Saturday, January 27, 2018

Saxaphone ligature screw


Edwin's saxaphone ligature takes two 6-32 screws.  One of them broke, so I made a replacement.  I started with 1/2" diameter steel rod.  I think it was zinc plated, but that wasn't too critical; whatever plating was originally there was removed.

I started by turning the portion to be threaded to 1/8".  Since the length wasn't too critical, I just used the good screw to figure the length.


I threaded the end by hand.  (I could have used a geometric die, but the setup would have been longer...)


Once threaded, I turned the shoulder that separates the threaded portion from the handle.


The shoulder actually tapers a bit, which I did with the graver.



The handle is a rounded ball, which I shaped with the graver after using a parting tool to remove most of the waste.

Here is the part next to the broken screw after parting.


I removed the leftover spigot by reversing the screw in the lathe -- good thing I have an 1/8" collet.


Now the handle is ready for final shaping.


Since I had to remove lots of material, I figured I could either spend time with a file or the bench grinder.  The bench grinder seemed like the better option (it may not have been any faster, actually).  I gripped the part in a pin vice so that I was securely in hand.


I ground both flats with numerous breaks to dunk in cool water...


After polishing, hardening, tempering, and final polishing, here is the final product in place.


The handle is a little wider than the original, but it does the job.

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