Piano Plates by HS CNC milling.

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Bill,

I discussed something similar to this in the late 80's with O.S. Kelly as a
possible method of making an accurate plate pattern.  For the casting
pattern we would not have required steel, but could use any of a number of
composite materials that would be somewhat easier to machine.  I still think
it was/is a good idea.  Who knows, in another 10 years it might actually be
economically feasible.

Regards,

Del
Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Designer & Builder
Hoquiam, Washington  USA
E.mail:  pianobuilders@olynet.com
Web Site:  http://pianobuilders.olynet.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------

----- Original Message -----
From: <BSimon999@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 1999 1:19 AM
Subject: Piano Plates by HS CNC milling.


> A440A@AOL.COM writes:
>
> << Hmmm,  OK,  I see.  Del is going to start out with a 3,000 lb. chunk of
> steel
> and a really good CNC milling machine, and cut that sucker out of a solid
> billet!   (?)  >>
>
> Not so strange!
>
> I keep an eye on advances in high speed machining.  It is depressing
because
> the trend is from a design on the computer screen to the CNC machine which
> dumps out the final product. The romance of machining is going, fast.
>
> In the latest issue of "Modern Machine Shop"  (see   www.mmsonline.com  ),
in
> an article titled "Boeing's One Part Harmony," pictures are shown of the
> speed brakes for F-15 fighters. Formerly, the 11 foot long, three foot
wide,
> 1 foot deep part was made of 500 individual parts in three months. Now the
> part is now made by HS CNC machining  out of a single block of solid
aluminum
> in 30 hours at 40,000 rpm tool speed.  It has numerous thin wall sections,
> .040," and the entire part is made to about a thousandth of an inch
> precision. The part is, of course, better and cheaper than the old.
>
> They also make a "porkchop" ( a landing gear bulkhead for a C-17 cargo
plane)
> - that looks remarkably like a piano plate, which is about 6 feet by 8
feet,
> several inches thick,  out of a solid block in 12 hours, a part that used
to
> take months to manufacture.
>
> This type of technology does tend to filter down to other industries,
albeit
> slowly because nothing else is a pricey as airplane parts.
>
> It is possible, though economically unlikely for the foreseeable future,
to
> build a piano, every part of which is made to a thousandth of an inch,
> including the rim, soundboard and plate. You could slip a perfectly
regulated
> action out on one piano and into another and it would need no touch-up
> regulation.
>
> The whole piano to a thousandth of an inch, never.  Just the plate, its
> supports and the bridges in relation to the plate, - why not?
>
> (Of course you must realize that the tuning of this piano will be done
> perfectly in 4 minutes by a  multi-armed robot with a positronic SAT
brain,
> and we will just buy one and chauffeur it around.)
>
> Bill Simon
> Phoenix
>
>