Rotary Valve Linkage Question

[J.Harris]

Hey folks- I've got a Miraphone 186 BBflat with the old style linkage. Does anyone out there have any idea what it would cost to convert to the newer miniball linkage? I don't own the horn (it belongs to the local community college) but if the cost of the parts were reasonable I'd like to convert it as the valves are quite noisy due to wear and tear in the mechanism. Thanks for any input or advice. Jason Harris

[humphrey]

Rick Denney has a really good "do it yourself" article on his web site:

http://www.rickdenney.com/valve_linkages.htm

Good place to start if nothing else.

Best of luck.

Russ

[harrell]

I used Rick Denney's method on my old Rudy Meinl F tuba a few months ago. It worked well and was CHEAP! It was super easy.

[Rick Denney]

Hey folks- I've got a Miraphone 186 BBflat with the old style linkage. Does anyone out there have any idea what it would cost to convert to the newer miniball linkage?

Someone already posted the link to my how-to article.

Some special notes for Miraphone, however. Miraphone stop arms come in different varieties. If you have one with the slot in the middle for the S-linkage, then you can bolt the ball joint to the top of the stop arm. You can put a nut in the slot if necessary.

Miraphone geometry is a bit tight, so you will probably have to bend the arms after they are done. Mine have about a 15-degree bend about 3/4" from the stop-arm ball joint. I still had to carve away a bit of the plastic to ensure proper clearance. But it worked, and it's still working after 15 years or so.

My stop arms were a pain, because they used an intermediate ball-joint design (the terrible white plastic version). I used a brass spacer to put the ball joint out in front of the stop arm, and then soldered it in place after tightening the bolt. The regular S-link stop arms are easier.

If you just replace parts with Miraphone uniball stuff, the cost will be very high (hundreds). Using the Du-Bro ball joints as described in my web article, the cost will be under $20.

Rick "who can possible provide an image of the completed Miraphone linkage" Denney