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This may be too light-weight a topic for this forum but I need to replace the spit valve cork on my YEB 321s. I'm tired of ripping up paper. Is there a source for some that are not made of cork but rather some sort of soft rubber-like material? If it came in long rod I could just cut off the length I need and have plenty left over for later. Should I just measure the diameter / depth of the cup it sits in and get the same diameter/depth or slightly larger and then squeeze it in so it sticks by friction/pressure or is glue (a la clarinet pad) involved? The cork that was in there fell out somewhere so I don't have it look at.

Pete

Well... you could just go to your local industrial supply house (bearings, etc) and buy an O-ring with the cross-section diameter you want. ... slice a piece of it off and glue it into the waterkey using rubber cement. O-rings are usually oil resistant.

Some wine corks now are made of a plastic foam material that is more uniform and more durable than real cork, but similar in its degree of firmness and shape memory.
You can cut it with a sharp knife or razor blade and various types of glue and cement hold it well.

I guess not everyone likes cork as much as I do. I'm OK with that, but if it's just about the difficulty of cutting a little piece from a wine bottle cork perfectly round with your pocket knife or whatever - in my experience, it doesn't really have to be perfectly round, as long as it covers the hole. Your repairman may vomit when he sees the ragged thing you put in there, but he'll clean up afterwards so that's OK. `Rubber cement' should work pretty well.

Fill the cup with silicone caulk. Wire the spit valve open for a whole day to let it harden. You'll never have to replace it again.

Just had an amado water key fitted. Pretty happy with it.