Ed and all, I tested a bunch more...Same result. It's not the depth of the screw.. I think they were drilled, poorly, by hand at the factory and go in at different angles. The holes on the brass rail are all straight (in the brass itself, that is). The flanges don't sit exactly flush with each other and think the angle of the holes are the problem. Is there a way to plug the holes and re-drill? I have a cool DeWalt drill with a built-in bubble level, so I can get the exact angle every time. It would even be better to create a jiggy thingy to guide the drill from hole to hole to be absolutely consistent. Anyone done this sort of thing? (I'm sure the New Yankee Workshop guy has something like what I'm talking about.) I can't say my hand and eye are good enough to really put the bubble at the exact correct point 88 times. The level is just a "guide" But..How to establish the action perfectly at level might pose new problems. My main work bench is an old bowling alley lane segment about 6' long. It is supposed to be absolutely level, but it has warped over time. It's continually warped evenly though, so a jiggy might still work. I told you all this was a puzzler!! :>) I'm sure puzzled!! We have several "M"'s from 1966 here (when the building was new, so they bought a bunch en-mass). I'm going to check them all out and see if they're all the same. We have some from the 20's and 30's, and also late 70's/early 80's so it would be interesting to see if they are more accurate, unless they aren't (as Kent Webb likes to say! :>) Keep 'em coming! Your thoughts are getting closer to the "fixer". Paul From: "Ed Sutton" <ed440 at mindspring.com> To: <caut at ptg.org> Date: 08/01/2009 11:35 AM Subject: Re: [CAUT] Friday Puzzler Paul, you're gonna have to work this out. 1) Are some screws too long? 2) Are the holes drilled to different depths? Can you drill them further yourself? 3) Is it really different depths, or different length screws, or are the holes drilled or messed up out of alignment so that the screws go in at different angles, thereby causing the flanges to set on the rail at different angles from one vertical plane (not rotating around the axis of the screw, but rotating around the axis of the rail). 4) Is this original, or did someone repair loose holes or use oversize screws to create the irregularity? 5) Are the flanges irregular? All of these are possible, and probably something else as well. You have to look, see, and tell us! Test more than 3 samples. Ed S. ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul T Williams To: caut at ptg.org Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 11:55 AM Subject: Re: [CAUT] Friday Puzzler I think it is indeed the screw holes in the rail. For fun, I just screwed in the screws with no wippen on these 3 samples I took off. Well, what do you know...the screws are at different heights! Is there a way to remedy this, or am I stuck. Is this a replaceable part? Paul From: Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> To: CAUTlist <caut at ptg.org> Date: 07/31/2009 12:25 PM Subject: [CAUT] Friday Puzzler Hi gang! I'm puzzled! I'm now working on a 1966 Steinway M with a strange thing going on. I looked and the wippens and they're all askew and not in any kind of even line on the brass rail. Some places, they're nearly 2mm off. I tried to attach a picture, but it was too big. I'm still getting used to my new camera and iMac (having been a life-time PC guy). I checked the wips themselves, and they're all good. I can't "see" anything off on the brass rail, but only took off 3 wips in a row to check the rail out. Have any of you ever come across this? I've got a message out to our tech support guy about the picture, but perhaps you know what I'm describing. Thanks for any help. Paul -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20090801/39b880b6/attachment.htm>
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