The top of the reed pan (the walls and the centerring) need to be sanded to exactly the same height. A new jig handles this:
The jig is “calibrated” – sanded on Alf’s rotating sander, to exactly 90° in two axes since the wooden brackets aren’t exactly high-precision stuff.
The reed pans are then mounted on the jig after fat pencil lines have blackened the center ring and the top of all walls. When the black is gone, the reed pan is plane. Yes – I know that the little connecting walls between the dividing walls are missing. They will have to come later - they are small and can be sanded individually.
But the sanding means that the reed tracks on the in-side of the reed pan can now be done:
The angled sides
This is where the fun begins... the inside of the bellows frames are angled, creating a tapered, hexagonal hole into which the reed pan must fit (after the inside of the frames have been lined with chamois). A new jig is in order:
The angle is found empirically: a bellows frame is placed on the thick board and a plane piece of wood is held on its inside. Another piece of wood is placed on plywood board and a 6 mm wooden stick is moved back and forth till the two pieces are aligned. When I read this now (november 2018), I simply don’t understand it - so don’t feel bad if you don’t either!
The reed pans can be fixed in three positions, ensuring that approx. 8 mm stick out from the jig. The slider with the round, wooden stick is used to align the reed pans. At least, that was the theory...
When I attempt to use it on Alf’s rotating sander, I realize something:
In certain positions, a reed pan corner sticks out over the edge and consequently clashes with the sanders 90° slider. Minor problem - add a strip of wood to the side... but wait! When I turn the reed pan, the sides (which are parallel) suddenly don’t look parallel anymore. I mean, one side runs nicely parallel up the sander wheel, but when I turn to the opposite side, it’s clearly several degrees out of whack!
Too much for my small brain. I drive back – and realise I can do it by hand. As seen below:
I can imagine some heads shaking, but I am brave, I can do this stuff:
So - nicely fitted in the frame. Yes - it takes time, but I am in control and no accidents can happen.
And the angle is there:
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