I note that older Brilhart plastic pieces had a crosshatch pattern on
the facing.

Now, I have seen the facing machines at Runyon working, very
interesting, and have been told how the machines at J. J. Babbit work.
It is not like you can go to a machine tool supply house and say, "Hey,
I want 3 woodwind mouthpiece facing machines," and they ring you up.  I
am sure that these must be modified from milling machines, or custom
designed and made.

Facing machines...

There are two at Runyon.  The "old machine" designed by Santy is fully
adjustable.  The cutter travels straight, cutting the table.  Then it
hits a stop, and pivots, cutting the facing curve.  The radius is fully
adjustable for length of facing and tip opening.  This machine is
slower, but very accurate.  It is used on the pro models, Customs, XL's,
all the metal pieces.  Takes about a minute per mpce.

The other machine, they call the "new machine" (though it is something
like 25 yrs old), cuts the facing, and works from a template... like a
key copier machine.  The templates are made on the "old machine".  This
machine is used for the high production mpces, student models, etc.  It
can cut a facing ZAP!  They can do about 10 mpces a minute.  The limit
is the amount of time it takes to remove the freshly cut mpce, and place
in another.

Cutting of facings on either machine is done under a water jet, to wash
away cuttings and keep tooling and mpce cool, so that the material will
not melt and gum up the works.

I have been told that the machines at J. J. Babbit (Meyer, Brilhart
Ebolin for Selmer, Guy Hawkins, Link, and others) work from a template.
I don't know how they make the templates.

Paul

tilemakerpro wrote:

>  Now----- I am just guessing, but by using my machinist intuition, I
> would suspect
> that Meyer has, a special mouthpiece facing, lapping machine
> (osculating movement).  This machine would be
> equipped, with interchangeable form blocks, that are surfaced
> textured, with a diamond
> coating (much like diamond coated files uses for sharpening knifes).
>
> According to my theory all the MOUTHPIECES, would be first
> manufactured to a common
> rough facing shape.  The exact shape would be finished on the lapping
> machine.  One, would have to select a form block of the proper
> curvature and length,
> (to specified length and tip size) and set this form block in place,
> on to the
> osculating lapping machine.  By some kind of holding device, or
> holding fixture, the mouthpiece would be aligned with the lapping
> block, so as to allow the  osculating lapping block to form/shape the
> finish of the facing and table. The lap would have to move in a
> perpendicular path to the mouthpiece length. I would thick that this
> process would also be down wet.
>
> OK------My next theory would be a diamond-particle, wet-slurry
> compound, applied to a ball or barrel shaped buff, to polish out the
> chamber.
>
> Any way, I do not think that the term "diamond" is used to denote the
> "lay" of the scratches, such as a CROSSHATCH, compared to circular or
> longitude or crossw
>
>
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fwiw, my old "New York USA" Meyer tenor mpc (purchased new in 1974), also 
had the "Diamond Lapped Facing" mark on the table.

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If the mouthpiece table, is machined with the end of the cutter, such as the 
face of an end mill cutter, or with a fly cutter, there will be a backtrack 
swipe of the cutter as it passes over the work.  The appearance of the 
surface will be of crisscrossed circular rings.  The machined mouthpiece 
tables that I have observed, have long mill lines, from the side of an end 
mill cut.

We are still guessing and perhaps it is now appropriate to write the 
technical department of Meyer and ask them what is meant by a "Diamond 
Lapped" surface.

I have had satisfactory results from asking similar questions to other 
companies about their products.

The Runyon mouthpieces faced on the "old"-er  fully adjustable machine
have marks that arc from side to side.  The cutter is a mill and cuts on
the end of the mill.

The "new"-er machine that works off a template leaves straight marks
that run lengthwise from butt to tip.  This cutter is a cylindrical
mill, and cuts on the side.

Of course, after the facing is cut, many "makers" polish the table and
rails.  Some players say they can tell a difference between a polished
table, some cannot.

As I said, I can only speak of the machines I have actually seen, I have
not seen those at J. J. Babbit, where Meyers are made.

Paul



VaKach@... wrote:

>  If the mouthpiece table, is machined with the end of the cutter, such
> as the
> face of an end mill cutter, or with a fly cutter, there will be a
> backtrack
> swipe of the cutter as it passes over the work.  The appearance of the
>
> surface will be of crisscrossed circular rings.  The machined
> mouthpiece
> tables that I have observed, have long mill lines, from the side of an
> end
> mill cut.
>
> We are still guessing and perhaps it is now appropriate to write the
> technical department of Meyer and ask them what is meant by a "Diamond
>
> Lapped" surface.
>
> I have had satisfactory results from asking similar questions to other
>
> companies about their products.
>
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                        ADVERTISEMENT


>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> MouthpieceWork-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
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--
Link to Paul's articles from Home page of "Sax on the Web":

  http://www.saxontheweb.net

or directly to Paul's articles at:

  http://www.saxontheweb.net/Coats/

Listen to Paul's MP3 samples at:

  http://briefcase.yahoo.com/tenorman1952

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