My first pinblock

[Overs Pianos]

Newton and list,

Yesterday  Newton wrote:

>Pinblocks are not that mysterious, just tedious and detail
>oriented. . . . . . . . . . . . (a few steps later)
>
>Next drill two small (3-4/32") holes through the plate and
>into the old pinblock.  One in the bass and one in the
>treble.  These holes are your main orientation from this
>point on.  Carefully measure, after plate removal, the
>distance from the center of the holes to the rim and to the
>stretcher and write them down on the keybed. . . . . . . . . . . .

It is amazing how often technicians, who have never met, find 
identical solutions to the same problem. I have been using Newton's 
technique (which I had previously thought of as mine only) of 
drilling datum holes through the plate and original pin block since 
1990. And there I was thinking I had invented the wheel again when I 
hadn't.

We replaced the pin block of our rebuilt Steinway D hire piano using 
this technique. Check out a close up image of this piano, showing the 
treble sections and the datum hole via the following link (the datum 
hole is located between the center and right unison tuning pins of 
note A#86);

http://www.overspianos.com.au/testa.html

How long have you been using the technique Newton? It's a useful 
technique to ensure that the plate is replaced in its original 
position. Often I am amazed at how sloppy factory procedures can be 
when it comes to plate location. Mind you, it's not easy to repeat 
plate positioning from one piano to another unless a reliable 
procedure using datum holes is developed. We are presently 
manufacturing a jig for positioning the plate and the bridges on our 
225 production Piano. Our first piano was built using the 'suck it 
and see' approach, armed with just a tape measure and a few 
measurements taken off a CAD drawing. There's got to be a better way, 
as I think we will discover shortly.

Ron Overs
-- 

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Website:  http://www.overspianos.com.au
Email:      mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au
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