Working with brass

[stuckinthemud]

Stupid question and the answer may be how long is a piece of string, but, how does filing and sawing brass compare to working with mild steel? I am in the early stages of building a 22 string harp in the medieval style and need to decide how best to proceed on the metalwork (tuning pins, cheek bands, string shoes).I have a very very little experience with mild steel, absolutely none with brass.

 

[jimmy_s]

Files and cuts nicely. Goes faster than steel, but best with sharp/ new hacksaw blade or file. Blunt file on brass is not great.

 

[Bm101]

If drilling brass it can 'catch'. You can buy special bits or if you are normal you can hone off the inside lip and this works just as well.

 

[stuckinthemud]

So is filing 22 tapered tuning pins from square bar stock viable? I don't have access to a lathe.

 

[stuckinthemud]

 

[--Tom--]

If you’ve got the patience it’s doable

 

[stuckinthemud]

It'd be a dip in and out task, do a bit every now and then, maybe look to do one or two a week

 

[BillK]

I reckon if it was me I'd start with round bar, chucked in the drill press, and 'machined' with whatever you have. Some support might be needed depending how you do it. Then file the square on the part that was in the chuck, or leave enough length to cut the chucked portion off and file the end part.

I sometimes make small guitar parts and other things this way - just 'turned' 3mm pins or spigots about 30-35mm long on some 9.5mm rod, did both brass and silver steel ones. Used angle grinder with flap disc first, then files and sanding. Surprised how accurate I could get with sneaking up on it, and didn't take long at all. It helps that the drill has no or very little runout, so you can see this rod emerging and the straightness etc really clearly.

Not to say go out and buy an angry grinder and plough in, it's not really something to try without being fairly used to handling them, but there's other tools to get there.

 

[stuckinthemud]

I find hand filing quite therapeutic but 6 months of filing is a bit too much therapy. Haven't got an angry grinder but I do have a power file and a bench grinder, they should really speed things along . Any recommendations for a supplier of brass bar and sheet

 

[NickWelford]

eBay.

 

[wallace]

If you have a power file then you can shape brass really quickly and easily. I sometimes put an item in a cordless drill and use the power file to shape it. If you run the drill in the opposite direction than the belt it works well. Its better to keep the speed quite low. You can polish the item in your hand with a drill also

 

[marcros]

I use metals4u in Wetherby for non-ferrous and some steel.

The custom size calculator often prices things cheaper than either cutting it yourself, or buying the same length from that option (eg a custom length of 500mm is cheaper than a 50mm length).

 

[Torx]

I find hand filing quite therapeutic but 6 months of filing is a bit too much therapy. Haven't got an angry grinder but I do have a power file and a bench grinder, they should really speed things along . Any recommendations for a supplier of brass bar and sheet

Don’t use the bench grinder, it’ll clog the wheels. Power file would be ideal if you rig something up. I’ve also seen brass turned very successfully on a wood lathe using scrapers / parting tools, if you have access to one. (I’d bet on early instruments the tooling would have been handheld for the manufacture of these components.)

If you get fed up I don’t mind doing them on my Myford for you.

I’m curious, what sort of tension is on the strings? Is there a special tool for tuning, and do the heads ever get chewed up or shear?

 

[stuckinthemud]

Thank you for the offer, its much appreciated! The plan is to wire string this and the strings put an average of about 15 pounds of tension each through the harp, so, less than urban myths will tell you but still a lot. I've never built one but no-one has mentioned the tuning pins getting chewed up but yes there is a special tuning key