High school students creates violin on 3D printer

LAKE ELMO, Minn. – A science class in Minnesota could help music programs around the country.

Students are using a 3D printer to make musical instruments they designed on a computer.

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Jennah Slayton, a high school junior, created a plastic violin to conduct an experiment on sound waves in her physics class.

The violin parts were made one at a time inside a lab at a high school in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.

Slayton chose the design online, monitored the printing and then assembled the violin.

“It has a potential to be a way for more students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford a violin to get a student a starter violin,” Slayton told CBS affiliate WCCO.

It could also help school districts who have been forced to cut music programs due to funding issues. The materials to make the violin on a 3D printer cost about $40. A wooden violin, by comparison, would cost about $3,500.