Help with Lyre Amberola Grill

[dzavracky]

Hey everyone,

I am going to be making a new lyre grill for my 1-A and need some good close up photos of one. And if possible, can someone take measurements so I can trace the drawing to scale?

Cheers,

David

[dzavracky]

I ended up using the best straight on photo I could find of a lyre grill on the internet; and used it to model the grill in Solidworks. I re-sized the photo in Solidworks to match the opening in the cabinet. This should get all the measurements to really close. I can then export this file and use it on the CNC machine to cut the grill out exactly as I have modeled it. Of course I won't have 90 degree corners, but I will carefully fix those with a chisel after it is done on the CNC. Still figuring out how I am going to make the oval trim piece....

The first one will be made out of scrap wood to both test the fit, but also make sure it looks right. The final one will be made out of some old quarter sawn white oak I found at the local woodstore. Since my 1-A needs a complete refinish it will be easy to make the new grill match the rest of the cabinet later on.

Updates to follow.

Cheers,

David

[dzavracky]

Update:

I made the first test piece today. It’s too big.. so I will scale down the drawing and make a new test piece next week!

Cheers

David

[Homestead]

Your new grill looks terrific. You need to consider making a few extra in oak and mahogany as no one else is making these and there exist many machines lacking intact grills. Secondly, it will subsidize all your time and money invested in making the first grill for your machine......just a good idea and helpful to the community!!! James

[dzavracky]

I was thinking about that today when I was making the prototype.

I won't have access to this CNC machine for too much longer...so I suppose I could do a run in both oak and mahogany. But getting quality quarter sawn white oak is pretty expensive right now... so it would be a bit of an upfront investment without a guarantee of a return. Does anyone need (or know anyone who needs) a lyre grill? If so please respond somewhat soon and I will consider making a few extra. I will be keeping the final prototype for future use.

I was planning on cutting some solid quarter sawn white oak for mine... but it has a few knots in the wood and I don't think it will look right. Attached is a picture of the board. Thoughts? If was to make them as authentic as possible, I would need to get some regular white oak and then veneer it with the quarter sawn veneer.

Cheers,

David

[JerryVan]

David,

You will be far better off making the grill out of plywood, with an oak veneer. It will make it strong and stable. Using solid oak will create lots of weak spots where the grain will run across narrow sections of your pattern. That will make it very fragile and also very prone to cracking due to changes on humidity. The benefit of using veneer is also that some very nice grain patterns may be available that you may not find in solids.

BTW, you're doing a fantastic job!

[VanEpsFan1914]

Seconded on the plywood substrate. The Victrola cabinets are plywood core because solid wood tended to crack and warp? I recall somewhere reading that the Poorly VTLA cabinetry was solid and suffered as a result but sadly when I did see one I was more impressed by actually getting a chance to see a flat-top Pooley.

Quartered oak veneer is not cheap but supply is far cheaper than trying to source old furniture. Most antique furniture too begins to crack. My dresser is walnut from the 1880-1900 era and there are cracks, same with some access panels on the oak case of the parlor organ.

I recommend Oakwood Veneer Factory's online store.

[dzavracky]

I will look into getting some quartered veneer. I'll just something else out of that quartered oak

This is the final scaled down version. I tweaked some of the spline curves so it looked a little more cohesive. I wasn't completely happy with how the first one turned out.

Is there anyone on the forum that needs (or knows someone who needs one) a lyre grill? I might make a short run of these out of a quality plywood, and then veneer them in either oak or mahogany. Let me know soon! I can also finish them, but that will cost extra.

David

[JerryVan]

David,

Wouldn't you want to veneer them first before you cut them out?

[dzavracky]

Yes I would...but I have two problems.

1) Since there has been no other interest in having a replacement grill, I don't want to be out $200+ in veneer just to have extras. Even just making 1 extra for someone would offset the cost of the veneer. At the moment, I don't have that much spending money.

2) I will only have access to this CNC machine for about 4 more weeks. Once I graduate, I won't be going back to my schools woodshop. So I make 10 or so templates and just keep those on hand. I can always buy veneer later, glue it on, and carefully cut the veneer out from the back side of the grill. It will be more work.. but it's really the best option for me at the moment.

David