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Button Hole Felting Aaaaah


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If there is an easy way to replace the little felt rings in buttons I have not found it.Putting the buttons back I pushed out about three or four of these felt rings and it took one hell of a lot of patience to manage to put them back.To replace a concertina full, or when building a new concertina this job must take absolutely ages.If I were a manufacturer it would be worth hiring an apprentice just to do that job.

Al :wacko:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Adding to what David has said immediately above, I know that Steve Dickinson uses a tapered reamer to get the felt to fit. Somewhere like Toolstation is a good place to start looking.

I would be astonished if Steve (or anyone else) uses a reamer to adjust the fit of a felt bush. He may well use one to adjust the size of the hole, since the replacement felt may not be of a similar thickness to the original, but if he does, I'd guess it didn't come from Toolstation. What you need is a peg-hole reamer, designed for a fiddle or cello. These are not cheap, but they do have the merit of producing a circular hole. I have tried cheap reamers, and found that they have a tendency to produce holes which are unaccountably hexagonal!
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So, I had to look up "peg hole reamer". (ain't Google something; it even anticipated what I was asking for!) When you say "not cheap" I was curious. The ones I saw ranged from $13-60; and were described for guitar, violin, cello--Cello Peg hole reamer 1:25 taper-- It is the reference to the taper that I found interesting. I assume for button holes on the faceplate no taper? For the cross holes on the buttons inside there is taper to allow for play in the armature? (and these holes are also felted....) ?? Never thought about reamers with or without taper.... Now we are talking specialty tools.

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Are we getting confused between the key cross bushes and their inner diameters, or the end plate key holes? or even the holes in the action plate for the key guide pegs?

 

 

 

Dave

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Are we getting confused between the key cross bushes and their inner diameters, or the end plate key holes? or even the holes in the action plate for the key guide pegs?

 

 

 

Dave

Quite right, Dave - I was thinking of the end-plate holes. (That'll teach me not to post while still half asleep.) However, I'm still having trouble with the concept of using a reamer on the felt bush, and it should never be necessary to use one on the cross-drilling itself.
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I don't think LeadFingersErnie was suggesting using a reamer on the actual felt, I took it he was suggesting it was used on the point where the two cones intersect to open the hole up a little, something I have done myself a few times when the aperture was manifestly inadequate, though I use a round file as it is easier not to leave a parallel section at the middle of the hole when using a file.

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I have a wide range of multi flute machine reamers, some with spiral and some straight flutes one I use to true up and skuffle out old glue from end plates and I have a similar too to be used in the same way on the tapered part of the hole. I have never needed to open up a cross bush hole, prefering to chhose the cross bush stock appropriately, but I could do so if I needed to.

 

Dave

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