agraffe stub misery

[Mike Spalding]

Patrick,

google on "insty bit".  products include hex drive drill bit adapters ( 
a set of hex drive collets, each one sized for a common drill size from 
1/16 to 1/4)  and extensions.  I bought a set at the local Woodcraft 
store a couple years ago, and find them very useful for getting into 
tight places.

Mike

J Patrick Draine wrote:
> Sure, sometimes it's EZ, but other times it's hell. The customer has a 
> big (7 ft or so) old (ca. 1889) H F Miller grand, and there's a popped 
> off agraffe at the note just above the top treble section strut. A 
> couple weeks ago I was at the customer's home, at which time I tuned & 
> voiced their Yamaha G3. After finishing that, I took a look at this 
> big ol' relic. I tried the "tap a snaggle toothed screwdriver into the 
> stub remnant & back it out" routine. Also the "see if you can tap it 
> counterclickwise to back it out" scenario. No go.
> Well, I knew my left hand bits were back at home, so I packed it in 
> for the day. Made a follow-up appointment for earlier this morning. 
> Set my high torque drill and left hand bits down, opened the piano up 
> & took another look at that agraffe stub. OOK, it's RIGHT NEXT TO a 
> massive (3" or so tall) strut! The chuck on my drill is way too fat to 
> center the bit into the stub. So my plans to drill a hole into the 
> stub & spin it out were thwarted.
> So what's my best option? I don't think I'm going to find a set of 
> superlong left handed bits. A very skinny flex shaft? Anyone have a 
> preferred brand? A while back my local hardware had a very lame 
> looking (no name China made) version -- I would prefer to get 
> something others have had success with.
> Thanks in advance,
> Patrick Draine RPT