[pianotech] Safe-T-Planer

[John Ross]

I use a router jig.
The key is secured in a vise attached to a frame, with two sides.
These are the two sides that the router slides on, suspending the router above the key.
I just adjust the depth of the router bit to remove the required amount so that the key with the new top is the same height as the key with the ivory.
That way the relationship of white key to black is retained.
If you want you can just remove a smidgeon, so that the keys are uniform.
I am not satisfied with the present key securing system of the vise. I would like to incorporate either toggle clamps or cam clamps, for quicker key changing.
The keys are square and uniform.
I never got the smoothness from the safety planer.
For years I used my radial arm saw with a sanding drum in it. I had a base that raised the key enough so that i could get the fine adjust with the saw's up/down adjustment.
With this method, I found it wasn't as uniform as I wanted. It depended too much on feed rate.
John Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia
On 24-01-2012, at 10:41 AM, chrisstor at aol.com wrote:

> "...In the past I've used the Safe-T-Planer for this job, but
> I've quit that, since I've not been happy with the inconsitency of the keys
> coming out Square..."
>  
> Joe Garrett
>  
> .....At the end of the email you said you were no longer using the Sate-T-Planer
> to plane the top of the keytops.  Just wondering, how are you doing it now?
> 
> David Weiss....
>  
> Joe,
>  
> I second David's question.  I use the Safe-T-Planer with good results and haven't had the out-of-square problem you've cited.  Can you expand a little bit on the out-of-square results you get with the Safe-T-Planer?  What might've caused it?  What's your alternate method for planing down keytops now?
>  
> When I'm using the rotary planer, I'm careful to square the drill press table to the chuck, and lock everything down firmly.  
> As I'm planing the keys, I check my thickness with calipers for each of the first few notes, and then one note per octave thereafter.  I've never had an out-of-square issue that I noticed, but then maybe I'm not looking hard enough.  I acknowlege that I have to do some minor squaring and spacing of keys when the whole set is finished, but I just figured that was part of the deal in putting on new keytops.
> If you have the time to write, I'd like to hear about your experiences.  Thanks.
>  
> Chris S.
> Belmont, MA

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