Grille for Edison Phonograph

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,622
Location
Thomasville, GA
LOML recently was given an Edison LU 37 Diamond Disc Phonograph built around 1922. Some of her cousins had it and wanted to find a good home for it. Aside from extensive cleanup, it had all parts but the grille.

z.LU37d.jpg


I checked around online and found some photos of the same type phonograph to see the design of the grille.

z.LU37c.jpg


Next, I went to work in VCarve Pro to do a layout. The only measurements I had were the height and width of the opening - 10.25" by 14.75". So, I did some calculations, tested some dimensions and finally got a suitable design. A combination of circles, half-circles, arcs and straights got it started, then I had to do a lot of node editing to setup the carve properly.

z.LU37e.jpgz.LU37f.jpg


I set up my cnc to do most of the cuts with a 1/8" end mill running at 70ipm and 1/16"doc. I set up a final pass using a 1/16" end mill to get into the small notches and clean up the previous carving.

z.LU37g.jpgz.LU37h.jpg


OK, so I didn't get photographs of the finish steps, but you wouldn't want to watch paint dry anyway! My first step was wiping on some brown mahogany stain. To darken the grille more, I sprayed shellac with a few drops of TT Dark Walnut dye in it. Then, I sanded that back a little to expose the stain and give the grille a distressed appearance.

Here's a before and after look at the phonograph.

z.LU37k.jpgz.LU37l.jpg


Momma's happy, so I guess all is well! :)
 
Thanks to all of you for your comments!


How does it sound? Do you have any records for it?

The sound from these machines is amazing, considering the technology. No electronics, of course, but the volume will fill the house! The larger machines with a 12" horn also have a ball that serves as a volume control so you can reduce the volume as desired. This smaller unit has a 10" horn and no volume ball. We have a total of 65 diamond disc records.


Just LOVE the notion of using a 2016 CNC technology to do restoration on a 1922 piece.

Yep! The original grilles were most likely made using a treadle type scroll saw.


I forgot to mention in my original post that I used my pin nailer to attach the mahogany board to the cnc waste board. That way I didn't have to use tabs to hold all the pieces together.
 
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