Balance rail pins, key buttons

[Ken Jankura]

At 04:02 PM 9/17/99 -0300, you wrote:
>  Hi Clark, 
>I have thought of making my own keybuttons. 
>I would appreciate knowing if anyone has had any luck making them,
>economically and consistent in size. 
>I would appreciate it if they would share their expertise. 
>Regards, 
>John M. Ross 
>Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada. Clark wrote: Hi, I recall an inquiry here a


 Just had a wonderful chapter technical with Mike Carraher (not on list).
He uses a very accurate homemade jig to hold the key at the correct angle
to clean out old mortices using his x-y vise on the drill press and an end
mill of correct size, for rebushing. I don't see why this wouldn't work for
making key buttons as well. Years ago I 'retrofitted' an old set of Knabe
keys (with the .088 balance rail oblong pins) by sharpening a .250 drill
bit to a very gradual point and free-handing the key mortice on the drill
press. (Doing it once was enough.) I replaced the pins with .147, rebushed,
and it worked. If there is interest, I can try to describe the jig and
procedure Mike has devised. 
Ken Jankura