MakerBot Thingiversity’s Fall Steam Challenge, the Make It Loud! Challenge, winners have been announced and the decision process must have been difficult given they received 215 submissions, answering the call:
“Create an amazing design that makes sound. Entries must be 100% 3D printed and require no additional parts. Winning designs can receive assistance (i.e. hands, breath), but the sound must be generated by the printed object. Designs that amplify existing sounds (i.e., bullhorns) are ineligible. Be inventive, test and iterate, and make it loud!”
Anything that can make noise was fair game in the competition, and it ends up that the winner is a surprisingly simple, small contraption that makes a relatively large sound: it’s a whistle. The V29 survival whistle by Joe Zisa, also known as the Make It Loud V29, is one of three different whistles that won a category in this year’s competition.
This whistle is rugged, easy to carry and make, and it gets its name from the fact that the winning design is the 29th version. That’s 29 different times trying to get the design perfected, and it appears that Zisa’s has done just this with this in his many hours of research and testing. Here is Zisa’s summary of some of the whistle’s features:
“The design is meant to look as clean and simple as possible while still looking like a whistle. It was also designed to be easily gripped with thick gloves or cold hands. It has a raised lip on the bottom and grips on the top to allow you to hold it securely in your mouth even if you are blowing as hard as you can. There is a hole in the back for a key ring or lanyard so you can wear it around your neck or attach it to your zipper or keychain.”
Another great feature of the whistle is that it has two distinctive chambers that create a two-toned sound. This sound sounds like a pea whistle’s shrill sound instead of the flat sound of a single-tone whistle. It is also loud, as has been recorded getting as high as 118.7 decibels.
There’s a third whistle design that also won this competition. Best Artistic Design went to Adam Stag’s chirping bird whistle that produces a high pitched sound. When water is added, you can also create chirping melodies with this whistle that mimics birds.
For Wildest Design there’s Pierre-Marie PLET’s 3D Dream Drum, and for best Documented Design there’s a High Revolution Jet Turbine from 
Nadav Goshen, MakerBot’s President, summarizes the challenge’s purpose:
“As more people join Thingiverse, this challenge showcases a diversity of ideas that is unparalleled on other platforms. 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.”
Whistles are a big winner in this year’s Make It Loud! competition, and all designs used a Creative Commons license “so others can use and remix designs.” A MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer was awarded as the top prize, and filament and a Bleep Labs Pico Paso was awarded to all of the runners up.
Congratulations to all of the winners in the Make It Loud! Challenge. Discuss your favorite entries in the 3D Design Contest forum over at 3DPB.com.