Chimney Replacement Clarinet

 The tall tone holes on a clarinet are called chimneys. Since chimneys are sticking out of the body, they are likely to get chipped. Especially if it is a wood clarinet. To fix this, a tech has to drill out the old one and fabricate a whole new one. 


The first step is to take measurements of every portion of the origional chimney. Once I was confident that I didnt forget any, I used the drill press and got rid of the old chimney by drilling it out. 


To fabricate the new chimney from the measurements I took, I used a chunk of delerin plastic and the lathe. I first turned the piece of delerin down to the correct diameter for the base of the chimney. Then truned down the upper portion of the chimney making sure to have more length than I needed and drilled a hole to match the original one. 

        



Following that, I parted off the new chimney from the parent stock and made the end look nice. It looks like a tiny top hat! With that done I epoxied it onto the clarinet and let it cure.


Finaly, I used a flat boring bit to level the chimney with the one next to it, using my ruler as a gauge. 


I made sure there were no sharp edges and it was done! This project was super fun to work on and I’m super happy with how it turned out!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning to Replace Key Corks

Image
 To learn this skill the class was given each 3 different keys, the G#/C# key, the register key, and the low F#/C# key. Our task was to remove any old cork, and glue and trim new cork to replace it.  I forgot to take pictures along the way so this is all I have but I was very happy with how they came out. 
Read more

Flattening and Buffing My Pliers and Double Sided Pad Slick

Image
 When pliers come from the manufacturer, they are not perfectly smooth and they have ridges that could possibly damage any part that they touch. To fix this lots of sanding and buffing is required.  As you can see, they come with lots of ridges. These are my double ended pad slick, round nose pliers, small duckbill pliers, and large duckbill pliers. Note how you can not see a reflection in the duck bill pliers.  This is after a few minutes of sanding with 400 grit sandpaper on my flat surface.  This is done with 400 grit sandpaper. I was able to get most of the surface completely flat. It took forever to get all of the scratches out! This is after 600 grit. Ready for the buffing machine.  After the buffing machine I was able to get a mirror finish on most of my tools.  I was super happy with how they turned out!
Read more

Razor Blade Pad Slicks

Image
 Another project I got to do was make some custom pad slicks out of old razor blades. My professor had some templates that we traced onto the blades and cut out using a grinding wheel. The first thing we had to do was pry off the aluminum protective cover on the back of the razor blade.  Then I traced the design on the razor blade and cut it out using my grinding wheel making sure to get rid of any sharp edges. In order of pictures they are called The Egg, The Bird, and the last one I call The Funky L.  For this project we were done there but I decided to go a few steps further to make them look nice.  Since I had extra time I decided to put a mirror finish on the pad slicks with some hand sanding and the buffing wheels. I had a ton of fun with these, and they turned out pretty cool!
Read more

First Project! The Poker.

Image
Today we started our first project, a tool called a Poker.  These are all the tools needed to make it.  Step one is to perfectly flatten both ends of the plastic rod using a file and bench motor.  This portion took me a few minutes to get the hang of. Thankfully my previous woodworking skills helped me figure it out quickly.  Next I had to flat taper one side a half inch from the end to 1/4 in on the very end of the plastic. With that step done I now had to drill a hole in the center of the plastic rod but I forgot to take a picture of it. I assume you all can imagine what it would look like.  For the sharp part of the poker I used a saxophone spring.  On the flat end of the spring I used a grinding wheel to make a sharp point. This end will go into the plastic rod.  With that done I shoved the needle into the plastic rod, now the handle, and the project was complete. It was a good project to start with, not hard but a good way to get moving in the sho...
Read more

Tenon Recorking

Image
Tenon recorking was pretty fun to learn, it definetly takes a bit of time and precision but overall its not overly complicated. First I removed as much of the old cork and glue as I could. This was so the new glue would stick better.  Then I measured the width of the space the cork should fit in, marked it on the sheet of cork, and cut it to a longer length than I needed. I took the strip of cork and beveled one end of it at a rough 45 degree angle. With that done I softened the cork by squishing it in a smooth vice. This helps prevent the cork from cracking when you wrap it around the tenon.  Then a thin layer of contact cement was applied to the tenon, the back side of the cork, and the spot I beveled.  Once the glue had dried and was a bit tacky (contact cement will not cure if it is too thick) I stuck it onto the tenon and wrapped it around making sure that the seam will be at the back of the horn. Once fully wrapped around the tenon I went back around a few times pre...
Read more

Flute Headcork Assembly Fabrication

Image
 All flutes have a huge cork that is shoved in the far end of the headjoint, and pretty much all already have the assembly to go with it but my professor offered this as an extra project for me and I thought it looked like a lot of fun! The first thing I did was take a bunch of measurements from the model assembly that I was to copy and draw a model on paper so I had a visual to go off of. All headcork assemblies have 3 parts. The southside plate, the northside plate, and the screw. The southside plate and the screw are solderd together and the northside plate has threads to fit the screw.  The first component I started with was the northside plate. In the lathe, I turned down the outer diameter to size and made a smaller diameter at the front for a place to grab with pliers. When that was done I drilled a hole in the center for the threads.  I then used a tap to create the threads that will allow the plate to screw onto the screw.           ...
Read more

Learning to Replace Pads

Image
 For this subject I was tasked with replacing the low E/B key pad.  This is the before. The key was not too worn but the fishskin (super thin dried cow intestine) that was drawn over the pad was starting to tear.  First I used the acetelene torch to heat up the pad cup and take out the pad. I also used some q-tips to get any remaining glue off of the cup as to start with a clean surface. The cup was fairly smooth on the inside so I took my screwdriver and roughed it up so that the glue had a better surface to stick to.  Then I applied the glue to the new pad, covering about 50% of the pad with glue, heated up the pad cup and stuck the new pad in the cup. I then used my pad slick to level the pad as best I could.            Finaly it was time to put the key back and check and adjust the seal of the pad over the tone hole. This key was pretty good but I still had to heat it up and angle it forward just a bit. Then it was done!
Read more

The Small Poker

Image
 The next project I got to do was the small poker.  This was the same design as the large poker but just on a smaller scale and with wood instead of plastic. I got both ends flattened and chamfered, then I started on the taper.  After doing the first poker, this one was a lot easier to file.  Once that looked good I drilled the hole in the center and got to work on the needle spring. I got the flat end sharpened until it was a danger to my fingers.  I pushed the sping into the wood handle and I had a second finished Poker!
Read more

Making a screw (rod with threads)

Image
Wednesdays open lab was on the art of screw making. The class was tasked with making 2 screws for a trombone spit valve.  We were given a steel rod to turn into the screw.  The first step was to use our bench motor and little files to get the inital shape. I used my rectangular file.   This is the profile I was going for.  Next was the task of creating the threads so it is a screw. For this we used an adjustable die. This step was pretty fun.  After creating the threads, I double checked if the threads turned out correct.  Then I marked and cut both ends with my jewlers saw so the screw was the correct length.  Finaly I used my jewlers saw to make a screwdriver notch and then it was done!
Read more

Dent Ball Holder

Image
 We use dent balls for many things but they don't come attatched to a rod for easy use. This is fixed with a quick project on the lathe.  The stock, leaded brass, is chucked into the lathe and faced on both sides and sharp corners are removed.  A hole is then drilled into one side, and a tap is used to create threads that will hold a screw. (These are pictures from a different project, I had just forgotten to take a picture of this stage. It was the same process) The dent ball holder is then ready to use! Each dent ball has a hole in the center that the screw fits through and threads into the brass, holding the dent ball in place. I went above a bit and decided to sand and buff the brass rod to make it look nice. My professor says all tools should look nice once in their life!
Read more