Hi Neil:
If it's slightly off center, and is working freely, there's no need for alarm. There will be a slight slant on the tip of the jack, but the knuckle leather will absorb it. I agree, it sounds wrong, but it does work. Otherwise, you'd have to redrill the hole in the jack or the wippen or both, rebush the hole or get a new one. I've had a few that were binding, and so I had to repin. But I had to center the jack again by bending the pin. Touche!
How are you going to orient a pin? You mean if the pin is straight or bent? I would not use a bent pin to replace it.
The exam is going to use a good wippen, not likely to have a jack that isn't pretty well centered. Or at least not touching. If you somehow find that to be the case, you'll need to point it out to the examiners.
Paul
Neil Vanderschaaf
Thanks for your reply Paul. Unfortunately now I'm really confused. First of all, I can't quite see how the bend would center the jack unless it is slightly off-center. Secondly, it bothers me a bit because now the ends of the pin will be in the bushing at a slight angle which just seems wrong.
Finally, what do I do if I encounter a pin like that on the RPT exam model? How do I orient the pin that I have to replace so that the jack will end up in the center? I've been noticing that many of the jacks that I've done have been extremely close to the edge of the rep. window.
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Neil Vanderschaaf
Round Rock TX
512-577-1840
Original Message:
Sent: 11/9/2020 10:22:00 AM
From: Neil Vanderschaaf
Subject: RE: Bent center pins
Thanks for your reply Paul. Unfortunately now I'm really confused. First of all, I can't quite see how the bend would center the jack unless it is slightly off-center. Secondly, it bothers me a bit because now the ends of the pin will be in the bushing at a slight angle which just seems wrong.
Finally, what do I do if I encounter a pin like that on the RPT exam model? How do I orient the pin that I have to replace so that the jack will end up in the center? I've been noticing that many of the jacks that I've done have been extremely close to the edge of the rep. window.
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Neil Vanderschaaf
Round Rock TX
512-577-1840
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-09-2020 10:06
From: Paul McCloud
Subject: Bent center pins
Hi Neil:
Believe it or not, it is standard practice to bend the pins to do exactly that, center the jacks in the window. If you repin them, you'll find that they rub. If there's an alternative, I don't know about it. It does sometimes cause a problem with friction or binding. You may also find some jacks that are indeed rubbing, and there are some tools to correct it by tapping the jack with a sledge hammer while supporting the wippen on one side, which bends the pin. Ok, so maybe a sledge hammer is a bit of overkill. But that's how to correct the misalignment.
Paul McCloud
San Diego
Original Message:
Sent: 11/9/2020 8:56:00 AM
From: Neil Vanderschaaf
Subject: Bent center pins
I've been practicing for the RPT exam on an old, retired Hardman-Peck grand piano section that I harvested and noticed something odd. It seems that every single jack center pin has a slight bend in it (see attached photo). At first I was thinking that it might have something to do with trying to center the jack in the repetition window, but this doesn't make sense and I don't think it would accomplish that anyway. My current theory is that they may have pressed the ends of the pin in a machine in order to avoid having the adjacent wippens from catching on the rough cut end of the center pin.
Any thoughts?
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Neil Vanderschaaf
Round Rock TX
512-577-1840
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