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As reported earlier I had major problems with the fit (the threading) of the top valve caps of my highly appreciated Wisemann 900. Then I discovered, that the bottom caps work a lot easier, when used as tops caps. Yesterday I received an extra set of bottom caps from Wisemann through the European dealer JS Musique at Lyon (France), FREE OF CHARGE. Now I use bottom caps on top and bottom; problem solved to my satisfaction.
Hubert

The oil just get on 1 side of piston?

To answer Bloke:
1. I do not experience any problem with the lack of a riser under the finger button. (Perhaps because the bottom caps are not totally flat, but have a little rounded "bubble" at the outside).
2. Indeed, I added an extra layer of (hard) felt (ca. 1 mm) on top of the pistons.
As far as I can see, feel and hear, this works well. Removing and replacing the buttons is very fast and secure now.
The holes in the bottom caps are a tiny bit smaller than those in the top caps. When playing very fast notes I sometimes can hear a sense of whistling around the stems of the buttons, but I do not experience it as disturbing. And even with these somewhat smaller buttonholes the valves are fast as lightning.

Excellent idea, your revolutionary oiling facility!!

Hubert

bloke wrote:...so I carefully measured and drilled c. 3mm holes on the player's side of each of the caps really close to the interior casing walls. A needle oiler sends valve oil down the casing walls without unscrewing the caps.

This seems like such obvious good sense that I keep thinking there has to be a reason tubas aren't made like this. What could go wrong down the road?

Rotary valves benefit even more from having an oiling hole drilled through the bearing plate. A simple operation.

I can't remember the company, but one rotary valve maker machined a spiral channel down the length of the spindle. It was simple to put a drop of oil there and have it flow the entire length. The spiral did not interfer at all with the rotation of the spindle. Now I remember: Here is its. But in this version it is a bit more complex than the simple spiral channel.

http://jm-gmbh.de/html/e_meinlschmidt_l ... ns_sy.html" target="_blank

bloke wrote:

Michael Bush wrote:

bloke wrote:...so I carefully measured and drilled c. 3mm holes on the player's side of each of the caps really close to the interior casing walls. A needle oiler sends valve oil down the casing walls without unscrewing the caps.

This seems like such obvious good sense that I keep thinking there has to be a reason tubas aren't made like this. What could go wrong down the road?

worms...??

I got the needle oiler, but I'm going to wait a bit to drill the holes (or have you drill them), as my mind is about 80% made up to sell the Nirschl and climb back down the ladder to a tuba more in proportion to my actual playing. So I don't want to freak out potential buyers. But whatever is next (or the Nirschl if I keep it) is getting holes in the caps.

Oh I don't know, maybe the syringe of oil kind of freaks people out a bit?

bort wrote:Oh I don't know, maybe the syringe of oil kind of freaks people out a bit?

Why? I get why holes in the top caps would. Bloke's picture freaked me out a bit at first. But the oiler?

bloke wrote:

bort wrote:Oh I don't know, maybe the syringe of oil kind of freaks people out a bit?

...says the guy with the rotary valve tuba.

Whatever, my tuba was oiled at the factory.

But really, I think a syringe of oil is just going to seem strange to some people, and in terms of mass appeal, using a little plastic bottle is unsurprisingly much more approachable. Either that, or I spent too many years living in needle-drug cities. It's like I'm shooting up my tuba with oil so it can get its fix for the day. You do NOT want to run into a dope-sick... er... oil-sick tuba.