hammer rail sandpaper query

[Roger Jolly]

Hi Tom,
              Here's how we do it.
Remove rail,  soak old paper and remove, scrub rail with warm soapy water 
to remove all glue residue.  Dry well with paper towels.  The rail  comes 
up nice and clean.
Mount rail and leave 24hrs to dry.
  VERY LIGHTLY  sand with 220 grit, just about 2 or 3 passes.
You can get very thin 2 sided carpet tape, and stick to rail. Trim with 
razor. It's very clean and neat.
Cut strips of the thinnest 220 grit paper you can find. Remove backing from 
tape and apply to the  rail.  Use a small wall paper roller to make sure 
that the paper is completely flat to the surface.
Use an awl to punch the screw holes.  Roller the surface once again.
We have found there is less travelling required with this method.
We have done dozens of rails this way, and no hint of any warpage from 
scrubbing with water.
Gluing the paper in the traditional manner, you some times get little 
lumps  or pockets,  that can lead to extra travelling.

Regards Roger


At 09:18 AM 2/13/2003 -0500, you wrote:


>-----Original Message-----
>From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
>Behalf Of tune4u@earthlink.net
>Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 8:53 AM
>To: Pianotech
>Subject: RE: hammer rail sandpaper query
>
>Haven't done this but I know you can by the self-sticking paper used on
>certain sanders, etc. Don't know what grit, probably 100 or 120 or so.
>What
>I would want to know is how to do it without having to start all over in
>alligning hammers to strings--especially when retaining the existing
>grooved
>hammers. Can't think of any way to accurately mark the existing flange
>locations. I know you can adjust a flange-shank-hammer with the action
>in
>the piano, but doesn't that require having its neighbors securely
>screwed
>down? Hmmm ... sounds like a fussy, time consuming job, to me.
>
>Alan Barnard
>Salem, MO
>
>
>         Search the archives .This has been discussed before. As for
>reinstalling the parts, you can line the knuckles up on the rep levers
>to get in the ballpark, then, depending on the flange shape use any
>number of techniques to align to strings. My new Mannino designed
>spacing tool is my "best tool of the new millennium winner"
>         As for aligning string cuts, why not reshape? Also re-travelling
>the shank-flanges will be necessary and for me more time consuming than
>spacing. By the way, this is where a good electric screwdriver will pay
>for itself.
>         Tom Driscoll
>
>
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