Air Hammer

[Greg Newell]

Terry,
    I was one of them, and , you're welcome. I hope others give this a shot. I
can't imagine going back. My elbow used to hurt sooooo bad. Now it's only my
fingers from the heavy gauge wire. I don't know about the Danair, I bought a
cheaper one first to see if I'd like it and the darned thing just keeps goin so
I can't replace it just yet.
    As to the depth problem, I found it too hard to control. Kind of like
reciprocating saw in place of a jig saw. Too much power. I've driven the last
bit by hand in order to get the uniform results I'm looking for. I thought about
a hard rubber sleeve or something that would have a minor amount of give to it.
I will be interested to hear some of the other responses you get.

Greg

Farrell wrote:

> Just tried out my Danair Palm Nailer #RN-16-8 for the first time driving
> three tuning pins into a pinblock. Holy cow cookies! That thing is slicker
> than you-know-what!
>
> Often as I drove a tuning pin by hand (with manual hammer) into a bare
> pinblock, I could see the damage I did to the top of the hole as the pin
> wiggled back and forth with each blow (hey, I'm a newbie!). I'm sure it
> continued throughout the driving process. The couple pianos I have restrung,
> resulted in acceptable (for me - I had low expectations), but far from
> perfectly uniform tuning pin torque.
>
> The three pins I drove into a bare pinblock resulted in 160 in-lbs. torque
> for each one. Not 150, not 170, but all three were like exactly 160 in-lbs.
> of torque. I had never done that before. Oh, boy, this has made my day. I
> can hardly wait until after I finish restringing and start chipping/tuning.
> Clearly, I am expecting fabulous results.
>
> Thank you Del Fandrich and Roger Jolly (and anyone else that participated in
> that thread - I know there were a few) - I recall that both of you use an
> air powered hammer, and one of you recommended the Danair specifically. Man,
> you just drive those puppies straight down. I am just absolutely amazed at
> what a difference it makes! Fast, easy, and NO tuning pin wiggling.
>
> What do you use as a guide for tuning pin driving depth control? On my bare
> test holes, I used an one-inch-thick piece of hard maple with a 5/16-inch
> hole drilled in it. I placed the maple guide over the tuning pin hole,
> inserted the tuning pin, and drove it with the Palm Nailer until it would go
> no further. That worked perfect - for a bare block. Now I need to figure out
> what to use when I am driving the pin through the plate into the block. What
> does anyone use? Something hard to physically stop the Palm Nailer from
> going any further - or do you tape a stick or something to the thingee that
> goes over the top of the tuning pin and just watch until it touches the
> plate or whatever?
>
> Can we adapt this thing for bridge pins - or just way too much horsepower?
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

--
Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
12970 Harlon Ave.
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-226-3791
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net