It's been a decade since Lindstruments launched the #3DDrones home 3D printable Scottish Highland Bagpipe drone set, and a lot has happened in the worlds of 3D printing, 3D printed musical instrument making & design, piping, and Scottish traditional music in that time.

Lindstruments can lay fair claim to being a world leader within the emerging industry of 3D printed musical instrument design. Our flagship musical instrument design, the Lindsay System Chanter, has been featured in the soundtrack of a number of award-winning mainstream movies, and has graced the airwaves on BBC Radio innumerable times & across many of their channels both local and national (not to mention appearing on a host of other stations across the world). In Scotland, the instrument has been featured several times on local and national television, and has been a focus of many newspaper articles.

Within its short 10 years of existence, the Lindsay System has become a primary focus for a small and growing core of professional and touring musicians. These musicians have produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums and EP recordings, while at the same time featuring the Lindsay System Chanter as a guest instrument on many more, and two of its earliest and most significant prototypes (The Rainbow Set of Pollok, and A' Phìob Ghrianaich) being incorporated into the Museum of Piping, at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.

All the while, slightly more under-the-radar, the #3DDrones file set has created its own minor phenomenon within the world of piping. Based originally on a survey of the dimensions of a selection of late 19thC and early 20thC Scottish Highland Bagpipe drones, and profiled after the style of the designer's own father's late 19thC drone set - maker to date unknown, despite their having been given a look over by experts in Glasgow, so a unique profile to match the uniqueness of #3DDrones - Donald WG Lindsay's original 2014 file set remains unrivalled and has been widely printed and iterated on. The characteristic profile provides an easy way to spot pipes based on Donald's design - and there are many.

The most talked-about thing, amongst pipers, when it comes to 3D printed bagpipes has been the surprisingly good sound they can offer. This we believe, is entirely due to the fact that most 3D printed bagpipes being played today can trace their heritage to the #3DDrones file set. 

Come back to the source, and print yourself a set of pipes directly from Donald WG Lindsay's original. Designed and prototyped in Glasgow, Scotland, by the inventor of the Lindsay System Scottish smallpipes.

Accept no imitation, buy from the maker, and support the development of new work of a quality equal to, or greater than that which you can already find on this site.

--------

The #3DDrones Highland Bagpipe drone set is supplied digitally in the form of STL files, which when printed with a 3D Printer, will produce all parts required for a full set of Highland Bagpipe drones, including stocks and blowstick.

The files supplied are suitable for use on any 3D Printer with a z limit of 100mm or above.

Here is a video of a printed & fully finished set being played ;

(The sound quality of this video could be improved - better recordings to follow)

Full instructions are included with the set. Bag, reeds, chanter and accessories such as drone cords and bag cover are not included - this is a set of STL files, no tangible or 'hard copy' products are included with this set.

* Please note, to get the most from these files once you've printed them, you'll need access to some hand tools. In particular, hand reamers (adjustable or otherwise) to cut 8mm, 9mm, 11mm, 14mm, 17mm, 18mm and 19.5 to 20mm. As noted elsewhere, all parts are around 100mm in length, and it's recommended that they're reamed before being assembled into longer lengths. You'll also need an adhesive, ideally high-strength & gap filling, suitable for the plastic you choose to print. If you'd like to hand finish the outside of your pipes, you'll also need sandpaper, or other means of doing this.

* Additional Note, Sunday 21st June 2015 - the file set supplied is now in a revised version, Revision 001 (3DDronesRev001.zip). The most important changes are noted in the ReadMe, and also as annotations to the construction video on YouTube. 

Guidance for printer users : (more detailed guidance is available upon purchase, in a ReadMe doc)

All parts *must* be printed at 100% infill, to allow part finishing, and reboring if desired.

This set is optimised for printing using a 'desktop' style 'FFF" (Fused Filament Fabrication) printer of the RepRap family. The modular design makes the manufacture quite challenging, and introduces the danger of air leaks (care must be taken at all stages to avoid this), however it maximises the accessibility by allowing the set to be printed on some very basic machines, and equally by speeding up print times on some of the larger machines. The print times for parts in this set can be pretty incredible, and finishing and assembly will take as long - don't expect to be playing your pipes tomorrow, or even next month to be honest :)

ABS or PLA can be used, PLA is recommended for toughness if the pipes will be "out and about". Be sure to calibrate thoroughly, good layer adhesion is worth the effort to ensure you have a strong set of pipes.

Assembly will require some hand finishing of parts. In particular, reamers will need to be used for certain bore sizes, detailed in the assembly videos, in order to clean the inside surfaces. Reaming ensures clear tone, and smooth functioning of tuning slides and stock joints. If desired, the outside of parts can also be finished to a surprisingly ebony-like sheen using progressively higher grades of wet & dry. Care will need to be taken with the beading & combing, although sanding can impart an 'aged' look to the pipes, which does have something going for it :)

These drones are based not on a single set, but on a survey of a wide range of available measurements & plans, and a prototyping process which was intended to produce a mellow, smooth toned set of drones modelled in proportions on sets from around the turn of the 19th/20th Century. As with the Qwistle however, the final tone and quality of your set will really be up to you, and the tools you use.

Here is the video assembly guide for this set ;

Files can be downloaded immediately following payment.