Buffet English Horn Day 11 - 2/23/14

Today's job was making a new post. One of the posts on the lower joint looks like it was cut or ground down at some point, so it doesn't contact its key at a nice square angle. Unfortunately, I don't have the body of the english horn (it's still with the machinist making my tone hole facers), and I left the thread die I'd need at work. But that's okay, because I could still get some work done.

This is my lathe, a Unimat that I rebuilt last year. It's not perfect, but it runs pretty well and is perfect for working on small parts, especially something like this where I just need to use it to rough out the shape and then finish it with a file and sandpaper. It's not great at creating a nice smooth finish, although that probably has more to do with my meager abilities at machining and tool bit sharpening than it does with the machine's limitations. I am getting better though, and in the future when I can purchase a larger, more precise lathe it will provide an opportunity to continue developing those skills.

I used the lathe to turn the end of the brass rod down to the diameter needed for the post threads. Like I said, I don't have the die to actually cut the threads, but that'll be a quick process now that the rod is the correct diameter.

You can see above that I also used the lathe to rough out the shape of the post, but that put me at the limitation of my tool bit and skills, so from there I moved on to filing with bench motor.

Here it is, with the curves smoothed out and closer to the finished shape.

Finally, I roughed out the sphere at the top of the post, but left everything attached to the rod so that tomorrow I can grip it in the bench motor while I cut the threads. After that, it's just a matter of lining it up in the body, marking and drilling the screw hole, tapping the screw hole, and plating it.

Things always look rough after filing, but a little sanding and polishing left a very nice finish, which I can further smooth by buffing later.