[Harp-L] Manufacturers' Reed/slot Tolerances

[Blunt White]

Photo of EDM machining of reed slots at link below from Harmonikas website posted by Brendan (thank you!).   An electrified wire is cutting the reed slot (square corners no problem).  Tolerances of reed slot to reed quoted of 0,02 to 0,03mm which is 0.0007" to 0.0011".


http://www.harmonikas.cz/en/helicon-bass/hb-a-mano-electroerosion#obsah

HB A MANO ELECTROEROSION | HARMONIKAS s.r.o.<http://www.harmonikas.cz/en/helicon-bass/hb-a-mano-electroerosion#obsah>
www.harmonikas.cz
HB A MANO ELECTROEROSION. Helikon bass made by means of elektroerosion technology of dural Al with a hardness of 160 HB with a thickness of 10 - 14 mm with a total ...


All the best,

Blunt White

Stonington CT, USA



________________________________
From: Harp-L <harp-l-bounces at xxxxx> on behalf of Brendan Power <bren at xxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2017 8:16 PM
To: harp-l at xxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] Manufacturers' Reed/slot Tolerances

On the Burnishing/Swaging/Embossing thread, Bob Cohen asked:


"Why don't manufacturers machine the reed plates with tighter tolerances in
the first place?"



Gary replied: "Suzuki does".



Certainly Suzuki are better than they used to be 20 years ago. But if you
compare brands under the microscope as I do, from a dispassionate standpoint
I believe Hohner is currently the best in terms of out-of-the box reed/slot
tolerances. Their reedplates were going bad in the 70s/80s/90s, but since
their revamp of stamping machines and reed widths/lengths/profiles around
2004, reed/slot tolerances were consistently reduced across their range -
and Hohner reed response improved massively.



Of course the Holy Grail is to be able to manufacture harmonicas with
comparable reed/slot tolerances to hand-customised harps. I guess that's
what Bob is driving at with his question, but no one has managed it - yet. I
wouldn't say it's impossible, just extremely difficult.



Possibly the adoption of new technology could push the envelope. The
respected accordion reed maker Harmonikas based in Louny Czechoslovakia uses
wire EDM to cut very precise reed slots, and they actually grade the
reedplates by the gap between reeds and slot in fractions of a millimetre.
There website is a treasure trove of reed-making info with excellent photos
and a fascinating factory video:



http://www.harmonikas.cz/en

[http://www.harmonikas.cz/admin/upload/ModuleBanner/131_small.jpg]<http://www.harmonikas.cz/en>

Homepage | HARMONIKAS s.r.o.<http://www.harmonikas.cz/en>
www.harmonikas.cz
Homepage. Since 1999 the firm HARMONIKAS, led by Titlbachovi family, has continued the hundred years old tradition in production of harmonicas, accordions, and sounds ...






Wire EDM is a slow and expensive way to make reedplates so I can't see it
being used in harmonicas, but technology is advancing apace. I believe it's
just a matter of time before someone finds a way to mass-produce harmonica
reedplates with custom-level reed-slot tolerances. That will be a
game-changer.



Brendan

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