Those damn things are one of the worst designs I have ever seen. They used those goofy angled hinge thingys with a pin that goes into a bushing in the rack. The 3-ply maple is too weak for the job and sooner or later will split out. The best long-term solution is to cut down and bottom and insert a piece of hard solid wood in a slotted or finger joint, (birch or oak work better then maple in this case), and then you have an entirely new bottom hinge piece. Making the new section thicker then original isn't a bad idea either. Another other long-term and potentially easier solution if the veneer is split out in a mess, is to simply replace the entire rack. Multi-ply Baltic birch would be ideal since it is virtually as strong as pin block material with all the saturated glue. Fill the end grain, apply several coats of black lacquer and rub it out to mach the original finish. This amounts to a lot of work but the original design was so poor that a complete overhaul like this is eventually required in a school situation. As far as a short term temporary repair, epoxy mixed with fine saw dust to fill the split areas is the only solution I have found worth pursuing with the least amount of time investment. A dowel drilled out and inserted into the split pin/bushing hole wouldn't be a bad idea while your at it. Good luck! Rob Goodale, RPT > Folks, > > The Li'l darlin's have again proved their mechanical ineptitude. How > hard is it to slide the shelf back without breaking? Apparently, very. > > The door to the room it's in is about 50 feet from mine and in sight, > but it was evidently also beyond the capability of anyone to report any > damage. Of course, the evidence (chipped out part) was discarded, so no > regluing is possible. > > > Any quick/easy/cheap fixes you folks have done? >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC