Pictures of Will's hammer tapering jig

[Paul McCloud]

Am I the only one with large boxes with a red "X" in it?  Why can't I see
the photos?
Paul McCloud
San Diego

Paul McCloud
Service Technician for PianoSD.com
www.pianoservsd.com 
Created with free BlueVoda software:
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> [Original Message]
> From: Kent Swafford <kswafford at gmail.com>
> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Date: 09/12/2008 7:25:48 AM
> Subject: Pictures of Will's hammer tapering jig
>
> Here is the post with photos that Will has been trying to send, edited  
> to fit here:
>
>
> From: "Will Truitt" <surfdog at metrocast.net>
> Date: September 10, 2008 7:35:38 PM CDT
> To: "'Pianotech List'" <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Subject: Pictures of my hammer tapering jig
>
>
> Hello all:
>
> For those of you who have been participating in the ongoing discussion  
> about tapering hammers that have already been hung on their shanks, I  
> am enclosing pictures of the jig I made several years ago when I  
> needed to taper a couple of sets of hammers where these operations had  
> been ignored.
>
> In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I didn’t like  
> everything about the jig – the hold down device was too flimsy and  
> flexible.  So yesterday  I made a quick redesign, beefing it up and  
> changing a couple of things.  I modified only the one jig, but you  
> will need to make two, each to taper one side of the hammer, and will  
> be a mirror image of each other.  Not shown on the bottom is the  
> runner that fits in the slot on your table saw.   You should be able  
> to see enough to get the idea.
>
> You will see that my jig is adjustable for both width of cut and angle  
> of cut – don’ try to make jigs where these values are fixed .  When  
> you have got the angle and depth dialed in, you can walk the jig over  
> to the drill press, drill a hole through the turntable into the cross  
> slide, and then into but not through the base.  Stick a balance rail  
> pin into the hole, and you will have an index for a preset that you  
> can go back to quickly for a particular make of hammer.  This is  
> important, because setting things up involves  a lot of trial and  
> error and time (if anybody knows a quick way to do this part of it,  
> I’d like to know!)
>
> This jig can be used for both hung and unhung hammers.  I have 2 sets  
> of jigs, as I had built jigs for tapering unhung hammers long ago.
>
>
>
>
>
> This is a top view.  The jig consists of three basic levels:  the  
> base, which has a routed slot where the second level, the cross slide  
> sits and  can be adjusted towards or away from the saw blade by the  
> adjustment screw at the end with an allen wrench,  A machine bolt is  
> counter sunk up through the bass, and goes through the slot in the  
> cross slide, and locked in place with a wing nut.  On top of that sits  
> the third level, what I call the turntable.  That is held in place and  
> adjusted in the same manner as the cross slide, except that the  
> turntable pivots around its bolt, and adjusts the angle of the taper.
>
>
>
>
>
> Here is the view from the side which faces the saw blade.  I have used  
> a half inch bolt recessed into the hold down.  The hold down pivots  
> around the bolt.   The hold down arm is made of Delignit bridge  
> stock.   You will want to shape it where it contacts the hammers, so  
> as to have adequate bearing surface no matter what the shape of the  
> hammer is.  Line the inside with some coarse sandpaper or roughen it  
> sufficiently with a checkering file or such so that you have a  
> stronger frictional contact.  Ignore the wood blocks seen under the  
> jig, I used them to prop up the jig on its side to photograph it, and  
> the runner for the slot in the table saw table is not attached at the  
> time of the photo.
>
> If you are concerned that such an arrangement will not hold the hammer  
> down with enough pressure, know that I can bear down hard enough on  
> the hammer head that I could pull on the shank and snap it  I wanted  
> to.   Plus the pressure of the blade will push the tail against the  
> back stop, and rest of it into the sidewall.
>
>
>
>
>
> Shown is how my hand will be positioned as I am holding down the  
> hammer to trim it.
>
> I must confess to being an hacker and a dubber when it comes to  
> photography at present.  I used a free image editing software package  
> called Picasa 3 to crop, boost contrast, sharpness, and a few other  
> things to make it look like  I know what I am doing  - I don’t, but I  
> sure can fake it.  Very easy to use, too.  It allowed me to add the  
> text to the photo above, and I simply copied and pasted from Picasa  
> into MS Outlook for this e-mail message.
>
> Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.  I hope this can  
> be of value to some of you.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Will Truitt
>