Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tuba metallurgics, carbon sousas


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Posted by Dan Schultz on August 25, 2003 at 22:21:33:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tuba metallurgics, carbon sousas posted by Art H on August 24, 2003 at 22:26:34:

A couple of years back I managed the manufacturing engineering department of a now-closed automobile horn plant. I spent two years and many hundred-thousand dollars working on the development of a plastic automobile horn to replace the popular 'seashell' type of car horn. Most of the horns currently on the market have a plastic projector on the front of them, but the vibrating portion and mechanical components are still made of steel. There are virtually NO plastics that will match the performance of steel. An engineering grade of plastic called FORTRAN comes close but the cost is five times that of other plastics. FORTRAN (a Hoerst-Cellanese product) or graphite composite would probably come close to exhibiting the accoustical properties neccessary to build a tuba, but both would require extensive research and expensive tooling for production. Stick with the brass. It's cheap and easy to work with.


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