Pianotech

  • 1.  Action Center Felt/cloth width

    Member
    Posted 11-20-2018 10:59
    Help... I have some pre-torn action center cloth meaning a few strips are started on the top part. I am trying to re-bush the bushings on rep-levers but am having a tough time trying to get the cloth to pull freely through the bushing holes in the rep lever saddle. I thought I had used this material before and just used it as it was pre-torn. Maybe its not the cloth but just the need to dip the end in glue to be like a shoe lace after cutting a tapered section at the end ? Isnt all action center cloth/felt the same thickness. I know there are various thickness of key bushing felt but I am stumped. I believe I bought this material from Pianotek

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    James Kelly
    Pawleys Island SC
    843-325-4357
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  • 2.  RE: Action Center Felt/cloth width

    Posted 11-20-2018 12:38
    Somewhere (probably in the PTG Sourcebook for the technical exam) I picked up the idea of reaming the hole before rebushing with a #37 drill bit.  I've not tried to rebush without doing this, but the pre-torn material has worked for me.  Somewhere, I also read that you can pull a thread off of the edge of a strip to reduce its width.  I can't say I've tried it.​

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    Floyd Gadd
    Regina SK
    306-502-9103
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  • 3.  RE: Action Center Felt/cloth width

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-20-2018 15:42
    I use the Renner sizing tool to prepare the bushing cloth.


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    Larry Messerly, RPT
    Bringing Harmony to Homes
    www.lacrossepianotuning.com
    ljmesserly@gmail.com
    928-899-7292
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  • 4.  RE: Action Center Felt/cloth width

    Member
    Posted 11-21-2018 11:06
    I have done many with the bushing cloth you have. Unfortunately the holes are not all the same in the flanges so pre cut cloth is useless. Especially since they cut them all the same width. I had some that the cloth was not wide enough so I had to cut the pre cut off to start one strip. Now I have a bunch of short strips that I use to prop up the hammer rest rail when it needs it. 
    Make sure the hole is clean. Many times they didn't use any glue, or it seems so. You can resize the hole with a drill bit but you really just want to clean it. Hide glue is hard to see but adds a lot in the hole. 
    If it is pulling too hard, yes you can grab a thread and pull to thin the cloth. Works quite well. 
    However,,, take your larger needle nose pliers. feed the pointed end through the first hole. Grab the strip with the pliers and rotate the pliers, leverage against the flange pulls it through just enough to get the strip through the next hole. Grabbing the cloth tight to the flange and rotating the pliers, you can pull the strip through to the end. Hold the other side of the flange as you pull so it keeps the pressure from snapping the unsupported wing of the flange.
    Then with a toothpick or needle, place a thin line of cold hide glue or what ever is compatible with the old glue,, around the cloth and pull in to the hole,,, both sides.
    I then have a #18 pin that I push through to align the cloth and compress. Set it aside until the glue hardens.
    Slice with a good blade and slowly ream with the Mannino reamers to the size pin needed. Sometime the hole needs to be sized with some 70% isopropyl alcohol and then the size pin can be smaller.
    The more cloth you can get in the hole,, the firmer the bushing. Check the side to side play to see.





  • 5.  RE: Action Center Felt/cloth width

    Member
    Posted 11-22-2018 10:34
    Oh,, if you don't have the Mannino reamers, Marcia Davis (I hope I spelled her name right) showed me you can take a file and roll a center pin of the right size to make a reamer. A good mill bastard will make a reamer out of a center pin in seconds.
    Sorry about the language,,,,,

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    Keith Roberts
    owner
    Hathaway Pines CA
    209-728-2163
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  • 6.  RE: Action Center Felt/cloth width

    Member
    Posted 11-22-2018 12:01
    Thanks to all who replied. I used the cloth th way it was ripped  but used my electronics side cutter micro-shear from xuron corp to cut a slender pointed piece on the end to thread into the saddle holes after cleaning out existing bushings. got a nice full bushing that i then reamed and burnished with my mannino tools. still have a few more to do but it is a tedious task....

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    James Kelly
    Pawleys Island SC
    843-325-4357
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