Music Box Cylinders, an update
By Larry Smith
Well, I've been bopping around the newsgroups gathering information, and I thought I'd summarize it for the interested.
The general consensus of opinion on rec.crafts.polymer- clay is that the clay is more decorative than structural, and certainly not up to holding pins in musical box cyl- inder. Actually, it was a bit stronger than a consensus, I'd say. =) So, scratch that idea. As far as I can tell, ye olde metal-cylinder-and-pins is the only reasonable way to go.
rec.crafts.metalworking has lots of useful information, and are very willing to host a discussion about musical box reproductions. They are unanimous in recommending a Sherline mill and lathe for doing such work, it's designed for producing _extremely_ precise parts that are not very big - but they should be quite adequate for all but the biggest boxes. They also have optional NC for computers, which put them into the $700-$1000 range. Is this the system someone on this list had in mind when they recommended NC? It certainly seems like it could handle everything short of the actual pinning.
A lot of useful information is also lurking in some related mechanical disciplines. I will be picking up some information on clocks and orreries, both also interests of mine, that documents methods of producing gearworks of considerable sophistication, and even touch on musical and chiming movements. If any of it seems to bear directly on mechanical music, I will, of course, post pointers. Shall I post a summary of this research to this list? It won't be directly automatic music related, but it might be of use to some like me that are looking for all related information for proj- ects of their own, and it shouldn't be very long.
I heard about Charles Hind from Nancy Latti at Panchronia Antiquities as a well-known gentleman producing modern music boxes the equal of antiques, and I notice he is hosting a workshop at the convention. Luckily, my wife and I were planning a trip to Walt Disney World this October, so it looks like I might get to meet him. I _have_ joined MBSI - at least, I sent them money. Can anyone here confirm that my membership has been processed and whether I need anything to confirm my membership before I go down there? I would be really annoyed to show up after travelling 1800 miles and re-arranged a whole vacation only to be denied entrance because the application was lost or something. Perhaps there is a phone number I can call to get positive closure?
I think that's it for now.
regards,
Larry Smith |
(Message sent Mon 14 Aug 1995, 19:31:19 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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