mortising attachment for drill press

ed miller edmiller3 at hotmail.com
Fri Dec 8 05:25:50 MST 2006


Thanks to everyone for your suggestions on how to solve my key rebushing 
nightmare, the original post was entitled "disrupted mortises". They were 
disrupted when I removed the bushings that were glued in with PVC-E- alot of 
wood came out with the felt.

Though were many great suggestions as to how to get an even rebushing job at 
this point, here's what I did with some success... I essentially did a 
'trial and error' rebushing job. I felt-tested every mortise individually 
with different size felts. In the end I used a wide range of felt, spanning 
as many as 5 sizes apart. Each key got whatever size felt that gave me the 
snug fit that I was looking for.

Though this procecdure took a lot longer than a normal rebushing job, I am 
pleased with the results. I have not decided whether to charge the client 
more for the job, since it took much longer. What do you all think? I dont 
really feel comfortable doing that. I guess my feeling is that, some jobs 
you make out on, and some you don't.

Ed


>From: "MICHAEL MORVAN" <keymaestro at verizon.net>
>Reply-To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
>To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
>Subject: Re: mortising attachment for drill press
>Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:35:23 -0500
>
>Ed,
>    I have used a mortising attachment in a drill press, and as Frank 
>stated you can ruin your machine and you can buy a mortising machine for 
>cheap money. You can use Bill Spurlock's mortise sizing cauls as Terry 
>stated, they work great if the mortise is okay, but it sounds like yours 
>are very bad. If you were to use a mortising machine to fix mortises you 
>might consider two things: 1. the smallest chisel I've been able to find is 
>1/4 inch, this is wider than any factory mortise width and the cloth would 
>have to be super thick, this leads to an unstable mortise, 2. once a 
>mortise is distorted and wood is ripped out, it would be tough to center a 
>cutter to remove wood evenly on both sides, then you would have a spacing 
>nightmare. This topic of mortise repair/replacement is a wonderful reason 
>to bush keys with hot hide glue. Look at the mortise replacement slideshow 
>on my website, it is not terribly difficult to replace a mortise, sometimes 
>its easier than other alternatives, but you'll need some buttons, a router 
>and a table saw. Good luck, let the list know how you made out.
>Michael A. Morvan
>Blackstone Valley Piano
>Dedicated To Advancing The Art Of Keyboard Restoration
>76 Sutton Street
>Uxbridge, Ma. 01569
>(508) 278-9762
>Keymaestro at verizon.net
>www.pianoandorgankeys.com
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "ed miller" <edmiller3 at hotmail.com>
>To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 9:09 PM
>Subject: mortising attachment for drill press
>
>
>>Has anyone ever used a mortising attachment made to fit on your drill 
>>press?
>>
>>It seems that this might be a possible tool/technique to use for evening 
>>out mortises during rebushing jobs (if the mortises are not consistent). 
>>Maybe you could open the existing mortise just slightly that all the 
>>mortises are exactly the same size.
>>
>>Just curious if anyone has ever used this tool and/or technique.
>>
>>Ed
>>
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>
>

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