Notes from the London Fields Reed Shack.

16 March 2020:  Setting up your profiler and tip-profiler to work together.

I often use a tip profiler to establish the initial trim on the front portion of reeds.  The machine I use is made by Rieger.  In order for the tip profiler to establish the final thickness dimensions intended by its template, the blank must be thicker than these dimensions.  This means that the regular profiler must be set properly.

As an example, I often set my tip profiler to produce the following dimensions along the center of the blank:  0.70mm at 8mm behind the tip and 0.50mm at 4mm behind the tip. That means that I have to set my regular profiler thicker than these measurements.

When the two machines are set up properly in this fashion, the tip profiler will leave a defined “ledge” all the way across the reed, at the beginning of its cut, like this:

The area in front of the ledge will have the thickness dimensions intended by the tip profiler’s template.  If I don’t see this ledge, it means I’ve set my regular profiler too thin, and the tip profiler isn’t producing its intended results.

The area behind the ledge will, of course, need to be thinned by hand.  I usually do this hand-thinning with files, staying behind the ledge and avoiding the area trimmed by the tip profiler, until the ledge disappears.  I find this method substantially increases my success rate.