Water Key Spring Installing Tool and Piston Valve Porting Tool

 

 

 

The first tool I would like to talk about is the porting tool.  This tool was a project that helped introduce the basics of how to silver solder.  We first covered the materials of what to/not to use, at what temperatures silver solder will flow and how it affects the types of metal you are soldering, and  how to properly set up your soldering jig so that you don't make a mistake in the proper angle of the piece you're soldering.  Once the soldering was complete, our task was to file down the excess steel/solder to our intended shape, sand and buff to a polished finish, and to finish off, lacquer the tip with a cellulose based lacquer. 

 

The next tool is the water key spring installing tool.  This tool could not have been any easier to make (at least from my point of view).  The tool started out as just a small brass tube about 2-3" long.  To turn the tube into the horseshoe shape that you see above, we had to anneal the brass to the point where it could be flexed in the middle bringing the ends closer to each other.  Once we had our shape, the ends were evened with a bench sander and de-burred with a cratex wheel.  To complete the project, I polished the finish up to make the tool more appealing to the eye.

 

Two pretty simple tools to make, but sure are useful to have at my bench.  In the future, I'll try to remember to take some pictures of  them being used.

Mouthpiece Repair (silver plated trombone mouthpiece)

 

This trombone mouthpiece is an old King student line that has been used and much abused.  When I first got the mouthpiece, the end of the shank was closer to a triangle more than a circle.  The Rim of the cup was pitted, dented, and gouged pretty bad.  The plating wasn't silver anymore; it had turned pretty dark, almost black.  Last, the inside of the backbone was what looked like a various buffet of food, mold, and built up grim.

 

The first thing I had to do before I could start making repairs was  to first get all the built up grim off the inside and outside.  I tried first pickling it in a vinegar solution to see how the grim would break up, and I found that it was on there pretty bad.  After the vinegar I went for a stronger pickle that did the job.

 

After cleaning I went straight to removing the large dents in the end of the shank.  I used an arbor in the end of my bench motor with the mouthpiece inserted as far as it could go on the arbor.  With my rawhide mallet I was able to fairly quickly hammer the end of the shank back to round. 

 

The last task was to remove those ugly gouges you can see in the first picture up above.  To remove the gouges I used a highly polished burnisher, mouthpiece receiver chucked in the lathe (tried bench motor, just too big to fit in the chuck), and some grease as a barrier for friction.  After a little bit of work on my part, the rim looks (and should work) much better then before.

 

With just a little bit of work, this mouthpiece has now returned from its grave to be once again useful to some inspiring student.



The Pokers (tool used for...well...just about anything you can think of)

 

Oh so simple, yet incredibly meticulous and time consuming to make (at least for someone just starting out).  These two pokers were the first project that the class completed.  They were used to get everyone familiar with using a bench motor, how to properly use a file/s, what type of safety equipment to wear, how to bevel an edge, how to smooth the ends of a part, and the most important skill - how to pay close attention to detail.  This project was completed in our first week of class (back in August) and it was a good starting point to lead into how to use the different tools.

 

Really great project that I will always remember as, the starting POINT of my career (please forgive the cheesy pun).