Abstract—The traditional method of grooving the steel pan is a manual forming technique, which involves the use of hammers and chisels or punches. This is a time-consuming and tedious process, which requires skill on the part of the sinker and depending on the individual, may take up to four (4) hours. The process lends itself to any method that may propose a reduction in time as well as minimise the tedium involved and human error that may be encountered.
This paper presents the design and development of a device to aid in the grooving process thus allowing for more consistent instruments to be manufactured.
It was found that a pneumatic hammer with a modified chisel attachment worked well for the grooving process. Additionally the steel pan tuner was able to:
* Stay in a straight line while grooving;
* Avoid hand injury, considering that the steel pan tuner is usually looking at the grooving line and not the hammer, or where he is hitting;
* Pound out the grooving track while still maintaining the note shape;
* Counter-groove depending on the type of steel pan and the material of the surface.
Index Terms—Grooving process, pneumatic hammer, steel pan musical instrument, Trinidad & Tobago.
Aaron Ameerali, Nadine Sangster, and Prakash Persad are with the Design and Manufacturing Engineering Department, University of Trinidad and Tobago, Boulder, O’Meara Industrial Estate, ARIMA, Trinidad and Tobago (e-mail: aaron.ameerali@gmail.com).
Claron Mitchell is with the BASc Design and Manufacturing Engineering Department, University of Trinidad & Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago.
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Cite: Aaron O. Ameerali, Nadine Sangster, Prakash Persad, and Claron Mitchell, "To Design, Build and Test a Device to Assist in the Grooving Process of the Steel Pan Musical Instrument," International Journal of Materials, Mechanics and Manufacturing vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 187-190, 2016.
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