lucayala

oh, that's bad. I will try to get some samples how did you straighten the steel?

hello again. there are some suppliers that sell 1095 tempered steel in rolled strips like this: would this work? I understand that if it works I should straighten the steel somehow thanks for your help

sorry, I don't have a digital caliper. it's impossible to tell if there are some very subtle differences in the width

here are some pictures of my project:

yes, I understand. my printers are very well calibrated and print evenly. after all, I printed all the other parts of the bandoneon with great precision. and I understand that if a tongue is wider than the slots because a bad printing, I can file the tongue or the slot to the right size. and the project that used the printed plates worked good. so I have hope I did print some little plates. the borders are completely straight and flawless

I'm familiar with the those standards. the precision/tolerances for the slots are easily obtained with a simple test. if I need, for example, a 3mm wide slot, I can design in 5 minutes a sample plate with 5 or 6 slots with little gradual different width sizes, like 4.92, 4.95, 4.97, 4.99... print it and see what is the correct number to obtain a 3mm wide 3d printed slot here is a picture of the printed blocks, the printed plates and the plates bolted to the blocks:

a professional bandoneon has 14 reed plates (6 big in the left keyboard, 6 big in the right and 2 small for the highest notes also in the right), with 284 tongues in total. a study level bandoneon cuts that in half, because eliminates the high octave tongues. on a professional instrument, when a note is pressed 2 tongues sound one octave apart. yeah, a lot of work...

sorry, Tom. I didn't understand the question. the plates and reed blocks are 2 separate things. the plates that contain several tongues (not individual notes like in the accordion or concertinas) are bolted to the blocks

no, that's the second iteration of the project. that's made of wood and with aluminium plates. the 3d printed prototype is this:

I was aware of the Edward project. buying reeds from the Harmonikas factory is abolutely out of question. the complete set of bandoneon reeds cost 900 dollars, plus shipping to Argentina. impossible. my intention is to build a cheap instrument that most people in Argentina can afford. the idea is that the plates are printed. there is a college here that developed a bandoneon with the same intention. the first model was fully printed, with the plates also printed. the most recent models use the Harmonikas reeds. that gives these instruments a much better sound, obviously, but at the cost of betraying the original idea. these bandoneons are not commercialized anyway, and as usually happens here, it's very difficult to contact someone involved in the project to ask questions... here it is that project: https://www.behance.net/gallery/26250615/Bandoneon-de-Estudio-Pichuco

yes, awfully secretive. and full of selfishness unlike the other members of the family, such as the concertina and the accordion, the main production of bandoneons stopped during World War 2, so 99% of the instruments that circulate are 80, 90 years old instruments. there are a few people producing bandoneons right now, but at a very low pace and at incredible high prices. and Argentina is a country with constant economics problems. so we are the country that adopted the bandoneon and where people can't afford it. it's sad. there is no entry level bandoneons. the options are a new one, in the range of $4500-8000, or an old one, in the range of $1500-4000. that's impossible for most people here. I'm trying to make this 3d printing project to cover this problem. I don't know if it will be possible, but I will try. the 3d design is almost done. it was the easy part. the hardest part is this, the tongues. and I only found indifference or even attacks against my project from the bandoneon experts here. and many kind and helpful answers here. so thank you all for this

yes, that was the video that make me think that I could use a brass sheet, because he didn't even hammer it... I found a place that sell 1070 steel, very similar to the 1095 that people use to make tongues. I'm going to try that too

yes, I'm 100% aware of that. I have my own instrument to copy and the plates plans of the Harmonika's factory. there is a guy who sells all kind of bandoneon parts and sells tongues, but he doesn't answer my messages. as I said, the world of the bandoneon is very complicated...

thanks for your detailed answer, Alex. very informative. I'm going to start testing recycling an old hand saw. thanks a lot for giving me something to start

thanks for your answer, Tom. I know about the harmonikas site. all the new bandoneons are made with their reeds plates. and I know that the slots, the plates and the valves are important to the sound. but I can't test the slots and plates design without something that vibrate on them. and it's very difficult to obtain specifications of the materials that I can buy. the sellers just said "a brass sheet, 0,8mm of thickness". that's it. do you think that a sheet like that, cut in tongues shape, will vibrate? or will it need to be hardened first?