[CAUT] pin-block plugging?

[David Love]

Be careful with the accelerator on a blued tuning pin as it can cause it to
corrode.  If the pin is loose just put some thin CA around the base of the
tuning pin and let it wick into the block around the top edge of the pin.
No accelerator is necessary.  

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Hans E
Sander
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 8:26 AM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] pin-block plugging?

Hi Mark,
I use a good dose of CA red around the tuning pins to soak into the
pinblock, without accelerator of course. After an hour or a little bit more,
the loose tuning should be tighter and tuneable. So far I have done it at
least 1000 times.
Greetings 
Hans

>>> Mark Cramer <cramer at brandonu.ca> 05/05/09 10:42 AM >>>
Hi Susan,

 

Someone had *plugged* several stripped screw holes in the tubular rail, and
tightening the flange screw simply augured the plug out of the hole. IOW,
the flange and flange-screw made a dandy plug-puller, just not the kind of
demonstration you need to see 30 minutes before curtain time.

 

My good friend Stan just mentioned that he's had good success swabbing
several coats of CA in the hole, then spraying accelerator on the
tuning-pin. Not exactly what you've described Susan, but similar. I'll have
to give your suggestion a try.

 

The piano I'm needing to plug is a 1920's Steinway that has several problem
holes, but should still be a long way from needing a new pin-block. (read:
it will have to make it on the wood it's got for a few more years)

 

Fred mentions routing out and replacing a section, which is also a great
repair (I made a jig, it's here somewhere.), however the problem-pins in
this block are kind of here and there throughout. 

 

Meanwhile, I'm not really able to look at that particular piano until
August, but at least I'll know what to do when the time comes.

 

Thanks everyone for sharing your experience, I really appreciate it!

 

Best regards,

Mark Cramer,

Brandon University

 

 

 

  _____  

From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Susan
Kline
Sent: May 4, 2009 7:43 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] pin-block plugging?

 






Like at a concert-hall a few years back when it became immediately apparent
why the C6 flange on their older D was lifting every time I tried to tighten
the screw. (Any guesses?)  



The very end of the action screw had broken off in the hole, possibly
because it was crazy-glued in? And so tightening jammed the rest of the
screw down against the stub? And sawdust perhaps was driven out of the hole
and under the loose flange?

(Am I warm? Or way off base?) 

Manitoba -- maybe too dry in winter to have CA glue work well? Maybe if you
took out the loose tuning pin, swabbed the hole with something damp, put the
pin back in and then dripped in the CA? (or wet the tuning pin with the CA
and then turned it back in.)

Susan