Hello all,  Here is another one for all you orchestrion building
experts.  For my O-roll machine (to be), I am using an old Standard
player action sustain pneumatic, you know, the big one with a primary
and two secondary valves.  I have put new pouches in the thing, etc.,
and the valves work fast and snappy.

However, the pneumatic is just too slow in operation somehow.  It takes
too long to close and even longer to open.  Even when operated by hand,
one can hear the air struggling to get in and out of the pneumatic.
When I detach it from the valve box, this becomes a lot better and my
conclusion here is that these valves are just not sufficient to drive
this pneumatic quickly.

Also, the pneumatic has to open and close completely to make the
sustain work properly as it has a very short lever attached.  On some
passages it only ever makes it about halfway before the perforation in
the roll is done and then there is no clear sustain effect.  On others,
it does not open fully before the next perforation comes along.

Is there any known way to speed things up? How about increasing the
secondary valve gap?  Currently they are just about 37 mils.  Any
advice will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Bernt Damm
Cape Town