Moulded Key Tops

[Greg Newell]

John,
         You could easily put an arbor in the drill chuck and run a buffing 
wheel on that. The Shopsmith's speed dial will you get you much slower than 
most motors intended for buffing. Speed is important but I think that 
contact time and pressure are even more important.

best,
Greg



At 01:34 PM 3/6/2005, you wrote:
>Re the speed thing.
>I have a ShopSmith, I should be able to rig up something on that. It is a 
>very versatile machine.
>I wonder what the optimum speed should be, or does it depend on the 
>compound you are using?
>John M. Ross
>Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
><mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca>jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net>Joe Garrett
>To: <mailto:pianotech@ptg.org>pianotech
>Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 2:19 PM
>Subject: Re: Moulded Key Tops
>
>John Ross asked: "Joe had mentioned problems buffing.
>I also have problems in this area.
>I had thought on a softer buffing wheel, but have been unable to find a =
>source. The selections available at my suppliers, are limited.=20
>Any ideas?
>I had thought on slowing the wheel down. Would that help?"
>John,
>I suspect it would, as "slow" hand buffing will eventually remove the 
>scratches in that stuff, but it is very labor intensive. The time it takes 
>to do this, I'd best spend replacing the entire set with something that 
>can be buffed! Yikes!
>Another problem, for key covering, is the fronts. IMO, anything over .040" 
>thick, is not acceptable. The only supplier that offers material in this 
>dimension, is Piano Tech. Their material is the same as the moulded key 
>top material! It will scratch very easily and has to be corrected with 
>hand buffing, as it won't buff, even with extremely light pressure  and a 
>slow buffing motor w/soft wheels. (In Portland, there is a company that 
>specializes in plastic, of all kinds, plus all the necessary stuff that is 
>necessary to achieve good results. It's call Multi-Craft. I got some 
>really fantastic extra fine buffing compound from them!<G> (Pastel Blue, 
>in color) Really works great. BTW, my buffing wheels turn at 1735rpm or 
>less. As it's not a good idea to put a speed reducer on an electric 
>buffing motor, I haven't tried that. (It will prematurely burn out the 
>motor.) I do have one set (2) of buffing arbors that are belt driven. I've 
>put different drive wheels on them, to reduce the speed somewhat. I 
>usually use that set up for brass/metal. Hmmm? perhaps I'll try buffing 
>the next set of keys, (with appropriate "clean" buffing pads.), with the 
>next set I do. It's a thought.<G>
>Best Regards,
>Joe Garrett, R.P.T.
>Captain, Tool Police
>Squares R I

Greg Newell
Greg's piano Forté
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net