[Harp-L] something other than advertising for a change

[Chris Reynolds <c_reynolds2571@xxxxxxxxx>]

It seems like about the only time I really make a post to the group anymore is 
when I've made some change to the website or come up with another product or 
something and I kind of wanted to make a post that wasn't all about my 
customizing work. So I thought I'd just make a post about some of the things I'm 
doing simply for the enjoyment of it, I hope no one minds but I think my fiance 
is getting sick of hearing about my pet projects so I figured I would just share 
them with everyone here. hahaha

 
I had really gotten to the point where I was, I hate to say getting burned out 
because I don't think that's really the right word for it, but I'm the kind of 
person that likes to always be working on something new and challenging. That 
may be why Vern and myself get along so well, you know the saying birds of a 
feather, or however that goes. One of questions that came to my mind shortly 
after I made my very first comb was can a person make a complete harmonica from 
scratch, which lead me to start searching for more and more information and 
contacting a number of people out there. It was one of those questions that got 
pushed to the back of my mind as I started working on harmonicas as a full time 
job shortly after being laid off from my full time job. Recently I started 
experimenting with different modifications to my cnc milling machine and one of 
the things that I've done on it recently was milling a reed slot and then 
milling a reed for that slot. I was very happy when it worked and played. So 
I've finally made my first few reeds, mainly as experiments, but a definite step 
in the right direction toward my goal of being able to make a harmonica 
completely from scratch. Vern and I have been bouncing ideas off one another 
about a new high speed spindle add on for our milling machines which I'm hoping 
will make my reeds even better, as well as finally allowing me to do some 
engraving using the mill. I've made a few solid brass 270 combs now and there is 
a lot of excellent realestate on the back of one of those combs for engraving. 
While I've done some traditional hammer and chisel engraving I haven't attempted 
it on a comb because one wrong move and you've ruined the comb. So I'm hoping 
that the high speed spindle is going to allow for some nice engraving on my 
metal combs. 


Another thing that I've been experimenting with is making coverplates, which is 
something else I've been wanting to make for some time now. I've got a piece of 
equipment in the shop that I was building with a 12 ton jack on it that I think 
will make an easy conversion into a coverplate press. I'm not using it for it's 
original purpose and it should only take minor alterations to make it useful for 
pressing out coverplates. I'm hoping that I'll be able to cut out the flat 
coverplate shape, engrave it with the mill, and then press it into shape. I'm 
hoping to be able to make brass, aluminum, and stainless coverplates with the 
setup. 


As far as new things I'd like to do at some point for potential products are 
more chromatic combs including a 280 and 260 comb, and I'd like to come up with 
a 260 hands free chromatic. I don't know if there will be much interest in the 
latter but I thought it would be a neat addition. I'm also looking into 
potential harps in the 280 size as a larger version of the hands free as well, 
however I still haven't decided on which harmonica I want to use. 


Anyway I just thought I would share some of the things that I've been working on 
or wanting to work on with everyone here because I just figured some of you 
might find some of it interesting. 


Chris


http://www.blowyourbrassoff.com
http://www.builderofstuff.com


Just a man, his shop, and a long list of unfinished projects...