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A computer numerical control (CNC)
router that produces high accuracy wood components with minimal
operator attention has helped a violin instructor get into the
violin manufacturing business in his spare time. Jesse Newcomer, who
runs the Suzuki violin teaching program in Alexandria, Louisiana,
and a violin dealership, produces 60 violins per year targeted at
high school and college students that sell for between $2500 and
$3500 retail. The CNC router produces nearly all of the parts for
the violins to very high levels of accuracy in Newcomer’s garage,
while he is selling, teaching or relaxing and occasionally observing
it through a video monitor.
Jesse Newcomer has been playing violin
since he was 5 years old. He earned a Master of Church Music with an
emphasis in violin from the New Orleans Baptist Theological
Seminary. He was the first graduate from that institution to receive
a music degree with any emphasis besides voice. He served as music
director or minister of music at a number of churches in the south.
Just prior to opening his violin dealership, he served as orchestra
director for a church with a full orchestra that included violins,
cello, viola, clarinets, trumpets, trombones and percussions, all
played by volunteers. This orchestra performed traditional hymns and
anthems, more and more of which are being scored for orchestra, as
well as oratorios such as Handel’s Messiah.
Opening dealership
Several years ago, Newcomer heard that
the Suzuki program in Alexandria was for sale and decided that it
would be the perfect opportunity to spend more time on his first
love, teaching and playing violin. He purchased the program and also
opened a violin dealership and repair shop. Newcomer’s friendship
with a man in a nearby town that owned a machine shop got him to
thinking: why can’t I build my own violins? His friend pointed out
that CNC machining centers would produce wooden components to a
tolerance levels that would make it possible to produce an
outstanding violin without necessarily possessing the woodworking
skills of a master craftsman. The problem with these machines is
that they are so expensive, typically starting at around $50,000 not
including CNC programming software, that they would be difficult for
someone producing violins to afford.
Then, one day his friend received a
brochure for a CNC router that provides the same accuracy and level
of automation as conventional CNC machining centers, but it was
designed for lighter duty machining such as cutting wood, plastics,
nonferrous materials and taking light cuts in nonferrous metals.
Newcomer ended up purchasing that machine, the Techno Series III
from Techno, Inc., New Hyde Park, New York. The price was less than
$19,000 and included CNC programming software. Its working area of
24 inches by 36 inches with a Z-axis height of 6 inches is
considerably larger than required for producing violins.
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The Techno CNC router produces all of
the parts needed to make a violin in about 100 hours, compared to
the 350 to 400 hours that would be required to make the same parts
by hand.
Designing jigs
Newcomer was familiar with violin
manufacturing, but had never built one completely from scratch
before so he enlisted Mark Lisle, a violin maker in Houston, to
build a violin for him and worked with him from start to finish on
the project. The two worked so well together on this project that
they decided to form a violin-producing partnership, Newcomer &
Lisle Violins. After this experience, Newcomer had no difficulty in
designing the components needed to build the violin using the CNC
programming software. Next, he designed the jigs needed to hold the
components on the router while they were being machined. Each of the
jigs is built from two pieces of wood with the top piece cut out so
that it cradles that component that is being machined. The bottom
piece, which attaches to the table of the Techno machine, has holes
cut in it that are attached to plastic tubes running to a suction
pump that holds the piece onto the jig.
Newcomer set the machine up in his garage. His house is connected to
his store so he was able to rig video monitors in both places that
allow him to observe the machine while he is working or relaxing.
Actually, the machine needs little attention. It produces all of the
parts needed to make a violin in about 100 hours, compared to the
350 to 400 hours that would be required to make the same parts by
hand. In addition, the CNC machine produces the parts to much higher
levels of accuracy than can be achieved by hand. The machine's
0.0004 inch resolution and repeatability and 0.003 inch absolute
accuracy ensure that each violin component is identical, maintaining
the excellent sound that Newcomer and Lisle designed into the
instruments.
Excellent accuracy
The Techno machine's accuracy is the
result of several features inherent to the table, such as the use of
ball screws and servo motors. For example, anti-backlash ball screws
permit play-free motion that makes it possible to produce accurate
circles and inlays. The ballscrews have excellent power transmission
due to the rolling ball contact between the nut and screw. This
rolling contact also ensures longer life and greater rigidity during
the life of the system because of the reduced wear as compared to
ACME screws and nuts, which have a sliding friction contact.
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The next issue that Newcomer faced was
that he didn’t have time to assemble more than an occasional violin.
Fortunately, his partner Lisle knew a violin maker in China. This
person agreed to assemble the pieces produced by Newcomer. This
arrangement made it possible for Newcomer to begin volume
production. The table of the Techno machine is large enough to mount
all of the jigs needed to produce a violin. So, Newcomer sets the
machine up to run unattended while he goes about his business, just
keeping an eye out in case the bit needs changing. He typically
produces batches of 20 that he can complete in a month without
seriously distracting him from his other businesses. The only parts
that Newcomer doesn’t produce on the Techno machine are the ribs
that go inside the case. He makes these on a hand router because
they are so geometrically simple.
Reliable operation
In several years of operation, Newcomer
has had no problems with the Techno machine. This is partly due to
the strength and rigidity of the table, which is constructed from
extruded aluminum profiles that provide easy clamping capability.
The machine also has four ground and hardened steel shafts and eight
re-circulating bearings in each axis. This shaft and bearing system
produces very smooth play-free motion and an extremely rigid system
that produces high-quality cuts.
Newcomer sells the violins through his
own shop and also through other violin dealers in the South. The
target market is exceptionally talented high school and college
students. Newcomer's violins are known for their strong, rich sound
and outstanding detail and workmanship. Their characteristics are
richness, warmth, softness of timbre, and depth. Newcomer is able to
provide these qualities in every instrument its makes because the
CNC router that it uses to produce the parts provides much higher
accuracy than traditional woodworking methods. At the same time, the
fact that the Techno machine is relatively inexpensive and runs
virtually unattended makes it possible for Newcomer to provide
promising younger players with an outstanding hand-built instrument
at a fraction of the cost of comparable quality instruments. All in
all, the new machine has proven to be the perfect way to get into a
business that’s both fun and profitable without spending an arm and
a leg or committing a major amount of time. |
