Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info

End-of-Year Fundraising Drive In Progress. Please visit our home page to see this and other announcements: https://www.mmdigest.com     Thank you. --Jody

MMD > Archives > January 2009 > 2009.01.05 > 10Prev  Next


Removing Bellows Fabric
By Johan Liljencrants

In addition to the several recent cautious recommendations I would
hint at a more brutal one, namely to dunk the bellows for a minute
or two in 40-50 degrees centigrade water to soften the glue.  This
presumes hot hide glue was used, otherwise you will have to spend much
more time using only heat and scraping.  Of course water treatment
should be completed fairly quickly to avoid notable swelling of the
wood.  Apart from being much faster this method usually leaves at
least as good surface finish as does dry work.

With smaller items, perhaps up to motors in the 1-foot range, once
you have removed accessories like cloth hold-down sticks, just drown
the whole thing.  With bigger reservoirs, etc., you should first tear
away the fabric or leather by hand and pry out any tacks holding
hinges and the like, and perhaps also break the bellows down into
parts like lids and ribs.

Once the glue has softened it is easy to mildly scrape it away together
with debris, then finish with a sponge.  Towel the components and let
dry to the next day.  The water treatment can make the wood surface a
little raw from rising fibers, calling for a light hand sanding.  The
surface will still contain some glue that is good base for gluing the
new material; there is no merit to sand it perfectly smooth.

Johan Liljencrants
Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.fonema.se/ 


(Message sent Mon 5 Jan 2009, 12:23:31 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

Key Words in Subject:  Bellows, Fabric, Removing

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page