Foundry Castings

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Phillip Ford" <fordpiano@earthlink.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: August 29, 2002 9:26 AM
Subject: Re: Foundry Castings


> > I guess I've got to wonder would it make a bit
> > of difference in the outcome of the piano?
> > Would a steel, ceramic whatever plate be worth
> > it?
> >
> > David I.
>
> I wonder if it would make a difference in the outcome as well.  That's
part of
> the point of the discussion.  My belief is that there's nothing magical
about
> cast gray iron, so many other things could be used.  This gives you some
> options both in choice of material and in choice of manufacturing method.
The
> reason I'm interested is because this might allow design changes, such as
the
> barless plate, or allow production on a much smaller scale, such as in my
> shop.  I'm not interested in convincing the industry of the superiority of
> some other type of material or manufacturing method.

Nor am I. As far as I am concerned I am convinced that several materials
hold promise and at least one is proven. I have built several prototype
pianos using simple welded steel plates and in each case the performance of
the plate has been excellent. Indeed, somewhat better than the later
production pianos using cast gray iron. I'm not sure that all of that
"better performance" can be attributed to the steel plate, but at least some
of it can--certainly much of the superior sustain through the upper third of
the scale.


>
> As I see it one of the major limitations for producing a piano on a small
> scale is the plate casting.  If you produce thousands of them, then gray
iron
> castings are cheap.  To produce only a few, or more to the point to
produce
> the first one, is very expensive.  And once you do produce the casting
you're
> reluctant to change the design, even if you feel it needs it, because the
new
> redesigned casting would be so expensive.  This tends to limit piano
> production to large factories.  I could produce a guitar, a violin, or a
> harpsichord in my own shop on a limited budget.  Not so with a piano,
because
> of the plate (assuming I have to use a conventional plate).

In the 1970s at least one Baldwin engineer did a considerable amount of work
evaluating the cost and performance of steel plates in small vertical
pianos, comparing them to the conventional cast gray iron plates used in the
same models. I don't know anything about the results of their performance
tests (except that the engineer telling me about the project said
performance was as good or better and that there were no apparent
problems--ringing or otherwise). Their cost analysis revealed that in mass
production (whatever that means) the cost of the steel plates would be
comparable to what they were then paying for cast gray iron and they would
have control over plate manufacturing. At the time there was only one U.S.
foundry capable of producing piano plates in volume and this was a desirable
goal. For a variety of reasons--the bankruptcy of Baldwin-United among
them--the project was ultimately dropped.


>
> .... If you
> want to build the world's cheapest shiny black piano shaped object that
looks
> like every other shiny black piano shaped object, then no, it wouldn't be
> worth it.

That does pretty much sum it up!

Del