[CAUT] steinway agraffs

[Garee, Anne E.]

James,
The broken agraffe repair starts with the preparation of the stem left
behind in the plate.  Use a conical stone bit in a Dremel tool to create
a crater in the surface of the stem paving the way for a small drill
bit. Drill an appropriately sized hole for a small screw extractor used
in a tap wrench and unscrew the broken stem.  Tapping on the screw
extractor to get a decent bite into the brass will also serve to break
loose the tight hold of the cast iron (the stem can also be soaked in
liquid wrench for awhile to loosen).  If this fails (and sometimes it
does), Pianotek sells a wonderful kit to enlarge the existing plate hole
which will then accept a threaded insert for a new aggraffe. A great kit
to have on hand.  Hope this will help.
Anne


Anne Garee, Program Director for Piano Technology
Florida State University College of Music
122 N. Copeland Street
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1180
850-645-7873
agaree at fsu.edu
http://www.fsu.edu/~music/pianotech.htm



-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
James Schmitt
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 12:46 PM
To: PTG Caut
Subject: [CAUT] steinway agraffs

Hi all-
    I am needing to do a job I have only done one other time before. I  
need to replace of broken agraff.  If i am right, replacing a broken  
agraff is simple IF, IF, IF, everything comes out right.  Otherwise  
this job gets very complicated very fast.  Some one told me about one  
of the journal articles that refereed to the use of an engraving tool  
that removed much of the possible complication with this job.  what  
kind of insight can you give me on this project.
James Schmitt
Marylhurst University