I decided to start trying out my laser cut ukulele idea, and for this homework I tried to get a rough prototype of the ukulele body – figuring out measurements and how the joints go together.

I started out making the drawings in AutoCAD because I find that it’s easier to work in with dimensions and angles and such. These 3 pictures are the first design of the ukulele body:

My first attempt at laser cutting the ukulele was half a success, half a failure. I got the general concept down, but I found out that my measurements didn’t account for the thickness of the wood and the way the joints met up at the weird angles. My first attempt is on the right, the smaller one, and the second attempt is on the left, the larger one.

 

You can see that the saddle didn’t fit into the cut holes on the top of the ukulele. This was intended to work like a T Joint.

Also, I didn’t realize the wood would be so thick, so the Finger Joints don’t line up very well either. The joints are too short and fit together really poorly.

For my second attempt, I scaled all the measurements up by 125%. This accounted for the thickness of the wood and the T and Finger joints fit together nicely now. However, there is still some awkward space dealing with the angles around the body, and I feel like the ukulele body is too large in my second attempt. I’ll try to combine the overall size of my first attempt with the specific joint measurements of my second attempt.