Fitting Valve Pins

[LeadFingersErnie]

Has anybody got any hints or tips for fitting valve pins?

 

Getting what is, in effect, a small nail into the wood along the side of a valve chamber has defeated me. Daren't use a hammer, can't get the end of a pair of pliers into the space. Help!!!

[Geoff Wooff]

You could try thin nosed pliers , there are many different shapes available , make a visit to a good hardware/tool shop.... Perhaps someone has made a special tool for this purpose.

[Graham Collicutt]

For small nails I use pins, and squeeze in with pliers.

[Anglogeezer]

You've obviously got enough space to swing a hammer!!

 

So how about this???

 

http://www.axminster.co.uk/ram-pin-or-push-pin?gclid=CPyAv47Lp8ACFW3JtAodwhoAAA

 

It's a spring loaded punch inside a hollow barrel.

Load the pin inside the barrel, hold in position and push - hand power only??

 

Jake

[sqzbxr]

http://youtu.be/B9h9p-vZv3k

 

Start watching at 15:47.

[LeadFingersErnie]

Thanks folks for some good tips. The Youtube clip was particualrly interesting. She used pliers I see, so maybe the pins I am using are not sharp enough or the wood too hard. I like the gadget from Axminster. Thanks for that Jake.

[Ann-p]

I snipped the ends of dressmaking pins and used similar pliers as in the youtube clip. The pins have a sharp end so if they are too sharp just take a bit of the sharpness off, otherwise they can go right through the wood. The pins are nice and stiff and easy to push in.

[Frank Edgley]

Yes, the ends of dressmaking pins work quite well.....sharp enough to pierce the chamber dividers.....no nails!

[d.elliott]

I use off cuts from springs, clipping the wire at an angle to make the point. I find dress maker's pins are too tapered.

 

Dave

[Ann-p]

I don't have spring offcuts!!

[Chris Ghent]

Go to a model shop, a proper one, not one which only sells kits, and buy piano wire. Plenty of online shops around too. A single metre or yard length will do you a number of concertinas for less than a pound or a dollar. Cut it on an angle as Dave says. Use needle nose pliers to push it in as someone else said. If it is replacement for a lost one put it in a new place beside the old hole and remember to seal up the old hole.

[JimLucas]

Go to a model shop, a proper one, not one which only sells kits, and buy piano wire. Plenty of online shops around too. A single metre or yard length will do you a number of concertinas for less than a pound or a dollar. Cut it on an angle as Dave says. Use needle nose pliers to push it in as someone else said. If it is replacement for a lost one put it in a new place beside the old hole and remember to seal up the old hole.

 

Does piano wire come in only one thickness? If not, what thickness/diameter do you recommend?

[Chris Ghent]

Piano wire, or music wire, is springy steel and comes in a multitude of diameters, not sure how big it has to be before you start calling it rod rather than wire. I use .020", near enough to .5mm. I would rather use stainless steel for corrosion reasons but have never found any at that size.

[inventor]

Piano wire comes in some thirty different sizes. When I was experimenting with other types of musical instrument around 40 years ago I made myself a Hammer Dulcimer arranged in the Hayden system. I used size 6 or 7 piano wire which I obtained from "Fletcher and Newman" along with harpsichord tuning pegs. They had a warehouse in the Seven Dials area of London at the time.

I see from the internet that they are still in business but have moved to Borough Green in Kent (not too far from Faversham). They list size 8 as being .020" thick. You would hardly need a whole coil to replace a few valve pins, but they might have off cuts

Inventor.

Edited August 30, 2014 by inventor