Touch weight

[Jon Page]

Brian,
The "Strike Weight Ratio" which you were referring to by relating it to the
travel
ratio is incorrect. You are confusing the two. For instance, you can make the
hammer travel 1.5" and still have 3/8" key dip. Does this mean that your
weight
ratio changes also, so that you get closer to 4:1 ?  No.

Although the travel ratio in and of itself is important and relates to
leverage, it
does not determine actual weight or force needed to depress the key which is
a result of leverage and weight. The more weight, the more force require to 
depress the key. By your definition all one would need to do it raise the
hammer
line and the key will depress easier due to the lower ratio.

When thinking of  touchweight., think  friction, weight, leverage.

Regards,

Jon Page
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 05:16 PM 3/4/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Jon,
>
>I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from?  Maybe you'll expound a
>little?
>
>My thinking is a little 'simple' in nature, but it all goes back to a physics
>class I took a few years back.  If you take a simple lever and place it
upon a
>fulcrum such that there is a 5 to 1 ratio from one side to the other, any
weight
>added or subtracted from either side would also have to follow that same 5 to
1
>ratio in order to balance. (perhaps in inverse fashion? It's been a few
years...)
>What my mind was telling me was that the same ratio would follow through
>regardless whether there was one fulcrum, or whether there were three or four
>pivot points (action).   It goes through quite a contortion to do it, but in
>making it as simple as it gets, the key goes down, the hammer goes up, and
vise
>versa, in a very specific ratio of movement.
>
>I'm not too good with explaining what's in my head, but I think you might
have
an
>idea of where my thoughts are.
>
>If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear what your thinking is.  I may very
well
be
>way off base.  Or maybe we've been talking 'apples and oranges'?  I'd
sincerely
>like to know.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Brian Trout
>Quarryville, Pa
>
>Jon Page wrote:
>
>>  Jon Page wrote:  The travel distance ratio has no bearing on weight ratio.
The
>> weight ratio
>> is determined by weight and Key Ratio (capstan to b/r pin / key front to
b/r
>> pin)
>> which may be closer to 7 now.  Removing 2gr from each hammer is a massive
>> amount. Weigh the hammers and see what strike weight zone they are in.
>