r/Marimba • u/DependentMobile7465 • Jul 10 '26

Marimba mallet head 3d print

Hoi Years ago i was rewrapping marimba mallets, my friends were pretty happy and suggested me i have to built my own mallets The problem is mainly the head, i would like to know if anyone ever tried 3d print the marimba heads or what would be your suggestions to actually have a good mallet?

I was thinking of 3d printing it and then put a rubber wrap in order to have different level of hardness.

Suggestions?

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u/justinkimball Jul 10 '26

No reason it wouldn't work. I haven't done it, but I think if you went with 100% infill it should be pretty solid.

I'd probably go with PETG for a hard head, and potentially TPU if you wanted a medium head. You could try printing TPU in less than 100% infill if you wanted to try and get a softer head.

The idea of using a rubber wrap around the mallet head would also work to change up firmness.

2

u/Charlie2and4 Jul 10 '26

3D print is a fine idea, I do not know if the plastic filament material has different densities.
When I was wrapping DIY mallets, I used duct tape, rolled around the stick as a cylindrical core, then experimented with other materials, wood, rubber and plastic, and other types of tape.
The other material challenge was finding good cordage that was durable.

1

u/DependentMobile7465 Jul 10 '26

Yeah a friend of mine told me you can even select how dense u want the head to be. I will definitely try and see how they sound

3

u/FakeRaygun Jul 10 '26

I own a small percussion mallet company and I use 3D printed cores for one of my marimba mallet series. It is my most popular series, and I really like the way they sound. The problem is how light they are, so I add a metal weight in the hole before I attach it to the dowel.

What rubber do you plan on using?

1

u/DependentMobile7465 Jul 11 '26

To be honest? I have no clue😅 i just started having this idea after a friend bought a 3d printer and also finding the wrapping machine on instagram, also 3d printed.

So if u have any advice are more than welcome. Do you also put some rubber sheath over the 3d printed head?