[CAUT] Protek and Sluggish Dampers

[Wigent, Donald E]

And I thought that I was the only one with trouble with asian damper
flanges. Had to repin.  Damn Damper would almost hush.
Don Wigent ECU 
Wigentd@mail.ecu.edu 

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Fred Sturm
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 11:59 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Protek and Sluggish Dampers

On 3/24/05 6:50 AM, "Becker, Lawrence (beckerlr)"
<BECKERLR@UCMAIL.UC.EDU>
wrote:

> I removed the offending
> dampers, ironed the bushings with a bridge pin in a rheostated 25-watt
> heating iron, sprayed a little TFL-50 on the bushings, and polished
the
> damper wires with 4/0 steel wool.

    I use an umbrella tool for the same purpose: heat it with a lighter
or
match before inserting between wire and bushing. The umbrella tool
should be
tapered to knife edge thin, and from U shaped to a point (ground down
with
wheel or file or whatever from both sides) to make it a usable tool, and
not
just a guide bushing remover <g>. But heating it allows it to iron and
size
the felt without removing the damper wire.
    I, too, have had mysterious problems with seizing dampers in Baldwin
grands, especially my personal one. Never figured out why. Very
unpredictable. Some day I'll bite the bullet and re-bush the guide rail.
I
think there was some strange residue in some of the bushing felt Baldwin
used over a period of time. Same kind of seizing seemed to show up
elsewhere
- particularly in trapwork bushings. That was a chronic problem with
loan
program Baldwin grands I faced in the early 90's. I never found a cure
other
than felt replacement. No lubrication seemed to work permanently. Kind
of
like those Asian flange bushings (though I never found flange bushing
problems of that sort in Baldwins).
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

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