Saxophones Pork Tales: Saxophone Repair DIY Adventures.

Life around the barn.

Tales from a pig that likes to stick his nose into everything.

Paint that S. How difficult could it be ?

1) Search the net.
2) Find the color.
3) Order color.
4) Study task on University of YouTube, aka; For destruction by DYI presented by pro tech.

Do the cleaning & prep.

Paint and cleanup / detail the edges with hard cotton swabs. Sounds easy……

Yeah tha guy Matt makes it look easy.
Anyone remember your first experience cooking bacon crispy while still in the frying pan !

 

[ghostler]

A new record for tenor upper stack hinge rod.
Just short of 16” / 40.5cm

Just curious but in cases like this, do you sometimes resort to using the right diameter steel Music Wire sold in hobby stores, usually in 36" lengths, for making model aircraft landing gear? Cut to size, cut threads on one end, shape the other?

 

[PigSquealer]

Just curious but in cases like this, do you sometimes resort to using the right diameter steel Music Wire sold in hobby stores, usually in 36" lengths, for making model aircraft landing gear? Cut to size, cut threads on one end, shape the other?

Hobby shack crap ? NO ! NO ! NO ! NEVER !!!
That’s some low grade spring garbage hobby of reject material they buy on discount.
Go test a few hundred dollars of dies and you’ll know better.

I use only O1 annealed precision grade rod of aerospace standard for this purpose.
Sold in .001 increments. Not available to public. A certified material delivered with documentation. Only available in six foot lengths. Local will call only.
In nine years I’ve purchased 132’ of .069-.118 material for different repairs.

 

[ghostler]

Yup, LOL, used to shop at Hobby Shack in 1980's there in Fountain Valley, later when they expanded, store in Lakewood. Last shopped there maybe 15 years ago, when visiting. Changed their name (ownership?) to Hobby People. They closed their doors not long after.

I didn't know such material was available, good going.

Then IMO you get rod material that is of better quality than sax OEM. Seems that for that rod to get so chewed up it is soft carbon steel, probably Grade 1. I've seen sax key bearing rods with screw driver rod tip end in sad looking shape.

See that also in model aeroplane engines of US manufacture from 1950's, example K&B, Fox, McCoy, etc. Used soft carbon steel screws, probably Grade 1. I replace those with better quality socket head screws, Grade 5, which also dresses up their looks.

 

[skeller047]

Can't you get drill rod (AKA silver steel) at McMaster-Carr? I think a lot of techs use that. I know that you, Mr. Squealer, have more industrial sources than most because of your car and motorcycle experience, but I McMaster-Carr and several other places do sell to the public. You just have to know what you want 🙂

I agree about hobby-shop stuff.

 

[PigSquealer]

Can't you get drill rod (AKA silver steel) at McMaster-Carr? I think a lot of techs use that.

01 is drill rod. I can phone in or order online from MC. Jump in the wagon and go to will call and back in under :45

I know that you, Mr. Squealer, have more industrial sources than most because of your car and motorcycle experience, but I McMaster-Carr and several other places do sell to the public. You just have to know what you want 🙂

Car & motorcycle restoration as a hobby I made some contacts. Most of my contacts come from operating my printing company. Either from maintenance needs or from customers.

 

[PigSquealer]

JK Toneking clean up of solder progress.

I started by removing all the clothes guard mounts.

Then used a heat-wipe-heat wipe technique. Stab the heat on one second pull off and wipe. Be short and quick. Use a cotton rag or paper towel and frequently change contact point (a fresh wiping area.)

Grab the part with pliers and stab the heat on & off a few seconds at a time. In 10-15 seconds the part will come off.

 

[PigSquealer]

Before

Pre existing clean up as received.

 

[PigSquealer]

This area was covered in solder. Best to remove the parts. Do the cleanup and remount later.
Notice the pillar / post and plug are covered in flux. Rosen flux can be challenging to clean off.
Who filed the tone hole 😤. I can only do so much for this area.

What do see in this picture below now ?

 

[PigSquealer]

A little cleanup around the strap ring.

Then I noticed the plate had really poor contact.

More like no contact 😬

 

[PigSquealer]

My best results on removing the solder was the heat & wipe mentioned above. The desoldering wick material was completely worthless for massive cleanup needs. Adequate heat being the issue. Open flame overheats the wick insanely quick. Heating the area a stabbing the wick onto the surface did nothing. Using my bench iron set from 350°-650° and used as directed. No removal results. $5 and hour of time.

1-1/2 hours to heat & wipe. Including time to cool off for handling different areas.
Some metal was recovered for recycling.

 

[PigSquealer]

To final finish the areas I used a machine shop technique called scraping. Not for DIY use. This is difficult even with experience.

After scraping, the area was burnished with 0000 steel wool @ 90°. Area cleaned well (NO surface grit / dirt) Then burnished with hand burnisher. Finish with silver polish.

All twenty something locations done by hand.

 

[PigSquealer]

Keep in mind this is just the solder cleanup stage. A full polish is on order too.

Still work in progress.

 

[PigSquealer]

Keep in mind this is just the solder cleanup stage. A full polish is on order too.

On thing I’ll add. It’s difficult to achieve 100% removal. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if some of these cleaned areas change color. A dull grey stain appearance. First truth on how well they’re cleaned will appear when the new mounting is soldered on.

 

[Pete Thomas]

@Tuppertn Dug was named after Dug from that movie. 100% same character. He just showed up one day and decided to live here.
@turf3 18”, 16lbs wee broon indeed.
View attachment 35229

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KHSR_Flqww

 

[PigSquealer]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KHSR_Flqww

Yep, that’s how Dug got his name officially on October 3rd last year. The first time he showed up was September 29th. Cold, wet, hungry and loaded with fleas. Dried off. Combed fleas off and dusted then fed a hot meal. Was happy to sleep in safe dry warm crate.

Returned to owner on 30th (he has chip). Was back here on 1st. Returned to owner on 2nd. Was here again on 3rd.
When the owner returned the third time we offered to adopt. Without hesitation she handed us his leash and walked back to car. The husband and two children were in the car. They didn’t care.

 

[turf3]

...
The acrylic wings were quite something when first introduced. Both in materials and design.
Enough to used for the 100th anniversary edition.

100th Anniversary SX90R - Keilwerth

www.julius-keilwerth.com

The sheet metal coming off looks a bit odd. I agree they look more fitting as an heat shield on a motorbike.

The owner is a pro player and member here on the Café. I did inquire about his interest in changing them.
“Aesthetics” was the answer. He didn’t care for the original look. The existing are fugly and new vintage JK are not eye pleasing either. So ! Here we go.

If I understand the photos correctly, the horn came to you with newer Keilwerth (or Keilwerth-looking) guards, one piece over B and Bb? I think those look OK. The mounts are fugly, to be sure. The individual low B and Bb guards will look hipper, more like an original Selmer BA. Where did the new low B and Bb guards come from?

As for acrylic, the history of plastics has many cases where the great new material was introduced with much fanfare and then it was discovered from field experience that the stuff got brittle, or crumbly, or warped out of all shape, etc., after a few years. Straight "acrylic" = PMMA, "Plexiglas", "Perspex" - is brittle from the get-go and it only gets worse with decades of UV exposure, thermal cycling, and the gradual progression of further cross-linking (this is what polymers DO, generally - keep cross-linking at a very slow rate, leading to loss of toughness).

I always thought those "wings" looked goofy anyway, like "hey, we've got this bitchin' new material, let's show it off, to hell with whether one good shot will break the stuff, or it'll craze, or if you overtighten one mounting screw by 0.000001 Nm the mount'll break - I want some BIG PLASTIC GUARDS on these things!" Thus spake the Marketing Executive, and the Engineers went, grumbling, to the board to draw the dictated things.

 

[thomsax]

Before
View attachment 37171
View attachment 37177

Pre existing clean up as received.
View attachment 37173

View attachment 37174
View attachment 37175
View attachment 37176

Just curious. Does this horn have a stamp/mark with "Best in the World, Made in Germany ....."? What about the neck? You are diong a good work.

 

[turf3]

Yep, that’s how Dug got his name officially on October 3rd last year. The first time he showed up was September 29th. Cold, wet, hungry and loaded with fleas. Dried off. Combed fleas off and dusted then fed a hot meal. Was happy to sleep in safe dry warm crate.
View attachment 37202

Returned to owner on 30th (he has chip). Was back here on 1st. Returned to owner on 2nd. Was here again on 3rd.
When the owner returned the third time we offered to adopt. Without hesitation she handed us his leash and walked back to car. The husband and two children were in the car. They didn’t care.

He made his decision! "I'm gonna stay THERE!"