[Harp-L] Has anyone laser-cut harmonicas?

[bren@xxxxx]

Richard's question is an interesting one. 

 

My friend Zombor Kovacs and I tried getting specialist reedplates laser cut,
with the intention of inserting Hohner riveted reeds. We were aiming to get
very close reed/slot tolerances to eliminate the need for later customising.


 

On the face of it, laser cutting should work because it produces a beautiful
sharp-sided slot. However we found that the project didn't succeed, because
there was some variability in the reed fit. Either the laser tolerances
varied slightly or the rivet placement in the reeds varied - most likely a
combination of both. The upshot was that some reeds fit well, but others
jammed. The only way to go would have been to do what the manufacturers do:
make the slots slightly bigger than optimum to ensure that even a reed that
was not perfectly central would still sound. But then we would be back to
the need for hand customising, which we wanted to avoid. 

 

I wasn't ambitions enough to try making our own reeds, but Zombor always had
that desire. Subsequently he did some work on his own exploring lasercut
reedplates and reeds, but eventually gave up in frustration. 

 

Our experience does not mean the concept is not good. After all, wire EDM is
used in high-end accordion reeds/reedplates, and Franz Chmel used it in his
NC64 harmonica, apparently very successfully:

 

http://www.chmel.at/nc64/specification.html

 

But wire EDM is slow. It's also more accurate than most industrial laser
cutting machines, and people I've spoken to at different harmonica companies
feel that reedplate stamping and their traditional reed making methods still
come out ahead for cost, reliability, speed and accuracy.

 

But I personally hope and believe we will see laser cutting used for reeds
and reedplates as technology improves. As Richard says, it has some very
attractive advantages.

 


 
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[Harp-L] Has anyone laser-cut harmonicas? 


Wed Jan 16, 2019 11:37 am (PST) . Posted by: 


 
<mailto:richard at xxxxx?subject=Re%3A%20%5BHarp-L%5D%20Has%20anyone
%20laser-cut%20harmonicas%3F> "Richard Trafford-Owen" 


Does anyone know what has been tried? With laser cutting and etching I
imagine it would be possible to:
- Create reeds and plates that are very closely tolerance-matched
- Control the thickness profile of the reeds over their length (and width
for that matter)
- Mount the reed inset below the surface of the reed plate and maybe
control the angle between reed plate and reed
- Explore different reed shapes e.g. trapezium versus rectangle

Brendan Power

www.x-reed.com <http://www.x-reed.com> 

www.brendan-power.com <http://www.brendan-power.com/> 

www.youtube.com/brendanpowermusic <http://www.youtube.com/brendanpowermusic>