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Posted by on May 5, 2008, 3:11 pm
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Greetings. I have a brass air key from an antique musical instrument
which I would like to see if I could have some sort of appliance made
to duplicate it myself. The part is small ... ~5" long, formed
brass ... looks like a spoon. Can anyone please make recommendations
for a casting set (punch & die?) to put in a hydraulic press? or
perhaps a cast iron "hammer form". The part is ~140 years old, and is
not replaceable, so perhaps I could make a mold of it, or prefereably
find someone to take on this type of project in the Maryland or
surrounding states (to which I would be willing to drive). Someone
told me that the Amish have foundrys and are resonable in the
costs ... ? All help, suggestions, etc., are greatly appreciated. Andy
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Posted by Jon Elson on May 5, 2008, 2:48 pm
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CWChaplain@gmail.com wrote:
> Greetings. I have a brass air key from an antique musical instrument
> which I would like to see if I could have some sort of appliance made
> to duplicate it myself. The part is small ... ~5" long, formed
> brass ... looks like a spoon. Can anyone please make recommendations
> for a casting set (punch & die?) to put in a hydraulic press? or
> perhaps a cast iron "hammer form". The part is ~140 years old, and is
> not replaceable, so perhaps I could make a mold of it, or prefereably
> find someone to take on this type of project in the Maryland or
> surrounding states (to which I would be willing to drive). Someone
> told me that the Amish have foundrys and are resonable in the
> costs ... ? All help, suggestions, etc., are greatly appreciated. Andy
It doesn't make sense to cast one part. Most likely a good craftsman in
brass could duplicate the part from brass sheet. If the design is such
that it can't be made from sheet (has a big block in one spot, like the
hinge, for instance) then it might be made in two pieces and joined.
Experts in this type of fabrication can make hard solder joints you
can't even see.
Guessing at what the part looks like, investment casting might be the
only way to cast something long and thin, and such parts are often quite
difficult.
I'm not sure what you mean by "casting set (punch & die?)". You cast
molten metal in a mold, choices are such as sand casting, lost wax and
investment. A punch and die would stamp a piece out of sheet metal.
You can form the metal with a punch, too.
Jon
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Posted by Andy on May 5, 2008, 7:30 pm
Please log in for more thread options > CWChapl...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Greetings. I have a brass air key from an antique musical instrument
> > which I would like to see if I could have some sort of appliance made
> > to duplicate it myself. The part is small ... ~5" long, formed
> > brass ... looks like a spoon. Can anyone please make recommendations
> > for a casting set (punch & die?) to put in a hydraulic press? or
> > perhaps a cast iron "hammer form". The part is ~140 years old, and is
> > not replaceable, so perhaps I could make a mold of it, or prefereably
> > find someone to take on this type of project in the Maryland or
> > surrounding states (to which I would be willing to drive). Someone
> > told me that the Amish have foundrys and are resonable in the
> > costs ... ? All help, suggestions, etc., are greatly appreciated. Andy
>
> It doesn't make sense to cast one part. =A0Most likely a good craftsman in=
> brass could duplicate the part from brass sheet. =A0If the design is such
> that it can't be made from sheet (has a big block in one spot, like the
> hinge, for instance) then it might be made in two pieces and joined.
> Experts in this type of fabrication can make hard solder joints you
> can't even see.
>
> Guessing at what the part looks like, investment casting might be the
> only way to cast something long and thin, and such parts are often quite
> difficult.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by "casting set (punch & die?)". =A0You cast
> molten metal in a mold, choices are such as sand casting, lost wax and
> investment. =A0A punch and die would stamp a piece out of sheet metal.
> You can form the metal with a punch, too.
>
> Jon
Thank you for your reply Jon. I appoligize for my incorrect terms.
What I was trying to describe is a two part set of ? what ever the
term would be? that had the profile of the air key, where the bottom
portion would be the underneath of the key, overtop of which would be
laid a sheet of .032 brass, overtop of which would be the matching top
portion of the profile (less the thickness of the brass sheet. I was
hopeing that this rid could then be put in a hydraulic press, pressed
together to form the key, and I would be left with only triming,
filing, and drilling, etc. to finish the piece.
With the hammer form concept, the bottom profile would only be made,
and I would need to use harwood punches to "tap" the form into the
piece.
I don't know what lost wax and investment are, however, once I finish
with this post, I will do some research.
Thank you again.
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Posted by Joseph Gwinn on May 5, 2008, 9:50 pm
Please log in for more thread options In article
> > CWChapl...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > Greetings. I have a brass air key from an antique musical instrument
> > > which I would like to see if I could have some sort of appliance made
> > > to duplicate it myself. The part is small ... ~5" long, formed
> > > brass ... looks like a spoon. Can anyone please make recommendations
> > > for a casting set (punch & die?) to put in a hydraulic press? or
> > > perhaps a cast iron "hammer form". The part is ~140 years old, and is
> > > not replaceable, so perhaps I could make a mold of it, or prefereably
> > > find someone to take on this type of project in the Maryland or
> > > surrounding states (to which I would be willing to drive). Someone
> > > told me that the Amish have foundrys and are resonable in the
> > > costs ... ? All help, suggestions, etc., are greatly appreciated. Andy
> >
> > It doesn't make sense to cast one part. Most likely a good craftsman in
> > brass could duplicate the part from brass sheet. If the design is such
> > that it can't be made from sheet (has a big block in one spot, like the
> > hinge, for instance) then it might be made in two pieces and joined.
> > Experts in this type of fabrication can make hard solder joints you
> > can't even see.
> >
> > Guessing at what the part looks like, investment casting might be the
> > only way to cast something long and thin, and such parts are often quite
> > difficult.
> >
> > I'm not sure what you mean by "casting set (punch & die?)". You cast
> > molten metal in a mold, choices are such as sand casting, lost wax and
> > investment. A punch and die would stamp a piece out of sheet metal.
> > You can form the metal with a punch, too.
> >
> > Jon
>
> Thank you for your reply Jon. I appoligize for my incorrect terms.
> What I was trying to describe is a two part set of ? what ever the
> term would be? that had the profile of the air key, where the bottom
> portion would be the underneath of the key, overtop of which would be
> laid a sheet of .032 brass, overtop of which would be the matching top
> portion of the profile (less the thickness of the brass sheet. I was
> hopeing that this rid could then be put in a hydraulic press, pressed
> together to form the key, and I would be left with only triming,
> filing, and drilling, etc. to finish the piece.
> With the hammer form concept, the bottom profile would only be made,
> and I would need to use harwood punches to "tap" the form into the
> piece.
> I don't know what lost wax and investment are, however, once I finish
> with this post, I will do some research.
> Thank you again.
You might consider taking some photos and putting them up somewhere
available to the public. Put a scale in the photo somewhere. (Images
won't work on this newsgroup.)
Joe Gwinn
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Posted by Andy on May 6, 2008, 8:36 am
Please log in for more thread options > In article
>
>
>
>
>
> > > CWChapl...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > > Greetings. I have a brass air key from an antique musical instrument=
> > > > which I would like to see if I could have some sort of appliance mad=
e
> > > > to duplicate it myself. The part is small ... ~5" long, formed
> > > > brass ... looks like a spoon. Can anyone please make recommendations=
> > > > for a casting set (punch & die?) to put in a hydraulic press? or
> > > > perhaps a cast iron "hammer form". The part is ~140 years old, and i=
s
> > > > not replaceable, so perhaps I could make a mold of it, or prefereabl=
y
> > > > find someone to take on this type of project in the Maryland or
> > > > surrounding states (to which I would be willing to drive). Someone
> > > > told me that the Amish have foundrys and are resonable in the
> > > > costs ... ? All help, suggestions, etc., are greatly appreciated. An=
dy
>
> > > It doesn't make sense to cast one part. =A0Most likely a good craftsma=
n in
> > > brass could duplicate the part from brass sheet. =A0If the design is s=
uch
> > > that it can't be made from sheet (has a big block in one spot, like th=
e
> > > hinge, for instance) then it might be made in two pieces and joined.
> > > Experts in this type of fabrication can make hard solder joints you
> > > can't even see.
>
> > > Guessing at what the part looks like, investment casting might be the
> > > only way to cast something long and thin, and such parts are often qui=
te
> > > difficult.
>
> > > I'm not sure what you mean by "casting set (punch & die?)". =A0You cas=
t
> > > molten metal in a mold, choices are such as sand casting, lost wax and=
> > > investment. =A0A punch and die would stamp a piece out of sheet metal.=
> > > You can form the metal with a punch, too.
>
> > > Jon
>
> > Thank you for your reply Jon. I appoligize for my incorrect terms.
> > What I was trying to describe is a two part set of ? what ever the
> > term would be? that had the profile of the air key, where the bottom
> > portion would be the underneath of the key, overtop of which would be
> > laid a sheet of .032 brass, overtop of which would be the matching top
> > portion of the profile (less the thickness of the brass sheet. I was
> > hopeing that this rid could then be put in a hydraulic press, pressed
> > together to form the key, and I would be left with only triming,
> > filing, and drilling, etc. to finish the piece.
> > With the hammer form concept, the bottom profile would only be made,
> > and I would need to use harwood punches to "tap" the form into the
> > piece.
> > I don't know what lost wax and investment are, however, once I finish
> > with this post, I will do some research.
> > Thank you again.
>
> You might consider taking some photos and putting them up somewhere
> available to the public. =A0Put a scale in the photo somewhere. =A0(Images=
> won't work on this newsgroup.)
>
> Joe Gwinn- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Thank you for the suggestion Joesph.
I posted three pictures at the following URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyacc/
I worked on this some last night, and thank God, I think that this is
do-able with just some bending and dapping.
However, I'm not there yet ... although I did get a crudely fashioned
piece.
I will post another question, however do you know of an easy way (I
don't have many tools, or much money :-) to anneal
the brass strip I am using. The portion of the long "spoon" that
attaches to the round disc cracked as I formed it.
I am hopeing that if I can properly anneal it, that I should be able
to get this done.
Thank you in advance.
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> which I would like to see if I could have some sort of appliance made
> to duplicate it myself. The part is small ... ~5" long, formed
> brass ... looks like a spoon. Can anyone please make recommendations
> for a casting set (punch & die?) to put in a hydraulic press? or
> perhaps a cast iron "hammer form". The part is ~140 years old, and is
> not replaceable, so perhaps I could make a mold of it, or prefereably
> find someone to take on this type of project in the Maryland or
> surrounding states (to which I would be willing to drive). Someone
> told me that the Amish have foundrys and are resonable in the
> costs ... ? All help, suggestions, etc., are greatly appreciated. Andy