repinning a Baldwin Hamilton

[Barbara Richmond]

John,

Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask--did you find that the balance holes were too, uh, "tall" and needed reaming?  It's SOP for me now to check for that, but I was just wondering if they were really tall, contributing to that mushy feel.

Thanks,

Barbara


  Barbara,


  I recently did this very job on a 1997 Hamilton (or 243?). This one had issues with sluggishness for several years. I finally gave them the only solution that would ultimately work: complete action disassembly, checking and correcting friction on each hammer, whippen, and jack center; sanding whippen felts; applying Teflon powder to hammer butts, etc.; and regulation.  I would have preferred a less costly solution for them, but it was the only way I could actually solve the problem.


  Mine responded well to water/alcohol sizing.  I disassembled every action part except for damper flanges, which were fine.  Checked friction, and applied either 10%, 25%, 35%, or 50% solution depending on the friction there. Some repinning was needed as well, mainly because the sizing solution worked too well on a few. (Or, that I was too aggressive due to my lack of experience in choosing which % solution to use.)



  During regulation, it became apparent that the balance rail bushings needed replacement.  Cupped bushings were causing significant repetition problems. I used VS Profelt and cauls on the front rail bushings to renew the felt there, which worked very well.


  After regulation, it still has some problems with key weighting.  But it plays much better than before -- just a heavier touch than I like. I'm waiting to make sure the work is satisfactory - I told the church to play it for 2-3 weeks to make SURE everything was to their satisfaction.  I should know by next week if everything is good.


  I suppose I can always trim the balance rail felts (toward the player) to help slightly with the heavy touch.


  In all, I worked several more hours that I'd originally estimated.  However, I still feel like a learner in this realm, so it was great experience.  And I was paid well for "learning." Gotta love that!


  Hope this helps.


  -- 
  JF
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