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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #42605 is a reply to message #42600 ] Mon, 23 January 2012 22:27 UTC |
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wow
that's such a fun way to use 3D-printing!
sounds pretty good as well! ^_^
adorable 3D-printed jewelry
facebook.com/tinypurpletreehouse
tinyblueapartment.blogspot.nl/
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #42625 is a reply to message #42600 ] Tue, 24 January 2012 01:30 UTC |
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I've wanted to do records pretty much since day one, but would have no idea how to make the right pumps to make the right sound. Glad to see someone get it working.
The Mad Moder
michael@shapeways.com
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #42656 is a reply to message #42600 ] Tue, 24 January 2012 16:14 UTC |
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Fantastic project! I would love to read details on how you figured out how to arrange the notes to get the timing right for triggering the tines and looping.
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #42660 is a reply to message #42600 ] Tue, 24 January 2012 16:54 UTC |
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Brilliant, love it.
V
[Updated on: Tue, 24 January 2012 21:44 UTC]
www.dotsan.com
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #42666 is a reply to message #42660 ] Tue, 24 January 2012 20:10 UTC |
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Thanks for the comments!
I've just seen that it's on BoingBoing as well...
@yipyop:
I will put together a proper blog post about it quite soon because it took quite a while to set up so it will take some explaining but...
I started with measuring out the discs that came with our player, they're injection moulded and all seem to have quite close tolerances which gave me a great interest in getting the right size for my model.
Once I worked out that it might be possible I moved on to setting up the notes so I could work out a tune. I spent quite a long time with a tone generator and a toothpick (driving my wife half crazy in the process) until I had worked out the frequencies of the notes that the music box part of the player could make. I made the tone generator in Processing using the Beads library.
I found that, although there are 22 separate notes on the music box there are only 16 unique notes, 6 are doubles. I've assumed that this is so that the notes can be played more quickly - due to the mechanism in the player 'tone arm' there's a risk of a missed note or jam if only one track is used and the pips (knobs? dots?) are too close together.
Once I had this information I made Processing sketches (Beads again) to make up new tunes and also check that I had the right notes by playing back one of the existing discs (good job I checked since I had two notes wrong...) with note positions copied from a photo of the disc.
Working out the new tune was complicated since there isn't a full chromatic scale available so some tunes simply can't be played even if you shift the key up and down, I wasn't able to get the rest of the 'Still Alive' tune, for example. The tune repeats twice around the disc and wraps so it keeps playing (for as long as the spring lasts)
Once the tune was done I had to transform from linear note positions which I'd used to work out the tune (the sketch looks like a music stave but with each line being a note on the available scale) into polar coordinates around the disc and verify the dimensions.
I create a blank disc by 'lathing' the vertex-by-vertex profile I measured using vernier calipers (analog technology FTW) around an axis in Processing and exporting it for later use.
The notes are added onto the blank disc by compositing some boxes that I generate in Processing from the notes with the pre-rendered disc which is stored as an STL file - here I used the Unlekker library for both export and import/combine/re-export.
Once this is done it can be uploaded directly in Processing to Shapeways.
...and believe it or not that's the short form and entirely skips my (mis)adventures in Blender, Autodesk 123D, Solidworks... I nearly got desperate enough to ask someone at work to set it up in CATIA for me 
Chris
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #42668 is a reply to message #42666 ] Tue, 24 January 2012 21:09 UTC |
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Thanks for the detailed info!
How about making a blank record and using some kind of removable note pins? It could useful to tweak and test potential tunes for new records.
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #42669 is a reply to message #42668 ] Tue, 24 January 2012 21:22 UTC |
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That might work; FD or FUD might have enough resolution to do it but you'd probably need to use metal for the pins - they're really small (about 1mm high x 1mm deep x 0.6mm thick) - and you'd probably still lose some precision in the note timing
Setting up a generic record might cut the cost to really play the tune though
Chris
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #42671 is a reply to message #42669 ] Tue, 24 January 2012 21:41 UTC |
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If a DIY adjustable pin solution could be figured out I would seriously consider buying a blank disc if it was available. 
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #48978 is a reply to message #42600 ] Sat, 26 May 2012 19:07 UTC |
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Hi. I recently had exactly the same thought about creating a new record for this old toy and only came across this afterwards.
I went for a CNC milled rather than 3D printed solution and generate gcode to mill the disc. I documented the whole build including code to edit and generate your own tune here.
I went for Stairway to Heaven for my first record. The theme from Star Wars may follow if I can get it sounding right. YouTube video of it playing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPQPNj8NbBA
By the way, the timing is out it's because the playing head is not aligned radially with the centre of the record - it's about 2mm out. At least mine was. As for why - I have no idea.
[Updated on: Sat, 26 May 2012 19:07 UTC]
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| Re: Fisher-Price Record Player Disc [message #49256 is a reply to message #48978 ] Fri, 01 June 2012 01:41 UTC |
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This is awesome! Great song choice too. I had one of these growing up. Good times.
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