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Mouthpiece Engraver

🎷April 1, 2022

Automated 3D manufacturing tool for engraving custom text on woodwind instrument mouthpieces

Python Blender PrusaSlicer

Available on

Mouthpiece Engraver is an automated 3D manufacturing tool for personalizing woodwind instrument mouthpieces through custom text engraving. Built as both a Blender GUI addon and a command-line interface, the system converts user text into production-ready 3D geometry and exports STL files for 3D printing alongside GCODE files for direct manufacturing.

How It Works

The pipeline leverages Blender's Python API to programmatically generate text meshes, apply surface-mapping modifiers (Shrinkwrap, Boolean, Solidify), and optimize topology for clean printer output. The headless CLI workflow integrates with PrusaSlicer to automatically generate manufacturing instructions.

Files

  • MouthpieceEngraver.py — Blender GUI addon that allows users to select instrument type, engrave text, select color and finish, and export .STL files
  • MouthpieceEngraverScript.py — Command-line tool that generates .STL using headless Blender and .GCODE using PrusaSlicer CLI
  • config.ini — PrusaSlicer configuration settings
  • models/ — Contains .STL and .BLEND files for default mouthpiece models

Supported Instruments

  • Clarinet (Bb, Bass)
  • Saxophone (Alto, Baritone, Soprano, Tenor)

Usage

blender --background --python MouthpieceEngraverScript.py -- Saxophone_Alto josh

This generates .STL and .GCODE files for an Alto Saxophone mouthpiece engraved with the text "josh". Generated files are placed in the export/Saxophone_Alto-josh/ directory.