Week 11- Waterkeys, Mouthpieces, Flanges, and Bell Pings

As the brass lab is piling on the workload, our class made a tool to help install waterkeys.  Taking a brass tube and annealing the metal to a flexible state, I created a horseshoe shape to hold the exposed ends of a waterkey spring while installing.  Though it doesn't seem like much, waterkey installation is no easy task, and I'll take anything that could potentially make my job more efficient and foolproof!

We focused on mouthpieces during the middle of the week.  Taking about which brands offer hard to maneuver metal versus brands with pliable metal.  Using a tapered drift punch or a Morse taper, I used a canvas hammer to round the shank of the mouthpiece out.

Other tools can be used for rounding out the mouthpiece.  After putting the mouthpiece into a receiver  shown below- a dent ball attached to a mandrel can force the metal of the mouthpiece back into round.  

Finishing off the week, a longterm project concerning flanges took most of my attention.  After cutting the diamond shaped pieces of brass and annealing them to a flexible point, I was able to shape the brass to the outer diameter of the bell throat to begin the soldering process.  I shaped the pieces using a universal trumpet mandrel and a plastic mold.  Hammering on top of the mold allowed me to shape the bras without marring the surface of the metal.

After the flanges were clipped to the throat, I soldered the flanges in place with soft solder.  While filling the underside of the flange completely was difficult, the easiest flanges became the ones that fit closest to the taper of the bell throat.  After cleaning up the area I soldered and buffing with yellow compound, I was unhappy to find that I had actually buffed too much.  Unfortunately the indentation I put into the practice bell was there for keeps.  While I was unhappy with this mistake, I definitely know what too much buffing can do.  I will keep it in mind in the future.

Finishing out the week, students were asked to fix bell pings.  While this is the lowest level of dent work we will encounter, it is a great way to begin our technique.  I found it somewhat difficult to see where the rolling mandrel was when placing the bell over the mandrel.  Greg mentioned that changing your angle to fluorescent lighting can help in being able to see the dent and the flexibility of the brass when adding pressure while rolling the mandrel.  There was a lot to keep in mind when removing the bell pings, and ultimately, less is more when it comes to the pressure involved when rolling the brass along the mandrel.  With practice, I hope to increase my knowledge and aptitude concerning bell pings and other dent work!