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Jon Yenulonis

Jon Yenulonis

Well-known member
Anyone else who has been known to partake of the turning machine...


The wonders of modern technology-


My duck hunter buddy, who also happens to work at the same high school where my wife works as a secretary, is a STEM, (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) teacher. Among his usual duties as a teacher, he gets to "play" with all of the new wave technological machinery at his disposal. One of these "toys" is what is known as a 3-D printer.


Well, it didn't take long for his wheels to start a spinnin'. After a little messing around, here's a couple things he came up with-


First a basic, WORKING Duck Call-


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Next up is a WORKING Wood Duck Call, rather appropriately modeled on one of our placemats adorned with it's namesake.


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While both are made entirely out of the 3-D Printer material plastic, the Mallard call sounds a little toyish, while the Wood Duck call is almost spot-on. He's presently working on making some duck heads for his decoys. I don't know a lot about this modern technology, but apparently, he is limited in the materials used in the machine.


I've actually heard of guys making working handguns out of these printers. THAT is a scary thought...


Just though I'd have a little fun and share.


Jon
 
This is very cool, Jon. I have been trying to follow along with the 3-D printers and modern medicine. I like what you friend is doing. Fun to see what one's imagination can do if you allow it to.
Al
 
Like anything, there is a bottom end and an upper end.

The upper end can turn finished parts in more materials at much higher cost.

Lower end can turn rough parts and proof of concept prototypes at lower cost.

My daughter just entered Middle School and will be working with these.... and her home room advisor is her STEM teacher.... and conferences are tonight.... never thought I'd look forward to conferences!!! :-)
 
That's some very cool stuff....as a recovering teacher, I love seeing this stuff in the schools.
BTW, if you think the 3D printing of composite guns is wild, check out the metal laser sintering process (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_metal_laser_sintering). My company has a metrology division (hyper-accurate measurement using GPS and other technologies) that can scan a mechanical object, reverse-engineer a 3D CAD model from it, and output it to one of these machines. That means the capability of printing metal guns...not just composite.
I ain't even old yet, and the technology is already freakin' me out! Although, this probably has some good long-term implications for protecting gun rights.....unless they're going to make you hold an FFL to own a 3D printer.....
 
A coworker of mine who is now "retired" really immersed himself into 3d printing. He is not a duck hunter but A couple years ago after he purchased his printer he asked me if anybody would be interested in getting decoys made from a 3d printer. I told him I doubt it since I doubt he could compete with cheap china plastic decoys, but heads maybe if the finish could be smoother and they would take paint. There are 3d scanners available and he wanted to know if anybody who carved would be willing to send a head to him and then he could scan it and make copies on the printer. That way you order up a dozen heads from your original. 3d printing has come a long way in the past few years and is only getting less expensive with higher quality parts. I have considered getting one for home. My kids would use the crap out of it and so would I. When we purchased on for work I drew up a custom dust collection port for my Grizzly bandsaw that fit under the table. Worked pretty good to.
 
Yeah, they're cool. But they're ugly and have little to no aesthetic appeal. And where's the tradition? I think I'm safe from that technology...different niche in the market. Thanks for the head up on the competition though.

The guy that does some of my engraving actually made a fly reel using a 3D printer. I don't know if he ever got around to using it or not, it was pretty neat to see it though.

So how do they sound anyway?
 
Steve,

There is no comparison whatsoever with the quality of calls you and others on here make and the one I posted about. This post was meant to be somewhat informative, yet fesicious.

I would never really attempt to put them in the same class.

The Mallard call didn't sound much like a Mallard, more like a Teal. But then, it was all made entirely out of the same material. With a proper reed however...

The Wood Duck call on the other hand, is more like a whistle and sounds pretty good.

Jon
 
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