Re: Sticky Key on Cajun Accordion

According to Bruce <NCPartisanRanger@xxxxxxxxx>:
On Oct 31, 11:20 pm, happypotatod...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
(snip)
so does anyone have an idea what might be causing the key to stick, or
how I can check and/or fix it?

There are a number of causes. A relatively frequent one is a
Once
you have the rod out, carefully relieve the sides of the key pivot
area (or the slot in the fingerboard if you see something like a wood
"burr" but usually it's best to smooth down the sides of the key; it's
easier to keep the areas flat -- but be careful and don't remove too
much). If it's the key sticking to the rod, that's harder. You'll
have to find a way to remove a miniscule amount of wood from the pivot
hole; maybe a set of number/letter drills would be the way to go.

If the rod is a precise standard diameter (inch or metric,
depending on where it was made -- measure with a micrometer), what I
would try is a hand reamer -- which are available both very slightly
oversized (for clearance fits) and very slightly undersized (for press
fits). Also, number or letter sized drills tend to pull into the hole,
thanks to the spiral nature of the flute -- good for pulling chips out
of the hole when drilling, but with a hole just slightly undersized, it
will grip the flutes and pull the drill quickly into the hole. And if
the drill is powered by a drill press or even a hand-held electric
drill, it might split the key.

The reamers have straight flutes, and a short bevel on the end
which does the actual cutting.

An alternative might be a drum sanding which fits inside the
hole. used with a Dremel -- carefully.

polish the rod in that area, too.

Right -- if you have a bench grinder, put a cloth wheel on it,
and load it with something like jeweler's rouge to get a very nice
finish on the rod.

One thing you *shouldn't* do is to put any kind of oil or grease on
the area. It will attract dust and gum things up even worse. I've
heard people recommend graphite-lube (the "dry" kind, not graphite in
oil) but I've never tried it and I'd be leery of it.

The dry graphite would not attract dust or gum things up, but it
might drift into the reeds and jam them.

Good Luck,
DoN.

--
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