Greg, Ben, list -- Just out of curiosity, after trying to remove gunk, has anyone tried repinning with nickel-plated center pins? Seems that if the brass were not in contact with the offending cloth and parafin it might slow down the creeping green crud. Susan ---------------- At 02:11 AM 11/17/97 -0600, Greg Torres wrote: >Ben: How long is a "while"? > >I did a Steinway M with the hammer flanges verdigris problem. >I numbered all shanks and flanges accordingly, removed all the flanges from >the shanks, dipped all the flanges in acetone and cleaned off as much of the >"green wax" as I could by wiping down with a terry-cloth hand towel-even >pushing a center pin through the birdseye with the flat side first to push >out the "gunk". >Then I took a single-edge razor to all the surfaces of the hammer shank >bushings and CAREFULLY removed as much of the "gunk" that I could, then >dipping just that part of the shanks in acetone-JUST FAR ENOUGH TO WET THE >BUSHINGS and while still wet pushed new center pins thru (1 size over and >NOT attaching the flanges YET) >I let these sit overnight and the next day before removing the centers from >the shanks I took a 100 watt Weller soldering gun and just touched each >center pin for a couple seconds or so and then removed the pin and >re-assembled. It worked GREAT! >Nice and tight but flange would drop with the weight of the flange screw. I >told the customer that the problem will probably come back but I think this >will last for at least a couple years or so maybe-enough to get them to save >up for the REBUILD.... > >The previous "tooner" had tried to fix the problem by taking small clamp-on >fishing weights attached to the end of the shanks butted up against the >hammer mouldings, re-enforcing with a nice big blob of hot glue (the clear >stuff for crafts and hobbies....) :-) > >I know this sounds like a lot of work but it only took about 4 or 5 hours >total....try a few and see what ya think... > >Good Luck > >Greg Torres >Tunapiana@adisfwb.com > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Benjamin Treuhaft <blt@igc.org> >To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org> >Cc: momsevywhr@juno.com <momsevywhr@juno.com> >Date: Sunday, November 16, 1997 10:33 PM >Subject: steinway verdegris is killing me > > >> An 1890's Steinway upright action is sluggish due to verdegris. I >>flooded all the centers with Renewsit, the stuff Franz Mohr used for >>years to free seized centers. I massaged it in, sliding the center >>pins back and forth. That worked for a while. >> It came back. >> Next, I wet all the centers with alcohol and water and hit the >>action with heat from a hair dryer. That worked fine. >> It came back. >> Finally, I repinned dozens of centers, washing out the bushings >>with Renewsit before and during reaming. It worked great. >> It's back again. What shall I do? >>Ben Treuhaft >>Berkeley, Calif. >>ps Next week I'm going to install a dampp-chaser and control unit. >> > ------------------------------------------------------ Susan Kline P.O. Box 1651 Philomath, OR 97370 skline@proaxis.com "By using your intelligence, you can sometimes make your problems twice as complicated." -- Ashleigh Brilliant
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