

Not quite. The handle is pretty much done aside from some structural stuff in making it strong but hollow (and also allowing for adding weights)

the grip material is separate and will be stuck to the outside, although there may be a pinky groove yet (still not sure on that)

the ‘whale-tail’ blades will be made of whatever material i find that works and then either epoxied or somehow attached to the top of the handle mold.

#4

Great idea! If you want, I can help you with the 3D design. Are you using Sketch Up?

#5

Chris - They are starting to develop a new material that replaces ivory, and is virtually identical, except that you don’t have to kill anything to obtain it - I had seen this before on the news, and here is a news article. Just something to consider. :slight_smile:

#6

Veggie Ivory has been known to man for hundreds if not thousands of years. ive worked with it before. im thinking about it for the blades, my only issue is difficulty in shaping them (if we are mass producing) as well as the size limitation (comes from a palm nut, only about that big) but thanks for the tip, ill think more on it

#7

lol - I was just wondering how big they were - looked them up on Amazon, and they seem kind of small. Could they be glued together?

http://www.amazon.com/Woodcraft-Woodshop-Tagua-Nuts-5-piece/dp/B00AXX4T2E/ref=pd_sbs_misc_5

#8

fabian- might take you up on that! will send you a message

#9

Lorraine - a bit small for bachi, for sure, but maybe for koto tsume (plectra)??? :wink:

#10

Skpe has become a big problem over the years - I’ve never had so many problems with call dropping, crappy connections, unviewable pixelated videos, distorted sound, etc. For teaching, I’ve switched to ooVoo recently on the advice of a colleague. We’re having much better call/vid quality since the switch. So if you don’t currently have a Skype account, you might think of ooVoo as an alternate. (The free version does have a lot of ads, but it still works better than Skype, FaceTime or Google chat…)

#11

ahh, okay, thanks Linda! I do use Google chat and Facetime with friends and hubby.

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