key pin lubrication

[Carl Meyer]

Terry, there is one easy to miss factor in your logic.

If you push the keys down with absolutely no side pressure you are correct.
Pianists however have this nasty habit of pushing the key down at an angle.
Sooo any friction gets increased by the amount of side pressure on the key.

I remember Fern Henry making this point many years ago.  (See how good my
long term memory is?)  She suggested at that time to spray the pins and
bushings with an aerosol Teflon lube or mold release.

I've bought over the years several cases of mold release from Aervoe in
Gardnerville, Nevada.  I've used it for knuckles, key pins, capstans and the
whippen cloth.  It's great for your table saw top too.  I think It is just
Teflon powder dispersed in freon that evaporates off in a few seconds
leaving a thin film of Teflon.  Don't leave home without it.

Carl Meyer  Assoc. PTG
Santa Clara, California
cmpiano@home.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: key pin lubrication


> I read a lot on this list about lubricating key bushings. Should
lubrication
> really be needed on a properly set up keyboard? New/polished pins, new
> properly sized bushings, we will have just the hair of play needed and no
> (or very little) friction. Is this not the case? Can I assume that any
need
> for lubrication is because the piano owner is not willing to spend the
money
> to do the job right - or the tech does not know how to minimize friction?
I
> realize I may be wrong here. Constructive input please!
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Newton Hunt" <nhunt@optonline.net>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 11:41 AM
> Subject: Re: key pin lubrication
>
>
> > Yes, Protek will work, sort of, but polishing off the corrosion
> > (invisible to the naked "I") THEN lubricate _always_ works,  Always.
> > Never fails.  Most indubitable success.  How many other ways must I say
> > this to make the point.  Polish the little bastards first!!!!!!!!  Then
> > do your work.
> >
> > You absolutely must do the major pitch change before you can fine tune.
> > Smae thing.
> >
> > Rustlessness is closest to Godfullness.
> >
> > Cleanliness is next to Godliness works here as in all other life
> > processes.
> >
> > Newton
> >
> > > David Love wrote:
> > >
> > > I have for years used McClube to lubricate key pins.  Recently,
> > > however, I was having a hard time getting rid of excess friction prior
> > > to a weigh off and tried using Protek instead and got quite good
> > > results.  Any others compared the two substances this way and what
> > > have you found?
> > >
> > > David Love
>
>