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With all the recent posts on cleaning and maintenance I thought I better star working through the fleet and giving them all a clean.

I’ve got an older King 2280 Euphonium that was next in the queue, when I pulled the valves out last night to get it ready for a bath over the weekend I noticed the #2 piston was beginning to rust at the bottom.

I remember looking up the serial number at some point and I think it placed it around the mid 80’s. I’ve owned it for about five years and maintenance probably not performed as much as it should have.

However I suspect this is something that may have developed over a longer period than for the time I’ve owned it.

Questions:
1. Anyone experienced the same or similar problem?
1. Now I’ve well and truly learnt my lesson, cleaning will be performed more regularly, will that be enough to prevent / slow the spread?
2. Or, should I be looking to replace this valve sooner rather than later?
3. Is it a case that if one piston is corroded, it’s only a matter of time until the other three start to show up also?

I am starting to worry that it may spread to the remaining valves and other parts of the horn. I’m also thinking the abrasive surface if it gets larger will hamper valve action and / or damage the valve casing.

Your thoughts and experience would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Looks to me like the nickel plating has worn off the valve itself. Your best bet is to either get a new valve(s) or take it to a competent (emphasis on competent) repairman and have them do a valve refit on the horn. A new valve might only temporarily solve the problem as it may be the casing causing the wear and tear. This could also be a good excuse to trade in the King and move up in euphonium.

Thanks Grooving for Heavin

The name stems from the Amati I have which has no plating left on the valves!

Having said that though, there no signs of corrosion on those Amati vaves.

Also thanks to the earlier poster, I did not consider the cylinder itself to be a cause when thinking about the problem.

The cylinder is currently taped up and soaking up some WD40 as surpirse, surprise the bottom cap is frozen. Once I free it I'll be able to take a better look.

It's just brass showing where the nickel has worn away. It looks like someone drove the piston out at some point and swelled the bottom of the piston. It's not sealing anything in that area so unless you're really freaky about having things perfect.... just leave it alone.

BTW... nice avatar!

Thanks Dan,

Will do, I'm not keen to throw a lot of money at it as it is a little cosmetically challenged (unlike my avitar ) but does play nice enough so I do not want to give it away. I only use it at my local community band for sit down concerts, the 625 is nice and light for when we march.

Cheers,

Mark.

and if you do partake in any do-it-yourself polishing or sanding, the key words after that are; oil, oil, oil. Really helps against rust.
good luck.
Pat

pjv wrote:and if you do partake in any do-it-yourself polishing or sanding, the key words after that are; oil, oil, oil. Really helps against rust.
good luck.
Pat

Pat... it's not rust. That only happens with metals that contain iron. There is no iron in brass (or at least there's not supposed to be!)

I agree no steel in brass just copper and yellow zink..I think<s>.BB

After cleaning over the weekend the briownish surface was cleaned off to reveal the alloy underneath.

It must have been a bulild up of dirt over time and which was probably contributed to the infrequent cleans performed on this horn.

On closer insepection of the valve it looks like it may have been dropped at some point of fiddled with and is no longer perfectly round. The uneven surface caused the plating to wear off over time.

After a good clean and subsequent two hour concert yesterday the valve did not miss a beat and still functions well.

Thank you for your responses.