Agraffe Trouble

[John M. Formsma]

Gordon,

There is a tech I know of who uses JB Weld to fill up the hole, allowing it
to dry overnight, then drilling and tapping. Not having tried it myself, I
cannot vouch for its success, but I bet it would be fine.

John Formsma
Blue Mountain, MS


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
Of PNOTNR@AOL.COM
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2000 2:41 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Agraffe Trouble


List,

I have a piano in my shop about ready to be restrung.  The plate is out of
the piano and I'm replacing the agraffes.  Two original agraffes broke in
the
process of removal, likely due to something that had been spilled onto the
plate and froze them in place  a few years back.

Drilling down the center with a 1/8' bit, and turning with an EZ out worked
on one.   I tried drilling out the rest of the other agraffe with
progressively larger bits, stopping short of 7/32".  I hoped that the bit
would follow the brass, and not bugger up the iron plate.

Opps!!  Stripped the threads in the plate.

So now I need to plug and tap the hole.  Any hints?  Not having done this
before, I'm wondering if it is a fairly straight forward procedure, or is
there someone I should have do this for me.

They say if you aren't making mistakes, you aren't learning, right!?

Guess I'm learning.

Humbly,

Gordon Large, RPT
Mt. Vernon, ME