where can I find good reamers for flute making?
D, Eb and Bb
Sorry. In the current primitive state of humankind, you can’t find them, you have to make them.
In the future, children will be born with reamers suitable for all the major flute types. (Pregnant women will learn to curse Robert Sidney Pratten.)
Join the flutemakers email group and go through the archives. You should find plenty of hints on reamer making there.
Terry
If you have the dimensions…
I get asked this question all the time. Basically the simple answer is that you have to make them yourself which is why most serious flute makers work on metal lathes, or know a good hobby machinist who can make a reamer close to dimensions. They are around and almost always need a purpose beyond making terling Engines. I use a Myford lathe to turn mine, and an old Clausing milling machine to mill out a single cutting edge. Most of the time the milling machine is used as a glorified drill press, used primarily for drilling tone holes.
The biggest thing to understand is that the bores are never a straight taper, but have various “bumps and grinds” that are acoustically significant. Thus the reamers have to be shaped to these profiles, etc. One can find these profiles and plot them by measuring a good instrument with telescoping bore gauges, extended with telescoping hobby store tubing on their handles. Access to a good instrument is another matter - but some plans are available in the public domain and several collectors and museums have drawings available, to use at one’s own risk (these are also commonly rife with errors!).
Boehm had a series of metal disks of measured diameters that he would attach to the end of a rod. In historical copy work, however, it is useful to know the cross section, which is almost always oval. There are controversial discussions amongst historical makers as to the correct method of reducing these ovals to the original circles found in places such as the FOMRHI journals, as well as Early Music and the Galpin Society Journals but an empirical approach of measuring a freshly turned piece of somewhat wet wood and measuring it after it deforms gives a good idea and is suitable for most purposes - if one is of the kind that worries about this sort of thing. Its important when copying an narrower bore flute - not as important on a Pratten or Rudall. A median dimension and not worrying about this and ignoring the arguments amongst makers with strong opinions suffices, especially for someone early in their flute making attempts! Personally, I don’t worry about it.
A quick and easy way to generate a reamer is to turn a rough profile is a good wood like rock maple or beech, bandsaw it down the middle to generate a D cross section, except for the “handle” end, then attach a blade made from hacksaw blade to it. Holes have to be punched in the hacksaw metal and the blade then screwed to the wood with small screws, andf the tips of the screws ground off where they pierce the wood. When I used to make one of these reamers for prototyping work (I now just use metal) I’d also use a healthy dose of superglue to help lock the blade and keep it from rattling. The edge then gets ground to a good edge and the bore profile has to be tinkered with, burnishing the edge to expand the bore at a certain point or grinding more away to narrow it. Once done, however, these reamers last suprisingly long and leave a decent finish. I lubricate it with a soft mix of olive oil and beeswax while reaming, withdrawing frequently before the chips load up, and run it at about 150 RPM, with the reamer cucked up and spinning. The piece of wood to be reamed I hold with a large carpenter’s hand screw bearing against a pair of pipe clamps tightened around the flute body, which has been only rounded from a turning square to about 35mm OD at this point. If the piece of wood is narrower, I attach additional clamps to keep the piece of wood from cracking.
Some time this winter if things ever slow down for me, I should post short videos of these techniques. I am feeling somewhat chatty as I take a few days break, before I plunge back in…
Casey
Where does one find the flute makers email group?
It is a Yahoo group:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/flutemakers/?yguid=251333244
Hi,
I turn mine from 304 Stainless rod. Using a metal lathe. I turn it down in steps and then file it into a cone, then sand and buff. For a cutting edge I cut a trough in it with my trusty micro mill. If you were to draw it in AutoCad, you could have a machinist turn it with a CNC lathe.
I wonder if these folks could make one for you:
Very cool concept – download their CAD program, design a part, and get immediate pricing.
It would be expensive, I suspect – I played around with a design for a bodhran tensioner and it was going to be a substantial cost.
BTW, I’d love to see your videos, Casey.
Scott
“Some time this winter if things ever slow down for me, I should post short videos of these techniques. I am feeling somewhat chatty as I take a few days break, before I plunge back in…”
Great info Casey. I for one (as a bamboo flute maker) … and I’ll bet many others here… would love to see how it’s done. If you post a youtube type thingy, please let us know!
Just realized after looking at the dates that this is almost a 2 year old thread.
Well, in any case… still informative!