My first prototype turkey call

[yoderjac]

As you can see from this Thread, I've taken up 3D printing for the colder months after hunting season is over. But still, hunting is creeping into my thoughts. Here is my first attempt at a turkey call:

It actually sounds pretty good to my ear. I simply took a hole saw and cut a hole out of a piece of acrylic. I measured it and then 3D printed the pot call. I've tried several different adhesives. The one in the video was JB Weld, but plastic weld seems to work just as well. Like any pot call conditioning it is important. It works with a normal wooden striker, but I'm now trying my hand at printing a striker as well. Time will tell if that works.

 

[1100LT20]

You’ll get a bird using it.

 

[yoderjac]

I'm one of the instructors for a turkey hunting workshop we teach a Quantico MCB each year. One of the sections of the class is calling of course. Our participants range from folks who are new to hunting through folks who have killed a gobbler or two to those who are quite experienced. Some of the other instructors in this class have completed grand slams and such. It is quite the crew of instructors.

At any rate, printing this rudimentary pot call got me thinking about the next class this upcoming March. We encourage folks to bring their calls to class for the calling section. So of the new folks don't have calls or they bought mouth calls and have no idea how to use them. While we do help folks learn to call on their mouth calls, it would be nice if folks could leave class with high confidence they can call adequately to kill a gobbler.

This got me looking into call building a bit deeper. While the first prototype pot call in the previous post video could certainly call in a turkey in the right hands, I find it very difficult to use. It has a small sweet spot that sounds right. I've never seen acrylic used as a striking surface on a pot call before and just wanted to try it. I see why acrylic is only used for strikers and sound boards now.

So, I decided to build a bunch of calls to take to class for participants to try and see if they can hear the difference. I bought some different striking surfaces, slate, aluminum, copper, and ceramic. The first series of calls I made were a simple design with no sound board. I was playing around with different body designs to make them easy to 3D print and functional.

I modified that basic body design to include a sound board post. I know acrylic is often used as a sound board, so I decided to try that first. I printed the first of these, epoxied in the sound board, and am waiting for that to cure before adding the striking surface. I plan to make pot calls with soundboards for each of the striking surfaces I have.

I'm now looking into printing trough calls. I think I have a basic design ready in Freecad. I ordered some slate for these. I'm interested to see how these sound. Most of these are built from wood with a router, but I don't see any reason I couldn't 3D print them.

I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

 

[yoderjac]

Here are some pictures. These have no sound board post or sound board in them. To my ear (which is pretty poor) they sound deeper than my latest version.

 

[yoderjac]

These pictures show the assembly of one with a sound board.

The pic above is the body without anything installed.

The pic above shows a black acrylic sound board epoxied to the sound board post.

The pic above shows the same call after an aluminum striking surface has been epoxied above the acrylic sound board. The sound board seems to raise the pitch and add some harmonics to the call.

 

[1100LT20]

Nice looking call. Any for sale?

 

[yoderjac]

I'm still experimenting with calls, and I don't think it makes sense as a for-profit venture. These are not the hand crafted wooden calls in exotic wood that can sell for $60 to $100 or more. They are 3D printed, so the artistic level is zero and they are more inline with the mass produced calls in esthetics. When you subtract out the cost of materials and consider I'd need to setup some kind of online payment system and worry about packing and shipping, I don't see any profit in it.

I'm probably better off sticking with building a few for friends. Now that I'm retired, I don't want a new job. If you would like one, I'd wait until after our March class and PM me. My hearing has diminished quite a bit. After some of the other instructors with better hearing get to play with them and give me some feedback, I'll be able to zero in on a design.

 

[1100LT20]

I’d love to call in a bird with one.

 

[yoderjac]

I’d love to call in a bird with one.

PM me with your mailing address in late March and I'll send you one. I'm sure I'll forget between now and then, so the PM will jog my memory.