Henrik Müller Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Hi, all - For a couple of years I've been fascinated by the reed pan routing machine that can be seen in the short, historic film about the Wheatstone factory, on the British Pathe site. In all likelihood a machine made for Wheatstone by Louis Lachenal - at least the large sums paid to "Mr. Lachenal" in the "Payments" books 1845, 1846, 1848, 1849: approx. £1670, indicates that he made something "big" for Sir Charles. So the last six months I've been hammering away on what hopefully will be a modern version of the machine. Today it took its first step, not altogether a great success, but a proof of the concept: No - I will not use plywood! It's only a test to see if the concept works, and it does, though order is wrong: The machine should perform three operations: Rout the tapered, dovetailed tracks for the reeds Rout the long tracks for the walls Rout the air holes The order should be walls, reeds, air, because when the walls are mounted, they are used a guide or reference for routing the reed tracks. When they are done on both sides, the air holes are done. At least that's the idea. Today, on the kitchen table (it's built upstairs, but demoed in the kitchen), it looks like this: The handle is missing - what handle? A handle on the left hand side that can push the router table to the right. A proof-of-concept has been done (out of wood...), worked fine. The center piece - a 28 mm diam piece upon which the reed pan is lowered. The top clamp - a large (as large as possible), round piece that goes on top of the reed pan The top screw - not a screw, more like a fat, knurled thumb screw that screws on to M5 shaft you can see sticking up. The more intricate part is here: Router arm in the center, with the guide pin sticking up. This pin is runs into a straight track, routed in a 4mm plate below the table. The plate can turn around the center of the track's end circle - which is also the center of the router bit. Hang on - but it looks like the router bit is not in center with the pin?! Right, it isn't: the guide pin is attached a part of the arm that can be offset. In clear language it means that the track will be routed, say, 4 mm to the left of the wall track - because otherwise it would rout into the wall. Anyway - the outcome of today's exercise is that the intricate looking thingies in the left side of the table need to go and be replaced by something more stable and sturdy. It will take a while - the owner of the workshop I use is in Spain, will be back March 1st. Merry Christmas to all! /Henrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inventor Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Steve Dickenson still has and uses the original machine. Wouldn't a Computer controlled Routing machine be the best option ? I believe that is what Wim Wakker uses. I have seen Chinese made small computer controlled routing machines for sale on eBay for as little as £500; I have no idea if they are any good. Inventor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcolmbebb Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Go for it, I'd say. And very good luck with your endeavours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Nice to see the progress after the shots you showed us on your smartphone at Bradfield in Summer, great work. Happy Christmas from Sunny Sheffield ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrik Müller Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 Steve Dickenson still has and uses the original machine. Wouldn't a Computer controlled Routing machine be the best option ? I believe that is what Wim Wakker uses. I have seen Chinese made small computer controlled routing machines for sale on eBay for as little as £500; I have no idea if they are any good. Inventor. Yes, Steve DIckinson has a machine, maybe the one we can see in the Pathe film. I know that "Use CNC..." is the fast-draw answer today, but I find a certain logic and beauty in using machines which are built to perform one or a few operations very quickly and without any heavy intellectual requirements for use. It isn't only a question of acquiring a machine, it also means having the room for it, buying a Windows/Linux computer to run it, buy the program, learn the program, buy router bits, etc. To me, that is endless - making my own is not. Though two days ago I thought it might be ;-) because I suddenly realised that my offsetting scheme (the moveable arm with the guide oin, on top of the router arm) is based on wrong thinking. Grrr! Luckily, I know what to do to fix it - but we'll have to wait till March to see it done! In the meantime I'll continue the Christmas celebrations, /Henrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Holder Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Well done Henrik! Nice to see your idea taking shape. Have a very Merry Christmas. Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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