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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Yes, the placement of the spring is a consideration.
Steinway has a spring mounted in the tray.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>With a PianoDisc installation, all the original trap work
for the sustain pedal and the sostenuto pedal are redesigned as part of a normal
installation. I considered numerous locations on this one and in the past
I’ve installed a coiled spring between the keybed and the crossover (trap lever)
near the pivots on the pitman side of the pivots when needed. This one
didn’t have that space available due to the 1 to 1 ratio and the position I
chose to locate the pedal solenoid. The design of the pedal mechanism is
developed with the piano on it’s side and so the effects of gravity and final
function has to be dealt with after the piano is put back up on
legs. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Putting the spring in a primary function location (a
position that presses the entire assembly together) is more efficient than in a
secondary position (a position that pulls the assembly from one direction and
presses the rest of the assembly towards the other direction). One could
argue the same amount of force being applied in both cases but I like the
simplistic and fundamental approach of providing all the force in one
direction. It also, I feel, helps to keep the mechanism quiet during
automatic play by gently pressing things together constantly.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>As it turned out, I had to swap the pivots for the sustain
pedal for the sostenuto pedal in the pedal box to quiet the mechanism. It
had the wooden dowel type of pivots than had worn so I not only swapped them
with the lesser used middle pedal, but I turned them around so the outside
unused part of the dowel was now next to the pedal. A nice snug fit made
for a very quiet functioning pedaling system.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The pinned part of the pitman was eliminated. What
shows in the image is what’s been left behind. It now acts merely as a
fence for the present pitman which is kept in place simply with a hole in the
tray. I could have removed the “fence” but there was no need.
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Usually there’s a three holed guide for the pedal push
rods on grands generally speaking, however this Baldwin model and a few other
Baldwins have pinned push rods that mate up with bushed holes on the trapwork
negating the need for the guide. This makes for an out of the ordinary
player installation. Considering the pitman and the push rods are not
“locked” in place, a spring that constantly compresses the entire assembly
together just plain makes me feel better about the final design. I’ll be
considering this same spring for future installs of this type. It’s so
easy to make and install!! Some “current” production run Baldwins have a
black rubber band holding the pedal push rod in the bushed hole on the
lever. In the past I’ve duplicated this design with my player installs but
it was prone to age related failure as the rubber ages plus the movers have one
more thing to deal with when re-installing the pedals. Plus, even though
I’ve glued one side of the rubber band to the piano’s trap work, there’s still a
risk of the loss of the part in transit. I feel this design (damper tray
spring) alleviates numerous tendencies towards failure hence my enthusiasm to
share my idea with other possible player installers or technicians with related
issues in the field. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">If the tray pivot is inline with the flange
centers and there are <BR>underlever assist springs, the springs cause the tray
to rotate causing <BR>damper leakage. One solution is to place a coil spring
between the belly <BR>and the tray. Or, since the pitman is pinned to the tray
and trapwork, <BR>you could put a spring on the trap lever to pull the tray
down.<BR><BR>-- <BR>Regards,<BR><BR>Jon
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