Bill Monroe said: < I made a different clamping mechanism which works better. & <My primary objective is to keep the key bottom flat on the sled. The sides of the keys are not an accurate reference to squareness from one key to the next, and therefore generally don't make a good clamping surface, Good point, I never hear this issue discussed. Mostly I see setups which can't help but create an un-level-able set of keys, given the fact, as Bill says (my paraphrase), the only reasonably trustworthy index is the key bottom. Add to that the fact that the quill on most drill presses is so sloppy, that the planer head has to be moving around or at least vibrating in a way that in itself tends to create an inconsistent plane. Still with Bill's setup, I can see how the pointed clamping studs would have a tendency to tip the key with some inconsistency, as the points contact the keys at points of varying density key to key. Its definitely an improvement over side clamping though. I've done a few of the high end mineral plastic jobs on my own rebuilds, and though the job went well, and I did my best to index the bottom, I was not completely happy with the consistency of that top plane, either. I really think, the way around this is to have a final step where the keys are all assembled on the frame, clamped and then flattened out in that position, like they were before they were cut apart. Uhh...with something high tech like a belt sander or something. I don't however do this often enough to have put the time into solving this part of the puzzle. Jim Ialeggio -- Jim Ialeggio jim at grandpianosolutions.com 978 425-9026 Shirley Center, MA
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