Coin Slot Magazine - #073 - 1981 - March [International Arcade Museum]
glue, when they are broken off for recovering again, the
all, letting the bellows simply pump the air back and forth
hot glue can
between various parts of the pump.
be sanded easily off the decks with no
damage to the decks. Any splintered pneumatic boards
can be replaced.
Remedy: All access plates were removed, and springs
were made and added to one end of each flap valve,
holding them tight regardless of humidity changes. All
LEAKY STACK
work had to be done inside of recovered pumping bellows
Instrument: Orchestrion
Problem: When connected to a test pump, the stack,
to avoid having to recover pump again.
WEAK PUMP
which had been "rebuilt" in 1970, would not hold any
vacuum. The prior "rebuilding" had consisted of replacing
one row of pouches (without repairing a large crack run
ning about 15" down the length of the pouch board and
connecting one pouch to the next). The pneumatics had
been recovered with blue polylon with the wrong glue, so
the polylon was falling loose. Most of the original pouch
leather pneumatic hinges were still in place, having been
sanded almost all the way through when the pneumatics
were sanded. The replacement hinges were made of blue
Instrument: Vacuum operated orchestrion.
Problem: Two of the four pumping bellows generated
almost no vacuum, while the other two worked properly. In
this pump, the inside flap valves had been replaced but no
retaining straps or springs had been installed, allowing the
bottom inside flaps to sag until they didn't work.
Remedy: Straps were added to the inside flap valves,
tacked and glued at each end. This work was performed
by working through the small holes for the outside flap
polylon and were glued with the same incorrect glue, al
valves with long, specially made tools, to avoid having to
lowing the hinge ends of the pneumatics to fall apart. The
recover the bellows again. (As in the previous pump, the
pouches which had not been replaced were packed full of
dirt. The tiny wood area between each pouch and the next,
under the
pouches
which
had
been
replaced,
had
been scraped out with a paint scraper, leaving so little
wood that the pouch leather was just barely sticking to it.
The valves had not been touched, and the metal valve
seats were covered with powdered corrosion, preventing
the valves from seating.
Remedy: The stack was completely rebuilt again. New
pneumatics were made and covered with Bilon, which ap
pears at this time to be the most durable covering material
available. PVC glue was used. The cracked pouch board
was repaired. The scooped-out dividers between some of
the pouch wells were built up with new wood. The valves
were releathered. The valve plates were cleaned, lapped
and sprayed with clear nitrocellulose lacquer to inhibit
further corrosion. The travel of each valve was recalibrated
and
the
valve
seats
were
sealed.
All
gaskets
leather covering was beautiful).
were
replaced. The valve buttons were calibrated to the
pouches. In general, all work was performed which is
usually associated with the complete rebuilding of a stack.
What did the previous repair accomplish? Nothing. From
the time it was fixed in 1970 until 1980 when it was
rerebuilt, it didn't play a note. Every penny spent on the
first repair job was completely wasted, and the second job
was more difficult than it should have been.
SUMMARY
Good repair work is time consuming — short cuts simp
ly don't work. With only a few exceptions, music machines
worked well when they left the factory, and if they are
restored in a way which duplicates their original construc
tion as exactly as possible, they should work well again.
The first step of every part of each repair job is to observe
all relevant factors. How thick was the leather? What type
of material was used? What was the exact span of each
pneumatic? Where was each pneumatic glued down?
What was the valve travel? It will be too late to record the
exact location of each pneumatic on a deck once they are
removed and the decks are sanded. It is too late to
observe where the stiffeners and their retaining straps
were located in a large pressure bellows after the leather
is ripped off, thrown in the trash, and carted off to the
dump by a sanitation engineer. During disassembly, it is
good
practice to always assume that interchangeable
parts are not actually interchangeable. It only takes five ex
tra minutes to place a set of valve plates in order at the
rear of the workbench as they are being removed from a
valve board; it takes half a day trying to sort them out after
they have been mixed up on the assumption that "They are
all alike." Another step of every repair job which is neces
sary for good results is to observe your own work as it
LOOSE HAMMERS
progresses. When sanding old leather and glue off of
Problem: Entire set of new piano hammers coming un-
glued, because "professional" piano technician had glued
them in place with silicone caulking compound!
Remedy: New shanks and new hammers were installed;
glue would not stick to the wood where the silicone had
been applied.
om
m.c
wooden parts, always attempt to remove the glue without
removing any wood. In the case of warped wooden parts
which must be made flat, proceed with care after careful
analysis of the consequences of removing too much wood.
As trite as this suggestion might sound, use the right tool
for each job. That includes the right screwdriver for each
screw, the right wrench for nuts and bolts, the right grade
of sandpaper, the right chemical cleaning solution, the
m: with u piano,
o
seu percussions
r
f
Instrument: Large orchestrion,
m
d
-
e
d pipes. de
and many ranks of a organ
nlo w.arca vacuum/pressure pump,
Problem: ow
The combination
D
w
although it appeared
://w to be recovered with the best quality
p
t
t
leather available,
produced absolutely no vacuum and no
h
orchestrion stack after the pipe chest, xylophone and
pressure. The flap valves, all of which were located inside
drums are mounted on top of it! By bench testing each and
the
every part, the critical job of diagnosing problems during
DEAD PUMP
pump
because it generates
pressure as well as
vacuum, were buckled so badly that they wouldn't seat at
1981
© MARCH
The International
Arcade Museum
right regulating tool for each piano part, etc. Use the right
materials — if you have no experience at selecting the best
currently available materials, consult with someone who
does! Finally, test every part as it is reassembled. It's a little
late to find out that a hole was omitted in a gasket inside an
assembly will be made infinitely easier.
THE COIN SLOT — 27
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