<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV> <P>Hallo Gregor,</P> <P>Danke für die Addresse des BDK-Forums!  Habe schon angefangen darin zu lesen!</P> <P>CA glue has transformed some of the ways we work on pianos.  We used to have to glue and clamp broken parts together and wait for the glue to set up, many times having to take parts back to the shop to work on them.  Now we can repair many things in the customer's home on the same visit when we tune.  This saves the customer money and us time.</P> <P>The CyanoAcrylate glue comes in several viscosities (thicknesses).  The thin (consistency like water) CA is excellent for dripping into the tuning pin holes in the pinblock.  It seeps down into the cracks in the pinblock, repairing them, and it forms a thin sheaf of glue around the pin, between the pin and the wood in the hole.  This makes it possible to get more tunings out of an old piano.  The job takes perhaps an hour to pour enough glue into the holes.  (Be sure to cover bottom of holes in a grand piano!)  It is not necessary to detune the  piano before applying the glue, it wicks into the spaces with the piano at pitch.</P> <P>CA is also good for filling fine cracks in bridges.  It is not even necessary to remove the strings.  This helps eliminate false beats. </P> <P>The medium CA glue can be used for repairing broken wooden parts.</P> <P>The thick CA glue fills gaps so if you have a crack that is open somewhere it might fill up the space.  About twelve years ago a woman sent a Steinway O to our shop to be restrung.  She moved it here from the desert where it had been subject to extremely hot and dry climate conditions. Her piano tuner there told her it needed restringing.</P> <P>When it arrived in our shop, I saw that it was literally falling apart.  Virtually every glue joint in the whole piano was failing.  The boards of the lid had been coming apart, the wood in the rim was delaminating, the pinblock was delaminating, the ribs were separating from the soundboard, the lyre was falling apart, the fall board had a 6" crack in it, veneers were peeling off and action parts were coming unglued. I refused to do the restringing.  </P> <P>She begged me to "do something", her daughter had one more year at home before she went away to college.  So I literally CA glued the piano back together!  I told her it was a giant experiment and that I could promise <U>nothing</U>.  Lo and behold, it worked amazingly well.  The piano held its tune for several more years, all the glue joints that were failing held at least until after the girl had gone off to college.  The last time I saw the piano was three years after the massive CA experiment when the girl was due home from college for Christmas vacation and at that time it was still functioning and tuneable.</P> <P>I often wonder about that piano.  Maybe I will look them up and find out if they still have it.</P> <P>As mentioned by others, the fumes are toxic so CA must be used sparingly and in a well-ventilated room.</P> <P>It is fairly expensive and becomes hardened in the bottle easily if not kept carefuly closed.  It is therefore better to purchase it in small quantities.</P> <P>Can you find it where you live?</P> <P>Viel Glück!</P> <P>Diane<BR><BR></P><BR><BR><BR>Diane Hofstetter </DIV>245-M Mount Hermon Rd.#343 <DIV></DIV>Scotts Valley, CA 95066 <DIV></DIV>ph 831-438-6222 <DIV></DIV>fax 831-430-9741 <DIV></DIV>dianepianotuner@hotmail.com <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV>>From: "Gregor Weldert" <GREGOR_WELDERT@HOTMAIL.COM> <DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org <DIV></DIV>>To: <PIANOTECH@PTG.ORG> <DIV></DIV>>Subject: CA glue <DIV></DIV>>Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 20:37:20 +0200 <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>Hi list, <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>what is CA glue and what it´s used for? I only know white glue and hot glue. I found in the archive of this list a posting of Ed Tomlinson, who repaired some pianos in namibia with it. He reported of loose pins, which he fixed with that CA glue. What stands CA for? <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>Gregor Weldert <DIV></DIV>>Germany <DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href='http://go.msn.com/bql/hmtag_itl_EN.asp'>http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></html>