[pianotech] 1925 Baldwin R damper tray

[Paul McCloud]

Hi Larry:
I have a Baldwin M with a similar problem, player installed.  I had to rig a coil spring, which I centered over the pedal rod.  I had to install a spring on the tray to push it away from the dampers.  I think Baldwin used a rubber band to pull the tray down.  (How about that for longevity?)  It's in Barona Casino, so it's not the best situation to re-engineer the installation.  They don't even use the player, which is a constant source of problems.
Good luck.
Paul McCLoud
San Diego  

----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Fisher RPT" <larry_fisher at pdxtuner.com>
To: "pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 7:44:49 AM
Subject: [pianotech] 1925 Baldwin R damper tray




PianoDisc installation just completed. 

The damper tray pivots are at each end and the pivot blocks are removable by taking out one screw. The underlever flanges are mounted on the tray so that when the tray moves so do all the flanges. 

Problem ........ damper tray return friction is fairly high resulting in leaky dampers when the pedal is released gently. I lubed both pivots and there didn’t seem to be any change. The damper UL flanges are accessible when the tray is pushed all the way to the keybed so I could lube them all if I thought that would work. After doing that I create another problem or two ...... decreased downweight hence the recalibration of all of the minimum velocities AND the possible return of the problem when the lube wears off ....... if lubing has any effect in the first place. 

The piano is no longer in my shop. It’s on the dealer’s floor about 12 miles from here. It gets delivered in about 5 days. The challenge as always, is to bring all the materials and tools that you could possibly need to effect repairs successfully in one trip. Reminds me of plumbing projects. Another challenge, as always, is to make the repair with the minimal amount of effort and mechanism modifications. 

Notes ...... the damper tray is wooden and there isn’t any return spring as is found in some pianos. The bass dampers were the leakers but when I adjusted them so they wouldn’t leak anymore, the top twenty or so now leak. I fear if I fix those, there will be others. Bottom line is I need the damper tray to fall away from the underlevers if allowed to do so. I’ve installed a PianoDisc in this piano and the design of the crossover was within specs putting the pivot at a one to one ratio with the pitman and the pedal solenoid. This leaves the material from the pitman forward to assist in it’s return. The heck of it all is that this Baldwin has the pedal push rods that have no guides and they mate up with bushed holes in the crossovers/levers. This adds weight to the mechanism which is part of the source of my problem but the design has already been installed and is working great except for some leaky dampers. 

The slightest upward push on the tray creates the problem. (pitman removed, no additional hardware attached) I’m thinking of making a coiled spring with tails out of 22 gauge piano wire. The one end gets pushed into the belly rail and the other turns a 90 degree corner into the damper tray at the farthest point from the pivot. If it works, I’ll take pix and submit them. The completed spring would resemble a loop (or two) on a roller coaster including the approaches. 

Any of you PianoDisc installers run into this. Sometime in the next three days I’ll give it a try.