RubberLyre

Have you ever wanted to play with an harp, but it's too difficult and expensive?
Have you ever find yourself plucking some rubber bands?

Then the RubberLyre is what you are looking for!

Here's how it sounds: Soundcloud

Cut the rubber bands, tie them to the pegs, screw in the tuning peg and you're done! It's that simple!

Lyre height: 28cm

.F3D and .STEP files included

What you do need for this project:

• 10 rubber bands; the diameter doesn't matter since you need to cut them, but the wider they are, the lower they'll sound.
• 1 x M6 countersunk screw length 35-45mm
• 1 x M6 nut;
• 2 x 4mm countersunk screw for wood or metal length 20mm
• 1 x 4mm countersunk screw for wood or metal lenght 30mm

For each tuning peg you'll need: (multiply everything by 10 pegs)

• 2 x M3 screw, length 30-40mm;
• 2 x M3 nuts (5mm wide so they can fit inside the tuning peg);
• 2 x M3 threaded inserts (one for the palette, one for the peg);
• 1 rubber band

Estimated print time: 18h total

Estimated spool consumption: 320-350g

Slicing tips: you can use lesser infill (e.g lightning infill on Cura) for most of the body piece. Make sure to slice stronger infill around the threads and the holding peg slots. You can use a higher layer height.

Assembling the lyre:

• Use the M6 screw to join the body with the neck;
• Place the joint among the neck and the body and use the 3 screws to keep it in place (2 under the neck, 1 inside the body);
• Place the cover on the body;
• Insert the threaded inserts (brass colored in this example) in their slots under the neck;
• Insert the threaded inserts inside the tuning pegs;
• Insert the M3 nuts after the threaded inserts;
• Put another M3 nut below the neck and screw in the M3 screw through the neck, inside the tuning peg, while holding it in place. Make sure to make the screw going at least 10mm inside the tuning peg. Do not put the screw all the way inside, nor secure the external nut;
• Cut the rubber band and tie it through the tuning peg, then stretch it to the holding peg and knot the other end of the rubber band. Make sure that the rubber band is not completely loose, otherwise you'll need to wind the rubber band on the tuning peg too much and they'll block the surrounding pegs;
• Screw in the M3 screw to tune the band. Once it'll be in tune, lock the nut below the neck to prevent the peg from rotating;
• Play!