Re: Making Music Box Cylinders
By Robbie Rhodes
To Larry Smith and Peter Smakula. I'm a bit perplexed -- what is really your goal: to make a cylinder of music or to develop brand-new techniques?
In digest 950802 Larry says, "this is the 90's and we can do better [than a hand-made instrument]." But in digest 950807 you say you want to build the music box by hand, and hint that you don't want to address the costs of doing the job with minimum labor and commonplace machine tools. Why not? There are capable and modern machine shops in every community; you just pay for their services and get the job done.
The experienced engineers I spoke with agree that numerical controlled (NC) machining is the most economical way to produce a music cylinder, and for a single (custom) job the pins can be installed by hand. These same engineers also enjoy old cars, old clocks and old-tyme music machines, and they all agree that music box collectors aren't likely to accept a music cylinder that isn't made of brass with steel pins.
Your original topic -- using computer technology to make new music cylinders -- has indeed aroused interest, and I'm sure that Danilo Konvalinka and others performing serious restorations will be very interested in a cost-effective method.
If you will provide the information (dimensions & tolerences, etc.) to completely describe a typical music cylinder, then I can get you the cost of making it. The finished product should satisfy the most critical customer, and the cost of producing the music cylinder will easily be recovered in the increased value of the restored music box.
Best regards,
Robbie Rhodes <rhodes@foxtail.com> 8 August 1995
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(Message sent Wed 9 Aug 1995, 05:01:42 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.) |
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