What I am enjoying about this blog is that it helps me sort the 10-12 different trains of thought firing in my mind while at peak hypomania of my Cyclothymia cycle. Actually many artists find themselves enjoying peak creativity at such peaks. What I worry about is what will happen when I start to crash from sleep deprivation and I start reality checking myself and think “What have I done?!!!??” But recognizing that moment in the morning where I think “if I could just sleep 5 more minutes….” and getting up instead is what I need to do. Or just simply set an alarm and then go for a ride on the trainer.
So my path is clear and certain tooling is now on my list. As I type I can then make a list of tools that I will need. This is also the first description of how I will make these.
1) 104 (unleaded) Glass Rods of various OD (33, 30, 28, 25) are purchased from Olympic Color Rods in Seattle (see https://glasscolor.com/glass-products/blowing-colors/reichenbach-colors/reichenbach-transparents)
<<update - I will go there Tuesday and pick out what I need. They are now open to the public>>
2) These are cut to length using the smallest Lapidary Saw with Diamond Blade and Water-soluble Coolant.
3) The ends are wet ground and smoothed by hand to 300g using Carbide grit on a flat surface
3) Diamond Disintegration Drills (ORDERED!) are used on a Drill Press (NOT NEEDED!) to bore a pilot hole.. The glass is secured in a bolted-down box (NOT NEEDED!) filled with plaster which locks the glass in place.
<<Update: According to the National Diamond Lab, I should be able to use a simple spray bottle for lubricant and bore glass bodies the same horizontal way that I do it with wood. If this doesn’t work then I will set up to do the above method>>
4) Cast Iron “Reamers” which will be made from cast iron rod are made. Diamond slurry is applied and the reamers rotate in the reaming lathe, to final spec. The interior is ground to 300g.
5) parts are mounted between centers on an aluminum lathe in a basin with lubricant pump, rotating at 60-90 rpm. This is mounted on one of the Gorton Pantograph lathes. A diamond wheel rotates and the surface is ground to profile to 400g.
6) At this point the glass is ground and polished on a faster aluminum lathe using diamond hand polishers with water for lubricant. The Myford lathe will work too provided a bed cover is used to keep it dry.
7) The tubes are then carefully marked as to tone holes, embouchures, key placements and finally fluting. Using the pantograph the fluting is cut using a dividing head with a rotating tailstock A diamond edged round cutter of the right diameter such as that used on Glass Engraving Lathes is used.
8) Finer grits of the diamond edged round cutter are used on a Glass Engraving Lathe (okay I do need one of these!). Finally these grooves are brought to polish.
9) At this point the work goes to mounting the ferrules and mapping the scale now that the flute can be looked at entirely. Tone hole and embouchures are cut and ground to shape with diamond tooling. The tiny holes for the screws that hold on the keys are drilled and the key bases mounted followed by the keys, which help locate their tone holes. A plug is inserted and the overall tuning is adjusted.
This is pretty much the stage at which the hard work if making the glass is all behind. This is the oart where tuning and voicing determine the quality of the flute. Then unneccessary things like decorative end caps and other bling are added - or were in Laurent’s time.