The Normanblet

"Here, go through this. It should only take you about an hour." Ok, Lucas. He hands me a beat to hell and back half Noblet, half Normandy 10 clarinet. I go through and do some key fitting, corking, pad seating and venting. It's all playing.

But...

Uh oh. I have a stripped thread in a post. Well, let's fix it.  First thing to do is figure out a plan of attack. I opted to make a plug to replace the missing material. The first step was to remove the damage post from the body. This was done by simply unscrewing it. Once it was out I did some measuring and math. Yes, captivating math.

Now I have the thread sizes I will use determined. I also know what sizes of drills to use, along with the size to turn the plug too. So with the correct size hole in mind, I began to drill out the post. I progressed through several sizes of bits, only taking out a small amount of material each time. This made it easier to hold on to the part as I drilled it.

Next, I simply tapped the post to a 3-56 thread. This size left enough material on the post while allowing the plug to have enough material as well.

Here comes the fun stuff. I began to make the plug.  The plug was made out of a rod of nickel silver(brass.) This was all done on the lathe. First I faced a piece of .156'' rod. Next I turned it down to .099''

Now I just cut threads with a 3-56 die. Afterwards I drilled a hole for the new hinge rod threads and tapped it.

The drilling and the threading displaced nickel silver a little bit. Therefor the outer threads were a little expanded. I wanted to run the die over them once more. However, because the wall of the plug was now so thin I made a steel screw to insert into the inner threads to help the plug hold shape.

Now I double checked the outer threads and cut off the plug, leaving in the spacer screw for support.

Because the new threads were cut to a 1-56 rather than a .3-56 or whatever, I made a new hinge rod. I threw the post back on the body to check fit quick before setting the plug in for good.

To secure the plug into the post I soft soldered it. Very little solder was needed to fill the gaps between threads.

I then cleaned up both sides of the post by removing the excess material of the plug.

Unfortunately, when the plug was soldered in, It began to bind the screw.  This was remedied by loosening the posts threads and epoxying it into alignment.

So there it is. New threads!

I have several other issues to resolve with this clarinet, a cracked middle tenon, a loose post assembly, major key play with head point screws...the list goes on.