[pianotech] Acrilykey

[Laura Olsen]

OK. Here's my question.  How does this wear?  The texture is somewhat different from the original.  Does it pick up dirt over time?

Laura Olsen

On Sep 9, 2011, at 9:04 PM, Douglas Gregg wrote:

> A while back I was doing quite a lot of acrylikey repairs on ivory and
> some on plastic.
> I agree that it is harder to match plastic, especially the pure white
> stuff. The white bottle is not white enough. Here are three tips for
> using the material.
> 
> 1.  I took a used ivory tail and ground 7 notches in the edge and made
> a color test strip by varying the amounts of white and beige coloring:
> all white, 3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, and all beige.  It is the same
> way your dentist would check the color of your tooth when making a
> crown. It takes much of the guesswork out of it.
> 
> 2.   I got some 1/8 inch thick polyethylene from Small Parts.com and
> made some square blocks as wide and high as the front of the key. I
> tape one of these under the overhanging  ivory to keep the resin from
> slumping  or falling off before it sets. the polyethylene will not
> stick to the acrylikey resin. It gives a nice clean square edge under
> the overhang. I have been able to replace the entire overhang using
> this technique.
> 
> 3. I find the resin in the kit sets up too fast to do much sculpting.
> I found that medium viscosity CA glue works great as the resin and is
> readily available. The dollar store type in  small tubes seemed to
> have a nice viscosity and set time. The more expensive kinds set too
> quickly.   I know this sounds like some kind of heresy, but
> cyanoacrylic turns into acrylic plastic when it sets and that is the
> same as the resiin in the kit as far as I can see.  Anyway, I like it
> better and after 4 years, I have never had a repair fail or chip out.
> 
> Doug Gregg
> Classic Piano Doc