Sandvik invented the unbreakable 3D printed guitar

Sandvik invented the unbreakable 3D printed guitar

For decades, rock stars have been keen on “falling” guitars, and Swedish-born guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen is the master. Sandvik Engineering decided to produce the world's first indestructible all-metal guitar for Marsten's stunts to test Sandvik's cutting-edge technology.

In the film, Mamming played guitar on an excited audience in a rock club on the outskirts of Miami... and tried his best to destroy the guitar.

As a world leader in materials innovation and manufacturing, Sandvik designed this unbreakable guitar to demonstrate the advancement, precision and sustainability of its technology.

“We don’t produce products for consumers, so people don’t realize that our approach is far ahead,” said Klas Forsstrm, president of Sandvik Mechanical Processing Group. “To create a guitar that is not bad for demanding musicians like Mamstin, this highlights our ability to cope with all the challenges of complex manufacturing.”

Mamstin was named one of the world's ten greatest electric guitar players by Time magazine, and is known for his superb performance and his anger at guitar. As a master of neoclassical heavy metal music, Mamstin has produced more than 30 albums and has fallen on the stage for more than 30 years.

"This guitar is really a cow! It is obvious that Sandvik has a great skill in their line. They are working, and I can imagine this at any time," said Mamstin. "The results are amazing. I use all the means, but I can't break it."

Sandvik engineers worked with Andy Holt, the famous guitar designer of Drewman Guitars, to match Mamstin's demanding musical standards and lightning-fast performance style.

"We have to innovate from start to finish. There isn't any part of this guitar that was a former product. It's really a work of art," Holt said.

The connection between the neck and the body is the weak point of all guitars. Sandvik solved this problem by milling the neck and the main body of the body as a whole. Holt said: "You can use the guitar as a hammer, it will not have any problems."

Several divisions of Sandvik have collaborated to create this instrument. When manufacturing the body using 3D printing technology, Sandvik uses the world's leading technology in the manufacture of metal powders and additive manufacturing. According to the design, the laser fuses the layers of material together on the fine titanium powder bed. Each layer is thinner than human hair and stacked to form the body of the guitar.

“Incremental manufacturing allows us to build highly complex designs through small-scale production,” said Sandvik's additive manufacturing engineer Amelie Norrby. “Additive manufacturing allows us to create lighter, stronger, more flexible parts whose internal structure makes it impossible to mill by conventional methods. This method is more sustainable because it can be taken as needed to maximize Reduce waste."

The neck and fingerboard of the guitar are made from Sandvik Cola with a piece of recycled stainless steel on a machine.

“Accuracy is critical,” says Henrik Loikkanen, a Sander Coromant machining process developer. “Our software is built on years of experience, providing us with tools and cutting data advice to help us mill multiple parts of the fingerboard to 1 mm thick, which is very challenging.”

The next challenge is to strengthen the fingerboard and neck as they extend to the body of the guitar. The solution takes a new ultra-light lattice structure sandwiched between the neck and the fingerboard of the guitar. Sandvik's latest innovation – the ultra-dual phase steel lattice structure is the world's strongest material for a given weight.

"Working together to solve more complex problems is an important step in the future," said Sandvik's product development expert Thomas Fosman. “The challenges our customers face are increasingly complex. We need to work with our partners and customers to contribute our expertise and innovate to meet these challenges.”