It's been awhile since I did any machine building...... but I've finally got my ass in gear!
While we were in London in August, our buddy Andras gave Julia a machine with a really nice hand made brass frame made from an old key..... but it ran like crap! The main problem was the hole in the key that made up the front post of the frame was way too big, so whoever built it had mounted the front binding post on fiber washers that had too much give so it was impossible to keep it in tune.
Took me a while to figure out what i was going to do! 1st up, took the whole thing apart & pretty much threw everything out except the frame. the problem with the washers was solved by drilling holes in a pair of old 1948 Hong Kong coins, then used a copper binding post with a nice brass key head contact screw:
I have used Phenolic Washers brass screws (except rear shelf & a-bar) & a copper spring & binding posts, with a 1950 Hong Kong coin for the rear shelf washer:
The coils are hand wound 6 wrap, finished with dollar bills, then given a heavy glaze:
The end result seems like it's gonna be ok, the frame dimensions aint great, it's basically too damn short! took me a bit of work but it works! still needs running in but it's looking good.
Now all I have to do is make a machine for Andras! I've got most of the parts together & should hopefully have it ready by the time he arrives in a few days. For now, here are the coils:
Here are some more I've got ready for future use:
I'm lovin the dirty cherry red's, got them looking a bit worn & old before the glaze you cant really see it in these pics (bit better if you click on the pic to enlarge it) but the glaze is really heavy, gives them a really nice shine!
Think I'm gonna have to get hold of some old British coins to use when i build something for these.
