My "New" Toy!

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bigbob
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by bigbob »

Thank You for the pics and helping me understand all your processes a great job!!...BB
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Progress! New life has been breathed into this project! The third knuckle that got broken off was kind of the deal breaker for this horn. I didn't really want to do much until I got that soldered back on successfully. Today I went over to my tech's shop and after a failed first attempt, we got it soldered on! (The hard silver solder didn't want to take, but the lower temp stuff worked great)

Here are some shots of it in the jig we made up to hold it in place:

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Here is the finished product!

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The join is very solid, we pressed and jiggled and pulled on it a lot more than it would be subject to once I get it put back together, so we're quite confident it will hold up. Like I said, this was a deal breaker. After the first failed attempt I was pretty bummed, thinking that this was all for nothing, but now I've got a renewed vigor for the project!

I also decided to take off the silver via buffing. I've got the two smallest branches done so far:

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It's hard to tell with the sunlight, but that is brass, not silver.

With my wife and kids out of town for a week, I should be able to get this all down to brass by the time they get back.
The last thing will be to get the slides all pulled and I can start getting it put back together, then it's leadpipe time! (I held off ordering one of those because of the knuckle situation as well. No point in putting a leadpipe on an unplayable tuba!)

As always, questions and comments are welcome!
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Any thoughts, methods, suggestions for straightening the bell ring out? It is a steel ring inside correct? Has anyone messed with straightening these out?

Thanks!
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Do you let the offending section hang over the edge and then tap on it? With the rest of the bell on the table?

With mine, the bent sections are actually bent up, higher than the rest of the bell ring, so maybe put the whole thing on a table and tap them back down?

Or is this a lot of trial and error until I get the hang of it? Thanks!
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Thanks! I'll give that a try tonight in between buffing sessions!
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

I used my piano bench and a rawhide mallet and was quite pleased with how the bell turned out! I'll get some pictures up later today perhaps, but things are moving along pretty well on this project! Next thing is to pull the slides, which might get done this weekend. Thanks for all the help and tips along the way!
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

What you explained seems to match what I tried last night, so that's a relief! For doing it on my own, without any help beyond the advice given here, I'd say it turned out pretty good!

Does it ever come to using pliers? I've got a few spots on the rim that are creased almost into a V.
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

KiltieTuba wrote:
Tubajug wrote:What you explained seems to match what I tried last night, so that's a relief! For doing it on my own, without any help beyond the advice given here, I'd say it turned out pretty good!

Does it ever come to using pliers? I've got a few spots on the rim that are creased almost into a V.
What's your tech say?
He hasn't seen it since I tried the hammer and table method. He had described that to me as well, so I'll see if he has any thoughts now that I've got pretty straight except for those little "V's."
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

I'll snap some photos tonight when I get home. Thanks for all the help (as always!).
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Here are the latest pics:

After buffing, some parts went down to bare brass without any issues. Others, the silver was much more stubborn. I decided to leave it "two toned." I think it looks cool.

Image

Here are a few shots of the bell rim:

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Image

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Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Freedom! That's what my inner slides are saying anyway. My tech showed me how to use the brass plugs and a vise to free slides and he let me go to town and do all the soldering and pulling. He was right when he told me that it's almost laughable how easily they come out when you get to this stage of pulling slides. One of the last ones loosened up simply by the weight of my hand on the vise grips, I didn't even put any pressure on it!

So now I am ready to start final cleaning and prepping to get this soldered back together! If you haven't seen my ad in the For Sale section, I'm looking to get a replacement valve button, maybe all three.

Here are the newly liberated slides and their former captors:

Image

After that comes leadpipe and receiver, and I might have a playable tuba by the end of the school year!
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Well, I believe I have all the joints prepped for soldering. You guys that do this for a living sure are ambitious! (though how often do you take a tuba COMPLETELY apart? I'm curious). I think I'll give it all one more bath before starting to solder it back together.

I bought some copper tubing to experiment with as a leadpipe before buying the real thing.

My tech recommended using wire to hold the whole thing together before beginning soldering. Being an amateur, would it be ok if I wired together and soldered the bugle and valve section separately then connected them? I'm just imagining the whole thing doing a lot of shifting, even with the wire, while I try to solder all the little nooks and crannys.
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Let the soldering begin! I started with the open bugle the other night and I got this far. I want to clean all the valves and tubing one more time before I get the valve section put back together. Again, kudos to you techs who do this for a living. This is some labor intensive stuff...

Image
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

Small update: I just pieced it together (the only thing that is soldered is the bugle like last time) but it's starting to look like a tuba again!

Image
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Lectron
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Lectron »

Starting to look like a tuba again :-)
Melton 200 -=- Melton 2141 -=- Cerveny 883 Opera -=- Besson 992 -=- MPCs: 3pcs steel (Sellmansberger/Parker)
bestprice
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by bestprice »

It would look fun in the garden.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

bestprice wrote:It would look fun in the garden.
Ha! I hope it doesn't come to that! I'd rather play it!
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

I started wiring it together to begin soldering (if I ever get the time to sit down for a few hours to do it!). I have a generic brace I have to cut to fit under the third valve tubing. Still trying to get this done for Tuba Christmas!

Image
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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Tubajug
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by Tubajug »

I thought about starting a new thread, but wanted to post it here for record-keeping's sake.

I finished wiring and soldering my horn back together (my soldering is getting better, but it's still messy in places). So now all I have left to do is bend the new leadpipe and solder that along with the new receiver and BINGO! I'll have this thing done!

My question is this: How much difference should I have between the inner diameter of the tube receiving the leadpipe and the outer diameter of the leadpipe itself? My calipers say that the inner diameter of the tube into which the leadpipe will go is 0.620."

Should I cut my leadpipe where it measures exactly 0.620?" Or how much smaller would be too small and leave too big of a gap?

Thanks! I'll post some (not so pretty, but progress!) pictures sometime soon.
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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opus37
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Re: My "New" Toy!

Post by opus37 »

I like your project. Lee Stofer says placement of braces is important to tone quality. I don't know how the old braces placed, but they need to be at the tonally nodes. you may want to send a note to Lee to see if he can add any expertise to brace placement.
Brian
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