Right you are Del. I left about a 1/8" gap or so after cranking down the clamps just as tight as they would go with hand (and a little wrench action) torque (and after cleaning out all debris I could get). West System epoxy thickened with their high-density adhesive filler finished things up (just use the plastic spreader to mush it into the gap. I also used a piece of thin dowel to push the epoxy way down deep into the gap as far as I could - quite sure I got it down to the base of the pinblock. I just scraped off the squeeze out along the top before it cured. This one had a piece of felt covering the block, so the next day, after removing the clamps, I just goobered on a new piece of felt to cover all evils. Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- From: "Delwin D Fandrich" <pianobuilders@olynet.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 12:17 PM Subject: Re: Bolt strength > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org> > Sent: September 21, 2001 4:19 AM > Subject: Re: Bolt strength > > > > .... I did a Baldwin Hamilton a while back with a 1/2" to 1" separation > > across the entire back. It was a lot of work bringing it back together > with > > the ten clamps - and that was with tension down two full steps, and I did > > not quite get it completely back together - but at least the damper were > > rising from the strings (that was the original complaint from the > customer - > > the plate was so bent over, the dampers were not able to lift from the > > strings!). > > > > Your use of multiple clamps is well advised. Many vertical plates are rather > weak along the top of the pinblock. Too much clamping force in just one area > could be a problem--as in a broken plate. > > You'll rarely get one of these things all the way back together. The longer > the gap/separation has existed, the harder this will be. > > Which is why you use a combination of bolts and adhesive to hold them once > you give up on the notion. It's also why I use epoxy. In the end, when > everything is cured, I can grind off the excess and at least it looks like > there's no gap left. Ron's point is well taken, though. Titebond will > generally do the job and it's much less messy. And, if you're concerned > about leaving a visible gap, you can always shim the thing. > > Del >
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