Jewish Leprechaun Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I have just a quick question or two about reedpans. For traditional reedpans with traditional reeds, are the slots that the reeds fit into usually cut with a router or a drill press? Also, is there anything like a glue that is put in between the reed frames and the wood of the reed pan to keep air from escaping or is the fit supposed to be airtight all by itself. -Lep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Dunk Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 The reed shoes are a dovetail fit in the reed pan, a tight fit ensures air tightness. The modern method of production involves a CNC (computer controlled) milling machine which is a sophisticated and very accurate version of a (metal cutting) router. I'm not sure if all traditional concertina makers use machines like this but I am sure it's not a thing I'd attempt in the garage with my limited collection of kit and even more limited knowledge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewish Leprechaun Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 Thanks, Tallship, that's exactly what I needed to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Morse Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 (edited) You can download a video clip of a guy at the Wheatstone factory from British Pathe milling the reedpan for reed shoes. Besides that they also go through brief views of grinding the reed blanks, cutting out the fretwork, making bellows, reed tuning, action work, etc. Here's a still from the reedpan section. -- Rich -- Edited December 8, 2008 by Richard Morse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon C. Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I have just a quick question or two about reedpans. For traditional reedpans with traditional reeds, are the slots that the reeds fit into usually cut with a router or a drill press? Also, is there anything like a glue that is put in between the reed frames and the wood of the reed pan to keep air from escaping or is the fit supposed to be airtight all by itself.-Lep Hi, Here is a link to the reed pan thread, a couple of treads away from yours. http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8408 I imagine you could cut a reed pan with a small router, but you would have to make a template to cut out the profiles of the reeds. It was tricky even with a CNC micro mill. All the reeds have the same shape, they are just longer. So one template will work with all the different sizes. You can shim the reeds with paper from a shopping bag, small slivers lining the dovetail channel. It was funny after reading about it in the concertina maintenace manual, I found a reed tha had already been shimmed like this in my English concertina. Take care, Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marien Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Hello Rich, Nice video of the Wheatstone factory! Do you have an idea about the year this has been recorded? Thanks, Marien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrik Müller Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Hello Rich, Nice video of the Wheatstone factory! Do you have an idea about the year this has been recorded? Thanks, Marien 1961 - /Henrik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrik Müller Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 ...Here's a still from the reedpan section. -- Rich -- Ah, my favorite machine . It is intriguingly simple - once you have figured out how it works /Henrik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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