High level overview (writing October 11, 2024)

  1. Make the bell — slide bugle
    1. Design & fabricate the mandrel
      1. Lathe
      2. Woodworking
    2. Learn how to do metalworking
    3. Straight tube
    4. Flare
  1. Bend the tubes — bent bugle
    1. (Anneal & quench tubes)
    2. Fill w bending matrix
      1. Research & proof of concept test bending matrices in brass tubes
      2. Research, order, mix and put into tubes appropriate bending matrix
    3. Freeze
      1. Had to forse constraint of size of freezer for how long bent tubes could be. Actually proved beneficial in terms of modularity so wasted less tubing when messed up bend, and could easily swap out the bend if need new one. But required more joints then.
    4. Research, Design, model, fabricate, & Build bending jig/fixtures
      1. Test existing bender first
      2. Model & print & iterate bending curves
      3. Quick build base
    5. Bend the tubes!
      1. Decide which radius to do, settled on same one for simplicity of manufacturing, not going for exact length here
  2. Put everything together — bent bugle
    1. Bell to tube
    2. Braces
      1. Design and print jig for cutting on right curve
      2. Artistic choice…metal or 3d print for color??
      3. Location affects sound?? Bc nodes
  3. Make the slide
    1. Accounting for inner tubing to improve stability when soldering
    2. Jig for parallelism (could improve)
    3. Cool metalworking tricks w temp (water bath for plastic jig)
  4. Refine/finish