The glue was probably just fine. It’s pretty rare to find glue that is bad from the supplier unless it is past its shelf life. And in a factory that doesn’t really happen. Most likely in the case of Baldwin hammers is either too much or too little heat on the side cauls, too much or too little moisture in the felt, not enough glue applied or—and this happened more often than anyone wanted to admit—glue applied just before the break (or lunch) bell rings and the worker goes off for a 15 or 30 minute break before sliding the layup in the press. ddf It wasn't until I got to Hawaii that I started seeing a lot of unglued Baldwin hammers. Is it that Baldwin hammers from a certain era indicate a problem with the manufacturing process? Or is it the constant 70% - 80% humidity here in Hawaii that's the problem? Wim -----Original Message----- From: Delwin D Fandrich <del at fandrichpiano.com> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Mon, Feb 13, 2012 9:01 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] re-gluing loose hammer felt The glue was probably just fine. It’s pretty rare to find glue that is bad from the supplier unless it is past its shelf life. And in a factory that doesn’t really happen. Most likely in the case of Baldwin hammers is either too much or too little heat on the side cauls, too much or too little moisture in the felt, not enough glue applied or—and this happened more often than anyone wanted to admit—glue applied just before the break (or lunch) bell rings and the worker goes off for a 15 or 30 minute break before sliding the layup in the press. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone 360.515.0119 — Cell 360.388.6525 del at fandrichpiano.com — ddfandrich at gmail.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Dale Erwin Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 10:24 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] re-gluing loose hammer felt It could be a number of things and some that are hard to put your finger on. It could be glue quality, or age. Felt is hygroscopic and can absorb excess moisture in humid season prior to glue up if not monitored and could contribute to failure Inadequate amounts of glue applied to the felt and wood, or removal from the press before the glue adequately set. And,... some times the felt is just dang strong. There is an enormous amount of stretch and pull that the felt can exhibit on the joint especially in the low bass after the felt has been tensioned stretched and compressed onto the molding. I've talked to Ray Negron/Ronsen and sometimes the reasons are unknown. Certain woods are more problematic too. The Weickert felt is so Strong that we've gone to 2 staples in the low bass mon-chords and it really helps Dale Dale Erwin RPT- Mason & Hamlin/Steinway/U.S pianos Pre-hung Ronsen hammer sets/Abel parts Sitka Soundboards & Supplies WWW.Erwinspiano.com 209-577-8397 -----Original Message----- From: atrav27 <atrav27 at att.net> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Mon, Feb 13, 2012 6:16 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] re-gluing loose hammer felt ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wally Scherer" <afinetune at yahoo.com> It was a Baldwin studio with about 20 hammers half separated. =========== What are the most likely causes of hammer felt letting go anyway? Preventable? -Aron- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20120214/21dfe1c8/attachment.htm>
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