Re: Epoxy Technology::: Some years ago I had an upright in my shop for repinning, and most of the bass singles were just not going to work out with 5/0 pins, so I got some of E.T.'s epoxy, tilted the piano, and filled the holes with the stuff. Had to come back two or three times within a couple of hours to keep 'em filled. I let it cure a couple of days, then (with some trepedation) drilled new holes. I don't remember the drill size I used, but I drilled one for a test first, put in a pin, and broke the pin because there was too much torque. As I remember, from there on I treated it about like I would falconwood. The new 2/0 pins went in o.k., the torque felt fine, and that piano is out there somewhere (sold it), hopefully still going strong. ---------- From: owner-pianotech@byu.edu on behalf of Vanderhoofven David & kathleen Sent: Saturday, May 03, 1997 2:31 PM To: pianotech@byu.edu Subject: Re: Fw: loose pins (long - fiberglass resin repair)) Dear Don and the list, A month and a half ago I had opportunity to do such a repair. It was a no name grand piano that had been previously doped with some time of pin block tightener solution, and was presently untunable because of about 15 tuning pins that had no torque and wouldn't hold any tension on the wire. My repair involved loosening all of the strings from the tuning pins, removing all of the old tuning pins, and then using a brass gun cleaning brush to clean the crud off of the inside of the tuning pin holes. Then I used a shop vac to vacuum up all of the loose particles of crud. I then carefully blocked up the underside of the pinblock holes and supported the pinblock with a pinblock jack. Then I filled the tuning pin holes half full of fiberglass resin and immediately drove in a tuning pin two sizes larger. I did about two dozen tuning pins at a time. The fiberglass resin gets forced into all of the nooks and crannies and cracks and splits in the pinblock, and when it hardens the pinblock will not have splits in it anymore. About every hour or so I would go back to the pins that were now hardening in the fiberglass resin, and give them a turn just a bit so that they wouldn't get "frozen" in place. Because of time constraints, I had to come back on another visit to put the old strings back on the tuning pins and get nice tight and level coils, and to space the strings and then to chip and tune the piano. Before installing the strings make sure and back each pin out at least two turns after the fiberglass resin hardens. This will keep the tuning pin from 'bottoming out" in the hole. I reused the old strings, which made the tuning stabilize a lot faster, but I am sure the same repair could be done by installing new strings as well. Hint: Do NOT fill the tuning pin holes too full of the fiberglass resin! It will tend to flow through the cracks in the pinblock, and then when the new tuning pin is installed, the force of driving the tuning pin in one hole causes the fiberglass resin flow up out of the top of adjacent tuning pin holes onto the plate. When the fiberglass resin hardens it will chip off, but there is the risk of damaging the finish on the plate. This did happen to me, but the plate on this piano did not have a good finish on it anywhere. Second hint: Do not under any circumstances remove the strings from the hitch pin end while doing this operation. I made the mistake of doing this so that the customer could clean about a half inch of mud off of the soundboard. (Okay it was only about an eighth inch of mud!) The mud got cleaned up, but at the time of putting the strings back on the piano, it made it more time consuming. (It would have been a fruitless task if I had not put the hitch pin ends of the wires on another wire like a stringer.) This piano was a junker that should have been retired to the junk heap but the customer had just purchased this piano for too much money and wanted it tuneable. At the beginning of the repair the piano was a piece of junk that couldn't be tuned. The end result of this operation was that the tuning pins now had much more torque. It felt like tuning a new piano after I did this operation. The only problem I had was that now some of the tuning pins are jumpy, but at least now they are quite tight. The piano also has a cracked soundboard, rim separations, and both bridges are splitting, so I feel that my repair will probably out live the rest of the piano. The best option would be to pull the plate, fix the soundboard and bridges, install a new pinblock, refinish the plate, install new tuning pins and strings, and also do the needed action work. In this case, and in other cases, that would not be an option because of the finances involved. However it is still possible to make a piano playable by doing this repair. After I was done, the customer was very, very happy and that is what counts! I must give credit to Clancy Stout, Rob Kiddell, Mark Story, and Steve Cunningham of this list who gave me considerable help. If you are interested in times, I would estimate 12.5 hours to replace a set of tuning pins and tune to A-440 (this estimate comes from The Labor Repair Guide that Randy Potter sells for $15.00 - Thanks Randy!). Randy Potter 61592 Orion Drive Bend, Oregon 97702-2402 (541) 382-5411 I would also charge at least an additional 3 hours for the time spent purchasing the fiberglass resin, covering the bottom of the pinblock, mixing the stuff and putting it in the holes. This time estimate is just my best guess. Charge your regular retail price for the new tuning pins and charge your regular hourly fee for the repair work. The fiberglass resin was purchased at a local shop that sells auto paint and bodyshop supplies, and it cost about $12.50. One more idea. Let me recommend that you contact Epoxy Technology, Inc. for information on using their Epo-Tek epoxy for use in repairing pinblocks. They sent me a well written set of instructions for using their system. The next piano that I repair in this way will be done with Epo-Tek epoxy instead of fiberglass resin. Epoxy Technology, Inc. 14 Fortune Drive Billerica, MA 01821 (617) 667-3805 (800) 227-2201 I hope that this information is helpful! Sincerely, David A. Vanderhoofven At 10:59 AM 5/3/97 -0700, you wrote: > Questions: If pins are removed, what do you recommed for the pin > holes-- > rosin, epoxy, CA, ??? > How do you apply the epoxy, CA, or > whatever? > Are the pins then driven or turned? > > Assuming the same pins and strings are used, what is > considered a standard time & charge for removing, > > doping the holes and replacing all the pins? > > Thanks ahead for all your info. > > dcp@sosinc.net > Don Price RPT > 816 Vickie > Ft. Morgan > CO 80701 David A. Vanderhoofven Associate Member, PTG Joplin, Missouri, USA e-mail: dkvander@clandjop.com web page: http://www.clandjop.com/~dkvander/ #pianotech page: http://www.clandjop.com/~dkvander/ircpiano.html
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