keytop trimming (HELP!)

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Greg.

I have used the Rotary planer as well and find it works great. As far as
trimming off the sides I always use one of those combi vertical belt sander /
disk sander bench machines. You know.. the kind that has the circa 1 inch wide
belt sticking up about 6 inches or so, and a disk sander on the side ?

The belt works fine for a pretty fine roughing in, and I finish with 600 paper
to make a nice smooth rounding off of the sides. Its good for cornering the
leading edge too.. but you gotta be carefull not to take too much.... you get
the hang of it.

Im sure there are better ways... but when you get used to doing something one
way sometimes it takes quite a bit to change.

RicB



 Greg Newell wrote:

>Greetings listees,
>         I've been having consistent trouble in my endeavors to replace 
>keytops. I really wish to do a good job at this so if you could share with 
>me what you do I'd greatly appreciate it. I had tried the Peterson Jig 
>using essentially two parallel rails to ride a router on and the key is 
>clamped beneath. The theory is that this will evenly trim the tops down. 
>Not So! After several sets of disasters that I did more than twice the
>work 
>on making them right, I have finally built Bill Spurlocks jigs to use in 
>conjunction with a rotary planer. This has been the ticket in the planning 
>department as I have never made a set of keys quite so even before.
>         Now I'm at the trimming stage and I am using another of Bill's (I 
>think) jigs where a piloted bit comes up through the center of the jig 
>which is a ever so slightly tapered away from center and covered with
>denim 
>material to prevent scratches on the keytop. The key is inverted and the 
>pilot bearing rides against the side of the key and trims any overhanging 
>plastic. This is the part I'm having trouble with. It seems that either
>I'm 
>not holding the key steady enough or there are some imperfections in the 
>key that I'm not seeing, or there's stuff on the table from the last key.
>I 
>really don't know what it is but I'm not winding up with a straightly 
>trimmed side. Can anyone suggest a different method of a different jig? 
>I've been thinking of a 1" belt sander as  trimmer. Anyone ever use one of 
>those for this purpose? Any and all ideas greatly appreciated. I'm so
>happy 
>with how the planing went I don't want to ruin this in the trimming stage.
>
>Greg Newell
>mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net


Richard Brekne
RPT NPTF
Griegakadamiet UiB