jack not returning on high treble

J Patrick Draine jpdraine at gmail.com
Wed Jan 24 07:38:42 MST 2007


Michelle,
While the friction tests you did are good diagnostic tools, they are
not infallible. It's time to remove some parts and do some hands-on
measurements (a gram guage is nice but not necessary). Sometimes I
find that Baldwin verticals (both Hamiltons and Acrosonics) have an
accumulation of borderline-too-tight flanges (hammer, wippen, and jack
flanges) that lead to "sticky" keys and poor repetition. Getting all
of them to specs is the proper answer. Sometimes this can be achieved
by shrinking via alcohol/water solutions, or by Protek lubricant;
neither of these is a 100% guaranteed, controllable solution to the
problem (that said, a spritz of Protek CPL is my usual first option).
Reaming the flanges' bushings with the Mannino broaches and repinning
is much more labor, but the most ceratin cure.
Sell the job, pull the action, bring it back to the shop and take the
time to isolate the problems (and get to work!)
Patrick Draine


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