Regarding the Zapper, I"ve built several, and no longer use them. The effectiveness is unpredictable. Sometimes it would help, and other times it would not. I can only guess it depends upon the felt and how it was installed
when it was new. I had an action from a Young Chang that was sitting in my shop with sluggish centers. I used the Zapper and it seemed to help. I didn't "char" the centers, but they got good and warmed. The next day, they were stuck again. In addition, you have to have a good set of thin electrodes to actually contact the center pin. If possible, you want to do the job without removing the centers from the action rail. Since the center pins are often recessed in the bushing, the tips of the electrodes must have a little bend on the tips to contact the pin. Another time I had replaced flanges which the center pins were tight. No matter what I did those pins were too tight, and Zapping was not effective at all, nor any kind of shrinking solution (alcohol/water). Reaming was the only reliable way to adjust the friction.
As far as shrinking solutions, on a cheap action/junker, it works for a while, but if there is excess moisture in the environment, it often becomes sluggish again. That also applies to using a hot box to dry an action out. Once, I used a hot box on an old action, and the glue joints began to fail because of the extremely low humidity, so be careful there too. And, even after drying, they often got sluggish because of the humidity that caused the problem in the first place. Damppchasers were a must if I dried out an action to prevent recurrence.
Protek sometimes works wonders, sometimes not. Wurlitzers and some Baldwins were doused with mineral oil and naptha, which over time has become gummy, and Protek works great for those. But if moisture has swelled the felt, they
don't work much at all.
I often ream after using Protek, It still works after treatment. I have had some times adding Protek makes them more sluggish than before, but after the liquid evaporates, it's ok again.
CBL and CLP don't "resize" in my experience. I"ve often thought of adding some water/alcohol to them, but haven't tried it yet. My experience with alcohol/water is that it's not very exact. I once shrunk the centers several
times, and it appeared not to have worked. Then I put some Protek and they became wobbly. One douse with the shrink solution, then using Protek almost always worked for me. Keep in mind that I'm in San Diego, where excess
humidity isn't anything like back East. On Coronado island or the beach areas of course it's more, but not in the high 70's or 80-plus percentages. So what works for me might not for you.
My $.02.
Paul McCloud
San Diego
Cobrun Sells
Thanks so much for the discussion. It's been really helpful. A few more questions:
How long before verdigris can "reappear" on a repinned action?
For those that do use a "zapping" method of heating center pins...how do you do it? Do you make your own electronic device with a small battery and long electrodes or what?
Is it okay to use VS Profelt or Protek CLP (or any other fluid) in the centers if the action may be reamed and repinned later anyways?
Does VS Profelt work as a "cleaner" too like CLP or Page's CBL does? Does CLP and/or CBL work as "sizing" fluid as well?
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Cobrun Sells
cobrun94@yahoo.com
Original Message:
Sent: 11/16/2020 11:16:00 AM
From: Cobrun Sells
Subject: RE: Repinning Liquids
Thanks so much for the discussion. It's been really helpful. A few more questions:
How long before verdigris can "reappear" on a repinned action?
For those that do use a "zapping" method of heating center pins...how do you do it? Do you make your own electronic device with a small battery and long electrodes or what?
Is it okay to use VS Profelt or Protek CLP (or any other fluid) in the centers if the action may be reamed and repinned later anyways?
Does VS Profelt work as a "cleaner" too like CLP or Page's CBL does? Does CLP and/or CBL work as "sizing" fluid as well?
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Cobrun Sells
cobrun94@yahoo.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-14-2020 17:07
From: Cobrun Sells
Subject: Repinning Liquids
I've did a little bit of reading and have seen different fluids/lubricants (or sizing fluids) to use for hammer flange centers or centers in general.
They are as follows:
Protek CLP
Page's CBL
VS Profelt
Alchol/water (methyl, ethyl, or denatured...none of which I've heard of before)
Naptha/mineral oil or Naptha/silicone
Finally...powder lubricant (I'm assuming Teflon aka PTFE powder or 5B pencil as mentioned in Igrec's Pianos Inside Out)
So, I'm confused. Should I have all of these on hand? Is there any I should not use as sizing/lubricant? Which ones should I use? What's the difference between sizing and lubricant? I surely am confused. I perform a fair number of reaming/repinning jobs of frozen actions (especially with verdigris).
I would like to improve beyond simply reaming and repinning. So, should I be adding any fluid or powder?
I've also seen "zapping" center pins...thoughts? Should that be something I do (I don't have any "zapping" tool so...)
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Cobrun Sells
cobrun94@yahoo.com
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