After more than 200 submissions, Joe Zisa’s “V29” survival whistle was selected as the winner of the the MakerBot Thingiverse Make it Loud Challenge. The challenge asked Thingiverse users to make the loudest thing they could, and the loudest creation would be selected as the winner. Whistles, drum machines and many other types of designs were uploaded in what was one of the most popular Thingiverse challenges in 2015.
“As more people join Thingiverse, this challenge showcases a diversity of ideas that is unparalleled on other platforms.” said Nadav Goshen, President at MakerBot. “For educators, this challenge teaches students how to take old ideas, and through multiple iterations, create something new. For users with more design experiences, this challenge is a chance to flex their creative muscle. Merging these two worlds is a prime example of why Thingiverse is so special.”
Zisa’s winning design of a survival whistle was his 29th iteration. As a piece of emergency equipment, it’s designed to be very loud. It can produce two slightly different tones with chambers on each side. The two different tones alternate between amplifying and canceling each other out. This variation creates the shrill, attention-grabbing sound that will not get lost as easily over background noise, like a simpler whistle could.
Best Designs in Other Categories
Best Artistic Design, Chirping Bird Whistle: This simple bird whistle was designed to produce a consistent high pitched sound when dry, but with some assistance (water) you can make unique chirping melodies. When you get tired of whistling it also doubles as a nice desktop ornament and conversation starter. They print nice and clean in PLA or ABS and produce the same chirping melody with no post processing.
Wildest Design, The 3D Dream Drum: The 3D Dream Drum looks silly, but it works. In a challenge where most of the submissions were whistles, this design really stood out. “While speaking with my children about what we could propose, one spoke about a piano, the second a drum, the last one about a trumpet. After few hours thinking about a potential result, we converged toward a drum, with hammers as drum sticks, and horn-shaped toms to amplify the sound.” To see this print in action go here.
Best Documented Design, High Revolution Jet Turbine: As we continue to encourage Thingiverse users to document their iterations, this design stood out. Each of the changes are well-documented and the physics behind the design are explained in way that most users will be able to understand.
Simplest Design, Whistle: The winner of the most simple design is Thingiverse user Carter Stensland, who created a stripped down standard whistle. It was chosen because it prints quickly, cleanly, and it gets loud.
As the world’s largest 3D printing community, Thingiverse encourages everyone to create and remix 3D things, no matter their technical expertise or previous experience. In the spirit of maintaining an open platform, all designs are encouraged to use a Creative Commons license so others can use and remix designs.
For pictures and more info about the winning designs, check out the MakerBot Thingiverse Make it Loud Page.