[Harp-L] poor man's embossing station (with appropriate thanks)

[Captron100@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 6/25/2007 1:37:02 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx writes:

From:  Garry Hodgson <garry@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Poor man's  embossing station, with appropriate
thanks
To:  Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID:  <2007062510051182780300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="us-ascii"

Captron100@xxxxxxx wrote:

>> My  procedure has been to finish gapping first, then  emboss...... The  
reason I only emboss half >>the length of the slot with the socket  tool because 
embossing the >slot with this tool near the root   >>will mash the rivet down 
and ruin your gap.

>wouldn't that  argue for doing the embossing first, and then gapping?


  Gary, thank u for your input.  Perhaps some more  experienced harp tweakers 
may also chime in to give us the benefit of their  experience.  
  You may very well be correct.  Another reason that your  suggestion might 
be better is because if you slip with the glass cutter  (that i mentioned in 
the second step) and ruin the reed, you won't have  wasted all that time you 
spent on gapping.  I'll have to give my Harp  Repair CD another look and see if 
Rupert Oysler reveals his sequence.  If  he does, i'll letcha know.
  I should have mentioned in my first post that when using the glass  cutter, 
i start out with minimal pressure to establish a track for the cutter  wheel, 
so it won't slip into the reed slot and ruin the  reed.  With successive 
passes I press harder, once I'm fairly  confident the track will keep my glass 
cutter from slipping into the slot.   To prevent this slippage, I've taken to 
using my feeler gauge held as a  straight edge along the edge of the slot (and at 
the top of the slot  too). 
  Oh, btw, I forgot to thank my local hardware store for the glass  cutter 
($5) !
  I like to start my gapping by pushing the reed down into the  slot at the 
very base of the reed (with my fingernail or piece of toothpick -  I'm still 
looking for better ways to do this -  comments?).   I theorized that all this 
reed work might be  better performed before reducing the tolerances thru 
embossing.   But, once again, your suggestion might be better. Thanks again.  
  I look forward to reading more suggestions on how to  improve.  My harps 
are getting better and better.
ron
 



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