The Spot Check

We stopped by the finishing department and met with Lindsey McChord just as she was preparing to buff some extremely small spots on keys.  In fact, the spots were so small that they were pin-pointed with a Sharpie.  You see, every inch of the flute is evaluated for function and aesthetics.  Even the smallest imperfection will be corrected before the final steps of the process.

Although the keys had been polished, buffed, and padded, a "spot shine" was required for any tiny imperfection on the keys.  We caught up with Lindsey as she was preparing to buff out a very, very small spot on the thumb key.  To begin, Lindsey removed the pad and shims from the key cup.  She then began smoothing out the mark with a small buffing wheel.  Although the wheel looks hard, it is actually made of a rubber material and quite flexible.  The wheel is used with the bench motor, spinning very rapidly to smooth out the mark.  Smoothing out the mark creates a matte finish, so another buffing wheel that is even softer is used next.  Finally, Lindsey took a small cloth wheel and applied some polishing rouge directly to the wheel to polish the key.  That is basically all!  Take a look at the photos below to see the process.

Buffing and polishing wheels in center of this photo.

Pad and shims must be removed first.

Pad removed -- ready to go.

Smoothing out the mark with a firm rubber wheel.

Initial smoothing leaves a matte finish.

Polishing with a softer rubber wheel.

Rouge for cloth wheel.

Cloth wheel for final polishing and buffing.

Final polishing and buffing.

Done!

Buying Flutes at the Show

Instruments on display can be purchased. 

When we exhibit at shows like the NFA Convention, there are many people who choose to buy flutes and piccolos that are being exhibited at the booth.  That seems logical -- they try flutes, find one particular flute that is "the one," and then they buy it.  So, now it is time to leave the booth with that new flute and take it home -- right?  Well, unfortunately, that last part about leaving with the flute is not possible with Powell.  We know -- it seems kind of disheartening, but there is a very good reason for this...

Flutes that are purchased at the show must be sent back to the shop in Massachusetts and head straight to Rachel Baker, the repair technician.  She says, "my job is to make sure it's perfect" before it is sent to the customer for keeps.  Why wouldn't it be perfect?  Well, the flute had been on display at the booth, so it was being play tested by people throughout the show.  It gets picked up, played, and put back down on the stand again and again.  This means many hands have been on it, which in turn means many fingerprints.  Although the flutes are cleaned throughout the show, it really needs to go back to the shop for polishing before it is sent to the customer.  Rachel tells us that polishing is "the big thing" because the flute has been picked up so much.  She polishes the body on the buffer and polishes the keys by hand (with a small buffing wheel).  She also makes any adjustments to the flute that may be needed.  If a customer has requests for small additions/changes to the flute, those can be done as well.  These minor changes include adding a D# roller, G disc, or having some engraving done.  Finally, she puts the flute in a new case, and then it is sent to its new owner.

Sold!  Going back to MA for cleaning/adjustment.

So, although it may seem disappointing to not be able to leave the booth with your new flute, keep in mind that your newly-purchased flute will be even better than it was when you tried it at the show.  It will be polished and adjusted at the Powell shop before it becomes yours -- going through the same polishing and adjustments of flutes that are sent directly from the shop to a customer!

Polishing Rollers

When flute finishers receive the "flute kit" of parts to finish a flute, B and C rollers are in there, already assembled on the mechanism.  The rollers are also polished and ready to go for the most part.  The finisher would, however, take the roller mechanism apart to clean the roller and polish the steel. Unfortunately, the roller can get scratched from time to time -- namely from springs.  So, does this mean that the rollers have to be scrapped?  Well, not exactly.  It's perfectly feasible for the finisher to remove scratches by polishing the rollers.

We caught up with flute finisher Karl Kornfeld to examine the process more carefully.  He begins by removing the roller from the mechanism.  He'll then start the polishing process by placing the roller on a steel in the bench motor.  The motor allows the steel (and roller), to spin very quickly.  While it is spinning, the first step is to smooth out the scratches with 600 grit sandpaper.  Then, the finisher will move on to a finer grit of 1200.  After everything is evened out with the sandpaper, it's time to polish.  A small buffing wheel is then attached to the bench motor, and tripoli grease is applied to the wheel.  The roller is buffed with this compound, and then rouge is applied to the buffing wheel to help with the final polishing.  Karl then takes a pipecleaner and dips in it a bit of alcohol to help clean the inside of the roller.  Just to make sure that the action is as smooth as possible in the mechanism, he also polishes the mechanism steel with 1200 grit sandpaper.  He oils the inside of the roller so that everything will work with ease, and then he's dine!  We've included videos along with photos this week to help demonstrate the process.  Enjoy!

Springs can scratch the rollers

Roller is removed from the key mechanism.

Roller placed on a steel.

Steel inserting into the bench motor -- ready for sanding.

Sanding starts with 600 grit sandpaper.

Finishing sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper.

Buffing follows sanding, and the roller is polished! (Buffing is featured in the video after sanding).

Cleaning any grease or rouge from the inside of the roller.

Polishing up the mechanism steel with 1200 grit sandpaper.

Oiling the roller.

Reassembling the key mechanism.

Done!

Clean, Dry, Polish

How do Powell flutes get so clean and shiny?  Well, in the process of making flutes, the bodies and keys may start out looking a bit different, but they certainly are shiny in the end!  When flutes are sent back in for a COA or overhaul, we work to bring them back to their original shine.  We caught up with Rachel Baker as she was going through the cleaning and polishing process with a few flutes in for a COA.

First, the flute bodies and footjoints are placed in a tarnish removal solution.  It doesn't take too long -- about 20 seconds will do according to Rachel.

After the tarnish removal bath, the bodies and footjoints are rinsed in the sink.  Then, they are placed in the ultrasonic cleaner, which we took a look at in this previous post: http://www.repairmyflute.com/2013/03/the-ultrasonic-cleaner.html.  After the ultrasonic, they go through another rinse and are dried.

Drying the flute in this process is a bit different than one might imagine.  In the photo above, we see Rachel drying a footjoint.  How exactly does this work?  Well, in her right hand, she is holding the nozzle of an air hose that is attached to an air compressor -- so these flutes get dried quickly and thoroughly.  You'll see a close-up of the air hose in the photo below.

After each piece goes through the cleaning and drying process, they are put on a rack like the one in the photo below.  Then, it is time to take them to the polishing room.

Keys that are cleaned are much smaller than bodies and footjoints.  They are placed in baskets (as we see in the photo below) before going into liquids. 

The bodies and footjoints that Rachel was cleaning have been taken over to the polishing room.  She polishes them with a buffing wheel that is coated with polishing rouge.

In the photo below, we see Rachel polishing a footjoint.  The two footjoints on the rack in the bottom right corner of this photo have already been done.  As she finishes polishing, she puts each piece back on the rack -- and they are done!

Polishing to a Perfect Shine

So, how exactly do our flute headjoints get so shiny?  Well, they certainly do not start out with a perfect shine.  We recently caught up with our shop manager and one of our polishing technicians.  As you can see from the photo below, when a headjoint arrives at the polishing room, it is far from "shiny."  It actually goes through several steps before the final result.  In pre-prep polishing, grease is applied to the headjoint, and the headjoint is then buffed on a specially-tuned buffing machine.  The buffing machine has a wheel made of cloth used to buff and polish.  Pre-prep polishing is an important step since it allows the technician to clean up any solder and imperfections.  This step also polishes the headjoint to some degree to make it shiny.  After each buffing and polishing step, the headjoints are cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner.

The final step in the polishing process is where something known as "rouge" comes in to play.  It may sound like an item from the cosmetic department, but it is a polishing compound that is made of iron oxide (rust) in a wax base.  It gets its name from its color as you can see!  The rouge is applied to the buffing wheel, and the headjoint is polished.  Rouge is excellent for polishing because it has very fine particles that remove metal in smaller pieces, thereby producing a very high shine.  In addition to our flute builders using rouge as a polishing agent, jewelers use it as well.  Makes sense to us since our flutes are made of precious metals!

Headjoints in an early phase of polishing

Rouge for the final step

Technician applies rouge to the cloth buffing wheel in the final step of polishing

Headjoints that have been polished and are ready to go!