Hello, new member here (Art Deco Open Theremin)

Hi everyone,

I'm a Paris-France based composer and sound engineer. I got interested in the theremin for more than 15 years, but without serious practice.
I know this forum for a very long time but I never registered.

I've had a beautiful KeesEnkelaar Theremin for years. It wasn't a great instrustrument, and played by a not great player, the results were obviously not great.
Last year I got an Open Theremin (v4.5) in the hope of level up my practice. Though it's a much better instrument, I feel i'm struggling with technique but also with technical issues (how to get something stable, how to get rid of the background noise). I'll post my issues here and hopefully I'll have some help from experimented people.

I'm also a 3D printing enthousiast, so I made an enclosure for my instrument. It may be the time to solve my problems and go improve my theremin technique. Here's a picture.

Nice to see you here. Cheers

Francesco, welcome to Theremin World.

In the world of the theremin (every model!) a good earth is needed.
You have no idea how many weird problems can be attributed to not having a good earth.

Obviously every model has it's idiosyncrasies (linearity, sensitivity etc etc etc) so essentially, you just have to work within the functionalities of the model you have, which means...stick with it and don't give in!

I love your Art Deco thang!

Welcome,

The enclosure is beautiful! Would you be willing to send me the STL file? If not that totally ok but, I have a printer and would love to print it if I get a v4.5 down the road.

Thank You RoyP! 

You have no idea how many weird problems can be attributed to not having a good earth.

I read a lot about it over the years. The topic will probably show up in the thread I started about my sound issue: 
http://www.thereminworld.com/Forums/T/34065/open-theremin-v45-technical-issuesqestions?post=224862#224862

I'll try to stick to it but I'd like very much to solve my problems 

Thank you also Trymeinchess!

Would you be willing to send me the STL file?

Absolutely. But:
- I made this a while ago and I remember having struggled to fit the exact dimensions. I may even have ended tweaking the file in the slicer... I'll have a look the weekend in my drives and I'll probably find 15 versions, so I have to figure out which one whas right and how off it is. 
- I didn' plan any vent, and it may be the cause of an instability issue. I'm running some tests. It would be cool that I add this feature.
- It's a pain to print. The box itself is printed with wood-PLA that I dyed afterwards (but feel free to use whatever you like). It's a modification of the official enclosure stl file. The moher-of-pearl effect layer is just silk white PLA, printed with a .2mm nozzle. I had many failures with my Ender3 before getting a good one, because of the lower part design which is very thin. It may work better with my new Bambulab A1. 
- The knobs are printed too, then dyed and clear-coated, but they're not so great to deal with. It would be better to get pre-made metal knobs, but I remember I didn't find the ones that fit (both technically and aesthetically)

With this in mind, I think I should work a little bit more before sharing the design (I like to share things that are working and fine-tuned). But If you like I can share the files as they are now.

I'm thinking about making a bigger enclosure to fit my old KeesEnkelaar's antennas, that are much bigger (etherwave-like) and that give a feel of stability, even though it's purely psychological. It could be a step in my problem solving process. But I'd like to keep this design idea. 
So... a lot a work to do.

Oh there's also a backplate btw, which I'm a bit proud of
All the best

You deserve to be proud of that! And I’d prefer to wait for the finished file anyway because I’m completely helpless in CAD…

Similar to you I have an Ender 3 pro. When I bought it, it was a top-of-the line budget reliable printer. Nowadays compared to newer stuff it is COMPLETELY outdated with stuff that’s the same price  (looking at you bambu lab lol)

One of the reasons I didn’t want to purchase the v4.5 was actually the look compared to other theremins like the burns b3 deluxe. I looked on thingiverse a little bit ago and couldn’t find any shells I like. But your design is great imo, I really like the vintage feel.

Whelp, now I’ve found one
Share the files when you finish them! No rush though, I’ll be here.

Get a standard A1. Not so pricey and soo great ! I've got it without combo (color printing wastes too much plastic for my taste).

Anyway, thanks. I'm working an a new enclosure now, I want to use my thicker antennas. But I'm going to do what I said, I'll chack all my files to have something sharable. Good if you're not in a hurry 

Congratulations for your new theremin !

So there are french thereminists in Paris. 

Bienvenue sur Thereminworld  et félicitations pour ton boîtier art déco ! 

I'm not sure I would 100% qualify as a thereminist 
Merci André !

I'm not forgetting I have to clean up my design. I'll keep you posted

Ok so, as I was advised to add some ventilation, I started to rebuild something around my previsous design.

One thing I also wanted to do is using the antennas I had from my retired KeesEnkelaar theremin. Belive it or not, I feel much more comfortable with them.
It is probably physchological, but thick antennas give a sensation of stability and are a much pleasant to play. Isn't it wierd ?

Here are some pictures. 
The case is made with a 5.99€ wooden tea bag box. I've taken off the lid and stained it. The Open theremin face plate is the one you can see on my previous posts. There's also a 3D printed backplate with vent openings and a mic stand adapter srewed on it.
I may redesign the face plate, I think there is too much decoration on the center because the rest is so simple. 
What do you think, should I try a simpler, neater design ? Or maybe I'll stick with it and save my time

Now, I need your help.

I made 3D printed knobs but I don't like them, the'yre a bit wobbly. Unfortunately, I can't use standard 6mm shaft knob caps, they're too tight. There must be missing like 1 or 0.5mm on the center hole. 
2 possible solutions : 
1/ find the right size pot caps, but since it's not stabdard I suspect there will be few options and I may not find a design that fits.
2/ replace the four plastic pins that go into the pcb's pots. The ones that are visible on the pics and that are provided with the OT kit. Do you have any resources on that ? 

Another thing : I've lost a part of the Kee's antennas. It's the pitch antenna nut. And since I'm in France, the threading standard is different. (Kees' theremin was build in Australia...) I've tried to 3D print the right nut, I came close but didn't find the right size/threading combo.
Any clues here ? I know ot may be hard to know just from a picture but maybe there is common use in the theremin building community ? 

This is the nut I miss :

And this is the thread:

I've learned a lot concerning therading standard : UNC, UNF, UNEF (UNified Coarse, Fine, ExtraFine)
This is close to UNEF 5/8' and UNEF 9/16'
I'm getting technical here...

Many thanks!

I suggest that you cut the volume antenna to recuperate one of the nuts for the pitch antenna.
The volume antenna does not need to be attached with both ends to the enclosure.
Many theremin have their volume antenna connected this way.

P.S. Your encloser is very nice as is, except for the modern Philips mounting screws ! 
You should find another way to attach the art déco plate to the enclosure.
Or find art déco screws !