Poll: Hard case clothes stuffing...

[Rick Denney]

I'm contemplating an attempt to effect a better repair - "expansive urethane" and "fiberglass resin" have both been suggested to me. But those might require a trip to Home Depot and actual time and effort on my part. I suppose I could practice on my newspaper re-cycling basket (which has many similar cracks in it). Advice and instructions welcome...

I've owed you an email for a while, and this brought it back to my mind.

Before knowing how to repair the case, you need to figure out what kind of plastic it is. My guess would be rigid PVC. If that's the case, then PVC pipe adhesive (which is a solvent adhesive) and some pieces of PVC will make a strong repair. But if it's polypropylene or polyethylene or ABS, then that solvent glue won't be a solvent and it won't work. ABS can also be repaired with solvent glue. Solvent glues create what is in effect a weld, and that's the preferred approach if the case is made from the correct plastic.

Polypropylene and polyethylene cannot be dissolved by any substance you can buy, and they are both waxy plastics that prevent good adhesion. The only way to make a really good repair is by using heat welding. That can be done with a good-size soldering iron and some similar plastic as a filler material, but you'll have to be careful not to ruin the inner materials.

A patch that is epoxied and then riveted in place would be second-best to welding by solvent or heat. But even epoxy won't stick to polyethylene very well.

Fiberglass resin is usually polyester. It's the wrong stuff and it won't stick--don't do it. If the plastic is not waxy, epoxy might stick to it well enough and then the fiberglass matting will help reinforce the patch. I'd probably prefer a solid piece of plastic as an overlay patch, though.

Repairing plastic isn't that hard if you know what kind of plastic it is, but if you don't, any given repair method might not work.

If you do patch over the cracks, drill a 1/4" hole at the end of each crack to prevent the crack from growing.

Rick "strong, pretty: pick one" Denney

[anor09]

I wish I could change my answer from 100% no damage.

My orchestra just got back from our tour of Italy/Switzerland, one that for me did not start out on a good note. I landed in Rome in a good mood, until I saw my horn from across the room and could already see the damage to my case. I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but I believe in transfer to the flight to Rome in Atlanta, the case was dropped several feet bell-up . The problem had nothing to do with my packing the bell with a big blanket, or filling any extra space with (at the time, clean) clothes; the problem ended up being that TSA opened my case and decided to leave the internal strap surrounding my horn very loose, giving it room to bounce around and put two large creases at the top of the bell. I really wish I had been able to watch them open it and yell at them when they tried to close it without tightening the strap back up, but being with a large group, we didn't have time to wait for me.

In Rome, yelling at the woman at the counter who didn't speak a word of English didn't help my frustration either. That's where tour-guides fluent in Italian come in handy. Anyway, they tried to tell me they could only pay for external damage to the case, that no damage to the horn itself was their fault.

Moral of the story is, avoid flying through big airports like JFK or Atlanta, buy your tuba a seat on the plane, and make sure you have access to a "chill-pill".

[Norm Pearson]

The problem had nothing to do with my packing the bell with a big blanket, or filling any extra space with (at the time, clean) clothes

I'm sorry to inform you but the cloths and blankets packed with your tuba may have contributed to the damage. While the material is soft it will do nothing to absorb shock and may actually transfer some of the shock to the instrument. The only thing I add to my hard case is a partially inflated beach ball in the bell (or a ball of bubble wrap) and a layer of bubble wrap around the tuba. Then I stuff as much bubble wrap as I can around the tuba then I make sure the TSA folks close the case before I leave for the gate.

My tubas have sustained damage when I laid them in the cases unprotected or when I packed clothing around them ( I did that once 30 years ago and sustained major damage). I have never had damage done to my tubas when I have packed them properly. There is no guarantee but if you use shock absorbing materials when packing your tuba you will increase the odds that it will arrive at the destination without damage.

Norm Pearson

[anor09]

I'm sorry to inform you but the cloths and blankets packed with your tuba may have contributed to the damage. While the material is soft it will do nothing to absorb shock and may actually transfer some of the shock to the instrument.

I could be wrong, but would it depend on how the case is dropped? For me, I'm quite sure that it was dropped bell up (because the other end was crushed) and so yes, the shock probably had no where to go once it hit the blanket and so that's why the dents ended up where they did. However, had it been dropped on the bell, would the blanket have prevented the shock from causing any damage?