Center pin friction (was Re: Schaff spring)

Phillip Ford fordpiano@earthlink.net
Sat, 18 Dec 2004 09:15:37 -0700


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>Now I haven't tried this, so I may well be speaking out of 
>ignorance, but I have a reasonable concept of how much flange 
>friction there will be with 3-4 grams of resistance. A jack weighs 
>almost nothing. Seems to me if the jack needs to swing freely 7 full 
>swing cycles, that would require almost no friction in the center. 
>Three to five grams friction in an action center with a shank and 
>hammer hanging from it will swing maybe three full cycles - and that 
>has tons more momentum. Seems like something may not be right here???
>
>Terry Farrell

I think there a couple of things askew here.  One is that some people 
are talking about hammer flange center pins and others are talking 
about jack center pins.  Two is that, with regard to center pin 
friction, a gram reading by itself is meaningless.  Action centers 
rotate, and that rotation is caused by a torque, not a force.  And 
the friction associated with them is measured by a torque, not a 
force.  A gram reading is a measure of force.  To get a torque you 
have to know the distance from the center that the force is applied. 
On a hammer flange, 4 grams applied next to the screw hole gives a 
completely different torque than 4 grams applied at the tip of the 
flange.  If you're going to specify a gram reading for flange 
friction then you also need to define the point at which you're 
taking that gram reading.

Phil Ford
San Francisco, CA, USA, Earth
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