Re: [Harp-L] Carbon Fiber Reeds, 3D printing, plastic metal

[Zombor Kovacs <zrkovacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

Great! Somebody who has done it! 
Because of the extremely high modulus, you have to make them extremely thin to get the same pitch. Our fibers were about 7 micron in diameter. If somebody wanted to build a reed with the proper ply layout my estimation is that you would almost need to compose layers as thin as the diameter of 1-2 fibers. I think we can more or less say, that carbon fiber composites are not really suitable for making reeds. I would rather look at steel instead. 



________________________________
 From: Harvey Berman <cscharp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2013 5:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Carbon Fiber Reeds, 3D printing,    plastic metal
 
I tried Carbon Fiber Reeds. I took intake reeds from a racing motorcycle, and 
cut harmonica Reeds out of them. In order to get them to sound, I had to make 
them real thin at the rivet end, and when I got them to sound, the tone was real 
High and thin. A one blow, sounded like a 7 blow, and without much character. 
The reed was really thin, and I doubt that it will hold up.

Harvey Berman
www.harveyharp.com