Welcome to old and new friends who are interested in discussing Cajun and other diatonic accordions, along with some occasional lagniappe....



CAJUN ACCORDION DISCUSSION GROUP

 

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
A different sticking flapper repair story ..

Braves,

FWIW .. here’s an account of my accordion ”repair” this morning.
Comments are encouraged since I’ve never done this before ..

My #9 key was sticking and was sluggish to return to closed position.
Just enough to be good and annoying!

I thought that either the wood at the base of the flapper assembly was binding,
or that the flapper assembly wasn’t moving freely upon its fulcrum.

I removed the keyboard assembly by opening the box, and removing the two long Philips screws
that hold the keyboard to the front of the accordion.

Then, I removed the small cover at the bottom of the keyboard that covers the end of the fulcrum rod.

Whoever had last assembled the accordion had stripped the head of the Phillip’s screw.
(This always annoys me when someone does this.) My experience has been
“Start with a Philips screw driver that appears to be too big first! If that doesn’t fit,
try the next size smaller.”

I suspect many a Philips screw head has been stripped by using an improper sized tool
usually, a tool that's too small.
These screws seem to be a Philips #1 size.

I removed one screw entirely, and the other just partially,
as this allowed me to swing open the cover to access the fulcrum rod.

I carefully gripped the end of the rod with pliers and twisted and pulled repeatedly
until the rod came out. Not an easy task! I was careful to only grip the fulcrum rod
at the very end as to not leave pliers marks in any other location on the rod.
That could bind the flapper’s action.

It was easy to determine that the flapper assembly was not binding on the surrounding wood.
The culprit was the fulcrum rod.

Being very careful as to not bend the removed rod, I smoothed the rod's surface with
a fine emery cloth until it appeared smooth and shiny.

Now to get the rod back in. I noticed that the leading edge of the rod had been filed to
a chisel shape. I filed the chisel shape to more closely approximate a point ..
I suspected a point would find the flapper hole easier than a chisel?

I removed all the springs from the flappers to better feel what was happening as
I re-inserted the fulcrum rod.

I had to tap the rod in .. very slowly. When the rod “found” a flapper assembly,
I’d move the assembly about in order to help locate the flapper hole onto the rod.
Then, I’d continue tapping the end of the rod, further into the keyboard, until I found
the next flapper assembly.

When the rod was back in, I reconnected the springs and replaced the fulcrum rod cover.

And all back together.

The flappers are all freer than before .. Works well.

Anyone else done this? Comments?

Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

You are now what the British refer to as a "fettler". I always polish my axles with fine buffing compound before installing.

Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

Thanks for the response Bryan.

It makes sense to polish that rod, but having zero experience
with it, it's good to know that this is standard practice.

--Big Nick

Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

I'm not sure if it is common practice, but is something I do. Everyone may have their own tricks.

Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

Does it really make a noticeable difference to polish the rod? I've always been a bit curious about how much this mechanical part of the accordion can really make a fingerboard that much more responsive to touch and if there are any other ways out there of eliminating or negating the wood on metal friction.

Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

John,

All I know is polishing the rod made a remarkable difference
with my accordion.

My number 9 flapper was barely returning .. it was very sluggish.

Now, it snaps right back into place, so I'm very pleased with the
results.

I'm sure it operated correctly when the instrument was first built,
but perhaps something oxidized over time and caused the binding
of the #9 flapper ..

--Big Nick

Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

I've had this problem before, and the builder fixed it, and then fixed it again. The climate is usually to blame, but I found that it was not high or low humidity or temperature, but rather a fairly rapid change in either direction. This causes me to believe that the wood rocker block is swelling with higher humidity, which causes a contraction of the bore, and shrinking when it's suddenly real dry, causing the block to sieze on the axle shaft.

Larry Miller has used a plastic bearing material to fight the problem, but I'm told that is not the panacea.

While I'm dwelling on a subject I know very little about, I'm guessing that the wood might not have been fully cured, possibly bleeding a bit of moisture or sap with changing conditions. Marc Savoy claims he ages his wood for a year. I now have 2 Acadians and NO more sticking problems.


Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

The plastic bearings Larry uses on the rockers around the rod, the common axle all rockers pivot around, is actually DELRIN, or POM as it's called in Europe.

- It's plastic all right but a lot stronger than just plastic, used in tools and for small cogwheels etc. Works well, and is surely the permanent work around for these moist problems changing wood properties. I really think it's a must, saw many accordions with too much play, you can spot that problem by moving the flapper side ways (careful now!).

- Found these moisture related problem quite often with Jr.Martin accordions here in Europe, also with stuck stops, but never with an Acadian; compliments for Marc Savoy. I never looked at Marcs' construction BTW: don't fix it if it ain't broke.

- One accordion built by an occasional poster here was that bad at a few rockers, that the sound holes below the flappers were letting air through. I fixed that them by filling a wider cut hole in the rocker, filling it with an epoxy wood dust mixture, and re-drilling the hole, thus another work around. Small size black Delrin rods are some times hard to come by here, but the white version is quite common & cheap. - Nout

Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

Hi all

Just a tip for those who don't know..

For years any chance I could I changed all Philips screws to Robertson.. Only way to go.. Just just don't strip.. I never had one strip thats for sure.

Sure makes life easier..

Johnniez

Re: A different sticking flapper repair story ..

Big Nick


I had to tap the rod in .. very slowly. When the rod “found” a flapper assembly,
I’d move the assembly about in order to help locate the flapper hole onto the rod.
Then, I’d continue tapping the end of the rod, further into the keyboard, until I found
the next flapper assembly.

When the rod was back in, I reconnected the springs and replaced the fulcrum rod cover.

And all back together.

The flappers are all freer than before .. Works well.

Anyone else done this? Comments?


Hi Nick

Yes I have done that before twice. Once on my Hohner Student VM Morris box and also my Excelsior 120 bass 41 key box.. It IS quite the job. Move the shaft or rod as you call it can be a real pain.. Some of them just don't move..

A trick tho is to use a mild electrical current and short out the rod very carefully until it free's up the rod from the wooden keys.. Can be a real pain. Good thing about YOUR box is only 10 keys to mess with..

There is a video on youtube on how to do it on a regular 120/51 box.. it still applies to any accordion ..

By the way..

Enjoying your DVD's a bunch.. Getting the hang of it and if you don't mind me saying so your teaching method is great.


Johnniez



Jamey Hall's most excellent Cajun Accordion Music Theory

Brett's all new Cajun Accordion Music Theory for all keys!

LFR1.gif - 1092 Bytes The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week

augusta.gif - 6841 Bytes

Listen to Some GREAT Music While You Surf the Net!!
The BEST Radio Station on the Planet!