Video: MIT Media Lab Prints Out a Sweet-Sounding Flute with a 3-D Printer

MIT Media Lab's Rapid Prototyped Flute
Popular Science (1/5, Dillow) reports on a "fully-functioning" flute that "was created via 3-D printer with a minimum of human assembly" at the MIT Media Lab. Using an Objet Connex500 rapid prototyper, "the flute was constructed from a few different materials – a rigid material for the body, a softer one for the mouthpiece, another for sealing the air in at the proper places – during a print run of about 15 hours." When printing was complete, "the finished product was in four pieces, which simply had to be rinsed of supporting materials and assembled by hand (the springs were the only element added after printing)."