pianotech-digest V2000 #984

Dave Nereson dnereson@dimensional.com
Sun, 12 Nov 2000 09:54:58 -0700


Does anyone know how to loosen up "frozen" (seized-up) regulating screws --
in this case, let-off screws.  This is in a Baldwin studio, only 20 years
old or so.  I tried turning them carefully and the eyelets would break off.
So I had to take off the button, grab the other end of the screw with a
vise-grips and turn out the remainder of the screw.  But in some cases, that
would break off also, leaving only that portion of the screw that's in the
wood, and nothing left to grab.  So I tried heating them all with a torch,
thinking the expanding metal would also expand the hole in the wood, then
when they cooled, they might turn easier, but no dice.  They still break
off.  And they're not even rusty.  I hate to put any type of oil or liquid
lube, thinking that would expand the wood cells, making the let-off screws
even tighter.  How to get the remainder of the screw out of the wood?  (I
can do it by carving away enough wood to let me grab some screw with the
visegrips, but hate to butcher the rail).  Can ya buy a new let-off rail
from Baldwin (it's the common studio model that's in many many schools)?



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