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uncle.fogey - Posted - 04/19/2012: 14:53:41
I apologize for the confusion, but I started this chapter with the wrong number - should have been 5 - anyway for the historical reference, just go to bracket band 4.
In this particular project, I want to use a raw brass patina finish rather than a nickel plated finish. I think this is going to make an unusual resonator banjo, since they're all usually nickel or gold plated.
The choice about what finish you want is an important design decision - nickel or gold / brass?
I know I posted this before, but it's important, which look do you want? The picture on the top is nickel, the one on the bottom is patina brass:
NOW - here's an original 1927 Granada with most of the gold plating worn off - I like the way that looks - more like the patinaed (spelling) brass.
Here are pix of details of another banjo I made with the patina:
The colors vary because of the different alloys of the brass -red brass, cartridge brass, architectural brass and leaded brass- they all react differently to the atmosphere and chemical baths used to make the patinas (patinae?) but I think that adds to the interest in the color of the metal. SO, my decision for this project is to do the patina and use raw brass.
Having said that, I'm back to the band, which I bent with the funkidelic Harbor Freight spiral ring roller, and corrected by hand.
You need to make templates for the outside diameter, which on an 11" rim is 34.5576" using ther circumference as a measurement is 3.1416 times more accurate than the diameter, PLUS, bracket bands and tension hoops will always be out of round. Then you braze the joint and clean it up as described earlier:
Now we will make the brackets.
I start with a length of architectural brass angle 1/2" x 1/2" with a .125" wall thickness.
Using the brazing techniques described earlier, you flow a "fillet" of silver solder in to the angle. this creates the proper cross section for a bracket.
Then you mark this off into equal 1/2 " sections, and drill them for the hooks:
Then you radius the backs of them to clean them up for soldering, and make them sit right on the tension hoop, then cut them into individual pieces and round off the front. I do this with a disc sander:
In the end you wind up with a bunch of little brackets - to get 24, I always make 25 because of my pessimistic nature.
NOW, after marking all the positions using a drawing, and double checking - measure twice - silver solder once,you coat the backs with flux and attach them to the band with metal clips or something similar, then you silver solder them on - as you go around, the whole thing gets hot and it goes fast - you don't need much silver solder - it gets sucked into the joint if you do it properly:
All the brackets are attached permanently.
I clean them up with a Dremel tool (one of the very few things I ever use a Dremel for).
More later
uncle.fogey - Posted - 04/20/2012: 15:12:57
I didn't do a lot today - My son and I were dragging a big beech log out of a creek with log chains and cables and I'm tired. This log weighs several tons, and, sadly, no part of it is suitable for banjos - bummer. It's firewood. You have to keep in mind that the wood you can use for musical instruments represents a small fraction of the lumber that's "out there"
I had to make a bracket for the tailpiece, because with my design, the tailpiece is not attached to either a coodinator rod bracket, or a lug that screws into the end of the dowel stick.
I am trying to keep my options open, and having to have the tailpiece align with some internal member that has nothing to do with it, is a variable I'd like to eliminate:
The other thing I did was to make a bevel on the inside of the bracket band in order to facilitate fitting it on to the rim when I do that. I use a spindle sander on the drill press to do that. The drill press is one of my must versatile and often used tools:
The other thing is that I screwed up yesterday. I was trying to show how much a really old gold plated vintage banjo looks like a raw brass one. I wanted to show a picture of a 1927 Granada that hasn't been messed with, and somehow, I didn't post the pic, so here it is - out of context - sorry:
uncle.fogey - Posted - 04/20/2012: 16:38:09
quote:
Originally posted by BNJOMAKR
I like this thread!!!
Thank you!!
HarleyQ - Posted - 04/20/2012: 21:11:04
quote: me 2
Originally posted by BNJOMAKR
I like this thread!!!
uncle.fogey - Posted - 04/21/2012: 13:34:07
Now I have this all assembled, brazed together.
I should mention here WHY I made this part first.
It's probably obvious, but this is by far the most difficult metal part to make. The brackets might slip off a little - who knows. I make this part first because the other parts that depend upon the spacing of the brackets - the tension hoop and the resonator flange, are much easier to make and will "stay put", unlike the fluid silver soldering of the bracket band.
This is not an issue with drilled and threaded ones, so I make the bracket band first and can use it as a template for the holes and notches in the other parts.
I also ought to mention here (and this is probably the essence of my banjo making philosophy), that if you are going to spend the time, energy and trouble of making something by hand, and you can do that, it ought to LOOK as if it was made by hand - otherwise, what's the point? Machines are everywhere. and don't always do good work. The great Danish industrial designer Jens Quistgard said that the last step in everything you make should be done by hand, because that's the part people see and touch. End of editorial.
So here's the polishing story:
You have to have three compounds- bobbing (rough), tripoli (medium), and rouge (fine) in order to get a good finish, and you go from one to the other. You need separate buffing wheels for each one, and they don't mix.
It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. I wear a leather apron. I don't have a very good setup for this, I use my lathe.
Anyway, here I am polishing the bracket band - I am not really being compulsive about this because these will be patinaed - If these parts were going to be nickel plated, I would have to be compulsive:
When you are finished with this, you can become a member of the dreaded "black hand" organization.
My wife makes me take a shower and especially clean off my (bald) head after polishing brass parts - I can't sit on the couch or touch anything before being detoxified.
I try to stockpile parts and polish them all at once.
NOW, this is done! - on to the tension hoop and tone rings
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Great writing! 
Wonderful Photos.