Another bellows leak thread...

[Ubizmo]

I have a Morse Albion EC that I bought used a few months ago. I recently noticed a change in its responsiveness. I did the bellows hang text and found that it dropped to full extension (as full as it was going to get, anyway) in about 8 seconds, which seems too fast. I searched on here and tried the "wet lips" detection method. I couldn't hear any escaping air, but I believe I've found the general area of the leak, although I can't actually see anything wrong.

 

My first decision is whether to try to fix this myself, or just bring it down to Liberty Bellows, since I live in Philly and they service all kinds of squeeze boxes. I'm sure they won't be cheap, but by the same token, I may well make things worse trying to DIY. I don't have any experience doing this kind of thing. Any thoughts?

[malcolm clapp]

1 hour ago, Ubizmo said:

 I believe I've found the general area of the leak

It may be useful to describe where you believe the general area of the leak to be....

Better, maybe a photo with a super-imposed arrow.

Just saying  :-)

[jkmelb]

It might not be the bellow, but maybe one of the pads does not close properly, i.e. air gets in from one end of the concertina.

 

In the last 6 weeks, I had two pads that failed. Both times, the leather circle (which seals the hole in the wooden action board) detached itself from the felt. And so only the felt closed the hole and of course felt won't seal it air-tight. I had to re-glue the leather circle onto the felt, which worked ok. (I didn't have new pads.)

[Ken_Coles]

Bob Snope at Concertina Garage probably built much of your instrument and likely could talk you through finding the leak and assessing whether you can fix it yourself.

 

Ken

[David Barnert]

Does the leak also seem to manifest on the squeeze (ie., do the ends come together too easily with a gentle squeeze)?

[JimR]

You could try a smoke pen (not real smoke) if the leak is in the bellows.

[Ubizmo]

The leak is somewhere at the leftmost bellows fold, as I hold the concertina. It appears to be at a corner, although I'm not sure of that. It's still quite playable, but the leak is definitely there. I imagine I can find it eventually, maybe by putting a little soapy water on and looking for bubbles. 

I guess my question is: what then? I've read some old threads here, where various remedies were suggested (sealants, etc). If I took it to the shop, what would they do?

[alex_holden]

It depends whether the leak is due to a hole in the leather or from a glue joint that has come partially unstuck. Have you tried holding a bright lamp inside the bellows while in a dark room and looking for light spots?

[Ubizmo]

7 hours ago, alex_holden said:

It depends whether the leak is due to a hole in the leather or from a glue joint that has come partially unstuck. Have you tried holding a bright lamp inside the bellows while in a dark room and looking for light spots?

I guess this is the next step.

I did try drops of water in the suspected bellows fold, to try to spot bubbles, but I didn't see any. I'll try the light trick tonight.

 

[Ubizmo]

Problem solved!

I did the light test and found nothing. To do it, I removed the right hand end cover. When I replaced it, just for the sake of thoroughness, I checked the screws on the left cover, the side where the leak was. To my surprise, the screws were all loose, but especially one of them, which was finger loose. Like an idiot, it just never occurred to me to check them, I was so fixated on the bellows.

So I carefully tightened the screws (not too tight) and all's well again. The difference when playing is noticeable.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[Theo]

Don’t feel bad.  It’s all too easy to ignore the obvious.  I’ve just been helping my daughter move back into a newly extended house.  There was a sink blocked with dirty water.  We called in the builder who looks at the pipe work, then put his hand into the water and pulled out the plug!