Brass knob production.

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd pop my head in and say hello. I haven't been on the forum for ages, sorry.

Also, I have been looking at replacement brass knobs for the Thunder 1A and similar models. I now have a small lathe (and milling machine) and I'm working on trying to make replacements as per the original, with serrated spline and markings for the tone pot.

Would there be any interest in these if I can manufacture them?

Kind regards,
Ed.

Hello Ed, in principle I'd say 'yes' to a set (maybe even two) just to keep as spares or for future projects, but it would be dependent on how close they end up being to the originals & obviously the price...

All power to your elbow, though, certainly be interesting to see how you get on with the fine knurling.

Thanks Punkyjam,

I have a question. My volume and tone knobs are polished, I think I did that. AM I right in thinking the originals were just a turned finish i.e. looks like a brushed or linished finish?

Cheers,
Ed.

It's been a while since I've seen a new factory-fresh one, obviously, but I believe they weren't polished as such, just lacquered over the machined brass.

Ok cool , thank you.

Nice!! One thing you'd have to be careful of is that the capital spent would probably not be quickly recovered, though I have to say tbe regulars in here that say they'd buy a set, would indeed follow through!!

Price would most likely be the most important factor, though accuracy of reproduction is right up there for cork-sniffers like us!!

Armadillo Guitars made some knobs a while back and they were very expensive, I thought, but they would be trying to maximise profit....

I'll tell you, I'd be interested in seeing the process, eh!!

Hi Corsair,

Thanks for your thoughts. I've asked for three quotes from companies here in the UK to make a custom stamp/punch to mark the tone control. I expect that to be prohibitively expensive. So today I've been playing around with doing the marking by hand. I'd need to get some 3mm high letter/number stamps which I'm looking for now. I've ground my own arrow head punch and can do the part-circles on the lathe.

I'd probably be looking at a similar price to those made by Armadillo, being that they'll be pretty much as the original and with the extra marking, colour fill and lacquer finish.

I'd also have to design and make a jig just for stamping. Should be achievable I think.

Regards,
Ed.

Great idea, but I think lots here would be put off by the cost of such a small run, I'd love to say "yes, I'll have 3 sets"  but I couldn't commit. 
Do keep us updated with many pictures though!

Sgt. Vimes wrote:Great idea, but I think lots here would be put off by the cost of such a small run, I'd love to say "yes, I'll have 3 sets"  but I couldn't commit. 
Do keep us updated with many pictures though!

Hi Sgt,

"...put off by the cost of such a small run."  ?? I would hopefully be able to make these as and when requested with a couple of sets ready to go and no price has been confirmed yet.

I'll share some pictures of the finished items when I'm happy with them. :-)

Edited this a couple of times as I'm not sure how to add pictures like I used to be able to do.




Here's an example of a spline test. Each one cut individually and indexed to the next position.
http://webed.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pics/guitar/t1a_tc1.jpg


This one shows the original on the left with another test piece on the right. My knurling tool is slightly finer (43 knurls per circumference) than the original (40 knurls) I've sent away to see if I can get better matching knurls.
http://webed.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pics/guitar/t1a_tc2.jpg


Update:
- I'm currently making some tooling to add the lettering into the tone control knob.
- The knobs on my T1A are 22.25mm. I believe the originals were actually made to imperial measurements, not metric as you might expect in Japanese production; 7/8" diameter, 5/8" bore to a depth of 1/8". The pot shafts are 6mm.

Kind Regards,
Ed.

Love those knobs, man; very very slick!!

Like to see a little of the process....

Excellent so far! 

I was guessing they would be expensive as a few others had had some made at a high cost/small run thing.

Barry, thanks for the help with the photos

Er, I don't see any menus using the quick reply and I only see a Topic Icon menu after I click on the POSTREPLY button. It's probably my age and the old eyesight.


Ah, sorted it now. If I have tracking protection set in IE it makes the menu invisible.

Regards,
Ed.

edwardd wrote:...Er, I don't see any menus using the quick reply and I only see a Topic Icon menu after I click on the POSTREPLY button...Ah, sorted it now. If I have tracking protection set in IE it makes the menu invisible.

Glad to hear it Ed.
The Quick Reply option only shows a subset of the full menu selection, that's why it's "quick". The Post A Reply button gives ya the full monty!

AND Good 'ole IE, always a pain in the arse. Try Firefox or Chrome.

Count me in for these as well

Hi guys,

On the knurled section am I right in thinking these were slightly "flatted" and not a full pointed knurl?

I don't remember them being sharp when I bought my T-1A new and the photo above (the knob on the left) looks like the knurling tool has re-engaged on a flat part causing a slight cross knurl. To be honest the quality of knurling isn't that consistent on the originals if I might so bold

Update - I spent some hours designing and making a jig to align letter punches and after a few go's I wasn't happy that I could get a quality finish. So I'm looking at getting the tone controls laser engraved.

Stamp Jig with test piece.




http://webed.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pics/guitar/tc_jig.jpg



Thanks,
Ed.

That looks great as is!  I'm sure most would be more than happy with that stamping.

That's a very impressive knob you have there Ed.

And I'm with Sarge, it looks great as is and I would certainly prefer that over an old, dirty, lacquer peeling knob any day of the week.

I do admire your drive to get them perfect though Ed so good on ya...

Update:

Making some progress guys (and ladies?), albeit slow, but getting there.

I ordered up some industry standard knurls and nothing matched the angle or pitch of the original knobs. So I made my own knurls! Hard work but great fun heating metal to glowing orange and plunging it in water. For those interested in the techy stuff about the knurls, they are 1.7mm transverse pitch, so that's the measurement across one diamond around the circumference and this gives a normal pitch of 1.3mm which is the measurement from groove to groove. The angle on the knurl is 40° from the centre axis and nobody makes them as standard items ( I got a quote of $250 from a company in the US to make one pair of knurls) 


Custom Knurls made from 20mm silver-steel, hardened and tempered. The silvery one has been polished to remove the oxide from the tempering process.





So this afternoon and evening I've been turning some brass bar down and making some knobs. Here's a photo of the knurling tool with a modification I made to the tool so it could knurl over and under. I need to re-think this as there is not enough room for an efficient process.




Here's the knurled bar ready for drilling and counter-boring.




...and here are some parts ready for broaching and marking.



Will hopefully continue tomorrow.

Cheers,
Ed.

Sweet mother of jesus!  They look fantastic! Excellent detail and interesting to see these being made! 

Mark me down for some!

Those  are super nice. Count me in as well. Look Great

Holy snapping ducks**t... they look superb!! Interested in the process too, though the techy stuff is a little out of my comfort zone! Do not let that stop you describing what you're doing, though - we love this stuff in here!!

Hey guys,

I've just been looking through some other threads on the forum. This one LINK Westbone says the knobs are original but they have a set screw in the side, so were those a later design?

My originals have the internal spline and no set screw which is what I'll be making the reproduction ones to.

Regards,
Ed.

None of mine have set screws, but probably easier and neater to go your way and leave them out.

Not sure which or if one was a later design, I've had 2 thunders with both set screw and without on the same guitar, I doubt they came from the factory this way, but with Mats you never know!

hmmm, wonder what ever came of these… 

Just completing the stamping and getting them ready to ship (I hope).
They were looking great

Any extras to sell me?  I'd like some!