vertical hitchins- mundane ?

[Will Truitt]

Hi Jim:

When I installed the vertical hitch pins in the bass of my Steinway M, I had
lightly chamfered the holes prior to spraying the plate. Took all of 5
minutes. I made no effort to cover the holes.  When I drove the new hitch
pins in, I had no problems with chipping.  The stainless steel pins didn't
seem to care if there was any overspray in the holes.  At least they didn't
say anything....

Will Truitt

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of jimialeggio5 at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 8:21 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: vertical hitchins- mundane ?

The previous vertical hitch-pin thread brings to mind a mundane ? about
masking 
the holes efficiently.

This is the kind of throw-away task that ends up consuming way too much time
for 
me. Not only that, as usual, removing the masking itself ends up damaging
the 
finish as the finish has adhered to the masking. 
 
1- has anyone tried not masking the holes at all, and just lightly rotary
filing 
the holes pre and post painting? I haven't on the theory that over-spray
would 
screw-up the hole clearances...maybe that concern is foo-foo.

2- anyone tried using silicone plugs? Finish doesn't adhere to silicone.  I
located them at macmaster-carr...cheap
I understand they are used in industry for this purpose.

Jim I