Ladies and gents, Have retopped many dozens of sets of keys over the years and consider suitable only two types of adhesive: latex contact cement (available at most building centers) and PVC-E (available from our esteemed piano parts suppliers). Both of these adhesives form a slightly rubbery bond between dissimilar materials (wood and plastic). Although the latex contact cement works well and has great merit, my favorite is the PVC-E. Apply grit and clamp them if you must, but it really isn't necessary. Yes, there is some momentary slipperiness but a few seconds of finger pressure is all that is required. Gently wipe the squeeze-out with your fingers and transfer to a dampened rag (helps to have the key in a vice or simply spring-clamped to the workbench). Confirm proper alignment, set the key aside and move on to the next. Entire gluing procedure takes less than an hour with only eight fingers, two thumbs, one glue brush and a gluey dampened rag to rinse. The bond cures sufficiently for trimming (you are using Bill Spurlock's router jig, are you?) within 2 hours and any remaining squeeze-out can be rubbed off with your thumb (or yet another dampened rag). If you need proof of the firmness of bond, present a sample key to your 4 year old nephew (or niece) and challenge him/her to remove the top. This 'acid test' will convince you that the keys are now worthy of the rigors of the concert stage and the fingers of Dickran Atamian. Best regards from the soggy Canadian prairie, Stan Kroeker, RPT Cy Shuster wrote: > I heard a good workaround for this problem: use a razorblade to scrape a > little grit from a piece of sandpaper onto the wet glue before applying > the keytop. A dozen grains will do the trick. > > --Cy Shuster-- > Bluefield, WV > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Zahringer" <ZahringerK@missouri.edu> > To: "College and University Technicians" <caut@ptg.org> > Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 12:16 PM > Subject: Re: [CAUT] PVC-E glue > > >> The only problem I have experienced is perhaps too much "wiggle room". >> If you apply too much glue, the keytop can slide around a fair bit when >> you clamp it. > > > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >
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