Titanium and stainless steel reed blanks

[David Hornett]

Hi all,

 

Here are 62  titanium and 24 stainless steel reed blanks. The top three rows are titanium in eleven sizes, and the bottom single row are stainless steel in 4 sizes. The blanks are 1.5 mm thick. All shoes are for parallel tongues.

 

I had them lazer cut from material left over from pivot posts. The tags on top of the blanks are sniped off to form the bracket which holds the tongue in place. The titanium has work hardened around the laser cut, so  will need to be softened to take thread and also for the reed slots to be finished and the shoe's sides bevelled to be fitted into the reed pan. The , untapped, holes have been sized to take   M1.6x5 DIN 7985 Pan Head 0# Phillips Driver fittings.

 

If you would like these shoes please make an offer.

 

PS, I have no more in stock.

 

All the best,

 

David

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

that is a cool idea making the clamps in the same part and then cutting them off at the end. I am not interested in buying

but cool idea.

Edited September 18, 2018 by Jake Middleton-Metcalfe

[ttonon]

David, interesting and impressive exhibit of laser cutting.  Making such cuts in Titanium would be very difficult by most other means.  Can you tell me the Ti and SS alloys they are made of? 

 

I'm also curious  whether there's any consensus on the acoustic differences between these and other reed plate materials.  Does anyone here have anything to share in this regard?

 

Best regards,

Tom

[David Hornett]

Hi,

 

Ti Grade 2;  Stainless steel Grade 316.

 

I can not answer the question about acoustic differences, if any. I use 2mm brass shoes. (These Ti and SS shoes are 1.5 mm)

 

The shoes on display were cut from left over material from pivot posts. The stainless steel ones came about because the laser cutter misread the order and cut 1000 pivot posts from stainless steel, not the requested Ti, hence i got 1000 free stainless steel pivot posts and some stainless steel shoes from left over material.

 

I use the Ti for pivot posts because of its light weight.

 

The problem with the Ti for shoes, which are half the weight of brass, is that Ti work hardens at very low temperatures, and further the laser cutting, because of the heat produced, creates a hardened edge around the cut, and this makes it hard to tap the screw holes without breaking taps, although the laser hardened sides can be filed still. 

 

The shoes are still available, really when I said 'make an offer' in the original post I was really only looking for a few dollars more than the cost of freight to cover the bother of packaging and sending them. 

 

All the best

 

David