Samick Underlevers

[Larry Fisher]

Here's the meat of the subject on the Samick underlevers.

In revue, I posted a queery on Samick damper underlevers to see if any of you
had experienced what I had.  The flanges and top flanges were all starting
to show signs of binding.  The application of various lubricants did nothing
for the long term cure and the problem was getting worse.  The piano is about
two years old and is in heavy usage for demos of the PianoDisc unit that is
installed in it.

     I re-pinned the entire underlever action.  I started by removing one
underlever at a time taking only the ones that seemed slow to drop.  By the
time I got the the fifth one from the treble end, (about the third one I
removed) a screw had twisted off when I tried to remove it.  After reciting
some rather explicit verbage most likely found in some pornographic literature,
I proceeded to look at the possibility of removing the entire underlever
action.  Not too bad, really.  Three screws located under the damper tray, and
out it came, up over the top of all the solenoids from the PianoDisc mechanism.
This after removing all the dampers from the top flanges and laying them in
order on top of the tuning pins.
     Tilting the action slowly back and forth so as to make the underlevers
flop back and forth, exposed the culprits.  About 20 or so were so stiff they
wouldn't return with the others.
     After numbering all the underlevers in pencil, I removed them all from the
rail and layed them out in order.  I then proceeded to drill out the broken off
screw.  This rail by the way is aluminum which adds to the challenge of trying
to remove something harder than the medium that it is mounted in.  Should the
drill drift to one side or the other I've got more trouble that just a broken
off screw and some sluggish flanges.  Patching, plugging, filling
aluminum......just doesn't have that nice sound to it.  I managed to drill a
hole clear through the existing screw and since I haven't ever seen an easy out
small enough to remove such a little dickens I thought I'd jam a flange screw
down into it with hopes that it would turn clean through the rail and fall out.
 The screw that I was hoping would do the job, BROKE OFF!!!  Drilling this one
out, BROKE THE DRILL BIT!!!  I ran to the hardware store and bought a sixteenth
inch bit, titanium cobalt hyper activated super twist high speed hard as hell
dare to break me type sucker that shined with the glimmering of a fine gold
plated serving tray.  It worked.  I managed to get another hole drilled through
the mess I had without breakage or drifting.  I then drilled the hole ever
larger in small increments until I could see the original thread laughing at me
through the remaining fragments of both screws.  I then took another flange
screw, and slowly worked it into the drill hole, turning a bit in, then turning
a bit out, working it like a tap, cutting the threads as I went.  Each time
turning a little more into the drilled hole, and eventually I got the original
hole to respond to the original size screw.  I suggest you purchase some of
these flange screws from Samick, because they are not the same diameter or
thread of those found in American actions.
     I now went to the task at hand concerning the underlever flanges.  Some
were so tight that you could hold the flange between your fingers, the
underlever free to swing, only it wouldn't move unless I jiggled my hand.  I
saved these center pins for closer inspection.  The remaining flanges I found
had some jumpiness to them as I would gently move them with my finger, this
time holding the underlever in one hand and moving the flange with the
other.  Using the spring loaded hold in your palm re-pinning tool, I repinned
each and every one checking first to see which side of the flange was tighter,
reaming with a mouse tail file, rechecking with the proper sized pin, and then
squirting some powdered teflon in each hole before re-inserting the pin.
     The entire underlever action now flops freely as I rotate it and it was no
problem reinstalling the assembly back into the piano.  The entire job took
about 6 hours.
     I looked at the offending center pins under a poor mans microscope.  To
the naked eye, you could see some dullness to the ends of the pins, as if they
were pitted or etched.  So I got out my spotting scope, (binoculars will do)
and viewed the pin using the scope backwards.  The pin held near the eyepiece,
and my eye at the other end.  I saw what reminded me of the chome plating
missing in patches on a car's bumper, and in those patches, there were small
grooves, or wrinkles some in the direction of the center pin's job, and others
in the direction parallel to the pin or at right angles to the previous.  All
this found in the area of the flange bushing, at each end of the pin.  The
rest of the pin looked real smooth and shiney.  I also got a real close look at
the grunge found under my thumb nail and in the cracks of my cuticles.  Neat
stuff!!

Gotta go, time to eat!





--- Larry Fisher RPT, Portland Metro's Authority on PianoDisc Systems
        For more information call (360) 256-2999 in Vancouver, Wa.
                      or email larryf@pacifier.com