[pianotech] 1925 Baldwin R damper tray

[Ron Nossaman]

On 2/15/2013 9:44 AM, Larry Fisher RPT wrote:
> PianoDisc installation just completed.
> The damper tray pivots are at each end and the pivot blocks are
> removable by taking out one screw.  The underlever flanges are mounted
> on the tray so that when the tray moves so do all the flanges.

You mean kind of like every other modern damper system out there?


> Problem  ........  damper tray return friction is fairly high resulting
> in leaky dampers when the pedal is released gently.  I lubed both pivots
> and there didn’t seem to be any change.

If it's friction, it's the pivots, or a binding pitman or something (I 
don't recall Baldwin's setup). Did the tray fall freely before the 
player installation?


> The damper UL flanges are
> accessible when the tray is pushed all the way to the keybed so I could
> lube them all if I thought that would work.

Why would that work, when the flanges are screwed to the tray?


> Notes  ......  the damper tray is wooden and there isn’t any return
> spring as is found in some pianos.  The bass dampers were the leakers
> but when I adjusted them so they wouldn’t leak anymore, the top twenty
> or so now leak.

Because it's not the dampers that are the problem, is it? It's the tray 
not falling clear.


>  Bottom
> line is I need the damper tray to fall away from the underlevers if
> allowed to do so.

So why are you screwing around with the dampers? Find out why the tray 
isn't falling away and fix it. Attempt to get it to work right before 
overpowering the problem with a spring.


>I’ve installed a PianoDisc in this piano and the
> design of the crossover was within specs putting the pivot at a one to
> one ratio with the pitman and the pedal solenoid.

What the heck is a crossover?


>  This adds
> weight to the mechanism which is part of the source of my problem but
> the design has already been installed and is working great except for
> some leaky dampers.

No, it obviously isn't working great, and again, the dampers aren't the 
problem.


> The slightest upward push on the tray creates the problem.  (pitman
> removed, no additional hardware attached)

Then it's the pivots. Too tight, or misaligned and in a bind. Making 
sure the piano works before installing a player is pretty basic. Did it?

Ron N