Adjustable Action Centers

[Ron Nossaman]

>I have been doing a bit of work on an old square grand. The hammer flanges
>are long and are split horizontally through the flange center. There is a
>screw that can be turned to tighten/ loosen the bushing fit to the center
>pin. I'm sure many or most of you have seen this. This is so cool. Is there
>any significant disadvantage to such a design? I can see that with the
>flange on the modern grand, size/space would limit the possibilities. Seems
>like it would be worth some level of redesign to be able to adjust the
>friction in this critical action center with the turn of a screw.
>
>Terry Farrell


Hi Terry,
Some of David Stanwood's early R&D included such an adjustment too. I
suspect it was helpful to him in determining priorities of importance for
development of his system. I don't know about long term though. For the
most part, the "standard" flange pinning system seems to stay where it's
put pretty well without adding another easily messed up adjustment for the
next guy to have to consider in troubleshooting. 

This reminds me. A week or 20 back, Jim B had a educational project in
intermittent construction for us with different combinations of flange and
bushing material to illustrate what does and doesn't affect pinning
stability. Maybe he's got a status report for us, or perhaps it's a class
in waiting for Chicago?

Ron N