To remind you, I have been taking my Ampico, Duo-Art, and Welte pump
motors to a very large, old motor shop in East St. Louis, Illinois.
They charge from $140.00 to $649.00 to do what is needed on them.
I have, for some time, wondered why the huge variety in prices.
I found out yesterday.

I took two Ampico B drawer roll motors to Bradford Electric, across
the Mighty Mississippi River from St. Louis.  I spoke to the guy who
does the bigger rotary pump motors.  (He will also do the roll drive
AC-DC motors).

He pulled the bearing off the shelf that he had replaced from one of the
most expensive piano motor rebuilds they did.  He said that no one makes
such bearings any more, which I knew very well.

However, I did not know how complex the bearing is.  It is 7/8" O.D.
[outside diameter] with about 1/2" shaft hole.  But it also has 10 other
holes as well as a complex maze of channels inside the shaft hole
connecting all the holes.  It also has a milling on each side that makes
it the shape of an hourglass from a side view.  They had to fabricate
this item from 1" bronze rod.

He showed me another one from our piano motors that was slightly less
complex, but I was still impressed with their machine shop abilities.
They also had to weld in more metal and turn down the shaft to bring
everything back to factory specs in that motor.

I may not like paying the bill on the expensive motor rebuilds, but I do
like knowing that the job is being done correctly.  I am always
comfortable paying for good work well done.  I also know this won't be
needed for another 70 years...if the motor packing is kept oiled every
few years.

I have the complex bearing and will photograph it.  I will send it to
Robbie to put it up on MMD photos when I get the photos back.

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis

 [ D. L. has written several MMD articles on this subject; see
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Authors/Aut841.html
 [ -- Robbie