Key Leading Efficiency

[Bill Ballard]

At 7:09 PM -0500 5/23/02, Ron Nossaman wrote:
>The trick is to make up a bunch of holes beforehand, of the appropriate
>sizes, so they'll be right there and ready as you need them during the
>process. It saves a lot of setup time when you can just pick the
>appropriate hole and insert it where needed, as you go. If you've never
>done this before, here's a little tip. Keep the different sizes in separate
>containers, or the smaller holes will fall into the larger ones and you
>could turn the entire key inside out trying to install it. Also, grasp the
>holes by their sides, rather than their ends, when handling.

I have an unending supply of holes, they're a natural by-product of 
my thinking. I just tip my head to the side, over a jar, knock on the 
other side of my head and they come tumbling out.

Actually, what you want to do is have a custom made step drill. 
(<http://www.wlfuller.com/>, not mentioned at the web site but to be 
ordered specially over the phone.) Pick your most commonly used 
keylead diameters, say 7/16" and 1/2" and have a brad point drill 
ground such that the first inch drills a 7/16" hole, and then the bit 
diameter steps out (with spurs, to boot) to drill a 1/2" hole. (two, 
Two, TWO BITS IN ONE!!) You might take the opportunity to experiment 
with some metric drills and nearby factional sizes, drill various 
diameter holes to see what size hole the lead will just gently press 
into. The idea is to specify the drill diameters which you know will 
work before you spend the money of a custom made step drill. I can't 
remember what I finally decided on and I'm too lazy to walk over the 
shop and mic it for you.

If you 3/8" and 5/8" leads are few and far between, you can drill the 
middle two sizes with the same drill. Otherwise you have to separate 
all the keys needing a 5/8" hole and do them in one run. But if you 
sprung for two step drills and had a second drill press, you'd be all 
set to drill all four size holes simultaneously. BTW, David Stanwood 
showed me this one.

At 6:32 PM -0400 5/23/02, Farrell wrote:
>It's amazing how irregular the old leading (FWs) was. Down in the 
>bass, one natural key will need five grams less FW, and the next one 
>will need 10 grams added!

Makes you wonder exactly how the original leading was done. These 
didn't appear to be pattern-leading did they?

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.


"A jester unemployed is nobody's fool."
     ...........Danny Kaye, in "The Court Jester"
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