Hi Terry, The reduction in weight in our impact hammers is mainly from the introduction of a titanium shaft and head. Most of the weight in the hammer is in the brass or bronze weight at the end, and that is as small as we can make it and still be a reasonable length and effective. We're converting to a titanium extension (the part that attaches to the tuning tip) for our higher end M300 model, that should reduce the weight by another ounce or so. Current models have stainless steel extensions. The Titanium has another small advantage for the head and extension, it has a warmer feel since it does not absorb heat as well as steel (which also makes it hard to machine). The Titanium shaft in our M200 and M300 not only reduces the weight but makes the shaft a little more stiff. With less bending it channels a little more of the impact into the tuning pin. This is similar to why titanium works a bit better for a standard tuning hammer also. Less bending gives a slightly more positive feel. It feels as if you have more consistent, direct control of the pin with less effort. We use the smallest brass/bronze weight (7 ounce) which is effective at a reasonable length, ours will work for about 99% of tuners and pianos. We have a slightly larger weight available for $25 if you want two weights (or free trade or if specified). The heavier weight (8 ounces) gives about 25% more thrust since all the weight is added at the end. The smaller standard 7 ounce weight works much better for fine tuning IMO, and works fine for all the pianos I've pitch raised. But I know from feedback that there are some pianos out there with super-tight pins which benefit from the heavier weight. The standard tuning pin thread we use fits Schaff, Watanabe and most Hale tips. We've had trouble meeting demand since the impact head is difficult to machine for a small shop. This production problem is just about behind us since we have a larger machine shop with a computerized (CNC) machine making just heads. These new parts are due to to be delivered very soon. You can modify an older Mahaffey or Bowman/Renner hammer to be similar weight as ours, it needs to be a 7 ounce weight at 8.75 inches from center of head swivel to center of weight. On some models you simply need to cut off about 1/4 to 1/3 of the weight at the top. A few of Francis' Mahaffey's impact hammers I've seen are (imo) way too long to work easily (some as much as 2-3" too long) but most are in what I'd consider the right range. Francis' hammers were the original impact hammer to my knowledge, and were well made, but varied widely in length and weight size. If your distance is greater that 8.75" you can get by with less weight, but the longer the the tool is, the more unwieldy (and bendy) the shaft gets. And the longer it is the more likely it is to hit the piano or customer's wall. We are using what we think is the optimal weighting discovered from a lot of empirical testing (aka trial and error in the field). Hope that's helpful, -Dean http://www.reyburn.com/cyberhammer.html On Sep 18, 2005, at 1:06 AM, Farrell wrote: > That's also supposed to be one of the main features of the new > Reyburn impact lever - minimal weight (for an impact lever anyway) > - supposedly significantly less weight than others - their deluxe > model weighs 428 grams, 15.1 ounces total weight, and has USA/ > Japan tuning thread/tip (titanium alloy shank and head, stainless > steel extension, bronze weight). > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RPS, Inc. contact: <http://www.reyburn.com/contact.html> Dean Reyburn, RPT 2695 Indian Lakes Road web page: <http://www.reyburn.com/> Cedar Springs, Michigan, 49319 USA Sales & support: 1-888-SOFT-440 (or 616-696-1002) Fax: 616-696-8121
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