Venting Valves

[Art Hovey]

It's very simple with pistons, but more tricky with rotary valves.
Whatever you do, try it on a junk horn first to get the feel of the job.

[Leland]

Pistons can be vented?

Yup -- you'd drill a hole in the piston where the valve's tubing meets it in the "open" position.

The venting comes from the piston's hollow construction, which would allow the valve tubing to vent through the piston wall and out the bottom & top of the piston.

[imperialbari]

I actually am pro venting ones pistons.

I vent my pistons every time I take them out and wipe them.

K

[Rick Denney]

I would like to vent my 4th valve. Is this a simple prcedure that my local brass repairmen can do? or is it more involved so as I need to take it to someplace like the Brassbow or Dillons? Thanks

It involves drilling a small hole in the piston. The best way is to have a jig that holds the piston firmly but gently under a drill press so that the hole can be bore with no chance of slippage. One slip and you get to buy a brand new piston.

The cost is not high. When I had the valves on my York Master vented, the cost for all four was a bit less than for one because of the jig setup time, and all four cost about $50 at Dillon Music.

I have not had the valves vented on the Holton because it doesn't seem to need it.

Valve venting is useful for instruments that require lots of slide movement for tuning, or for those that need slides to be pulled to empty them effectively.

Rick "thinking any competent local brass repairman should be able to vent valves" Denney