PianoNurse@aol.com wrote: > > Hi List, > > Well, here goes my first post...this problem is beyond my knowledge. > > This afternoon, while screwing down the stack to the keyframe, one of the > action brackets broke as if it were made out of sand. I had noticed that the > brackets were just full of cracks and that one of the brackets was already > broken at the screwhole where it is screwed to the hammer flange rail. The > metal seemed to be very soft so I tried to be careful screwing the stack > down, but alas, the metal just fell apart. > > One thing I thought was interesting is that the break is NOT through the > screwhole, it is behind it. The entire screwhole is intact with about 1/8" > to spare before the break point. > > Does anyone have a suggestion on how to repair this monstrosity and what to > use? Is there a "glue" for metal? Should I torch the piano and tell the > customer my dog ate it? Oh Lord, I need help. Thanks in advance to anyone > who can tell me what to do and how well it works. > > Cindy Crombach, RPT > Rochester, NY Cindy, Forget all the advice you're going to get about how to repair these things. If they are pot metal, none of that stuff is going to work. They're rotten to the core and, as you've discovered, the "metal" is like sand. It has crystallized and all the kings men and all the kings horses are not going to be able to put them back together again. You might be able to get new brackets from APSCo, assuming you can get them to send you anything at all. A few years ago, this problem was fairly common. We probably replace half a dozen sets of these brackets. Kind of like plastic elbows. I haven't heard of a case for quite some time, now. If worse comes to worse, send me a sketch of the offending monsters and I’ll see if one of the left over sets that I have sitting around might fit. No, don't give it to your dog. He/she is probably worth more than the piano. Good luck, ddf
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