Keyboard Pins

Pins 0.096 inch in diameter (from the Instrument Workshop) are tapped into holes in the balance rail and rear rail of the keyframe. The pins allow the keys to move up and down without sideways play. The holes for the pins are drilled using a 3/32 inch bit, which is slightly smaller than the pin itself to give a tight fit. I used a hand drill with a small block of oak pre-drilled to serve as a guide. To drill the holes, the keyboard is fixed to the keyframe using a few brads. The plan drawing shows where the holes are placed on the balance rail and the keyboard and keyframe are aligned before being temporarily attached. The picture below shows the holes for the balance rail after being drilled. Below the keyboard can be seen the balance rail, its bevel, and the alignment lines.

Another series of holes are drilled through the keyboard and into the back rail in a similar manner.  The following picture shows the scraps of wood placed under the keyboard to provide more stiffness when the holes are drilled.

Next step is to remove the keyboard, insert the pins into the keyframe, install some paper spacers around the balance pins and some felt on the back rail to silence the keys when the fall.

The next two figures show the block of oak 7/8 in. thick used as a guide to hammer in the balance rail pins and the complete key frame. 

The Keyboard Arcades

Arcades, a series of circular arches, are a traditional decoration on the front edge of the natural keys.  The arcades are easily made from one piece of trim attached to the keyboard plank before the keys are sawed apart.  The work starts with a piece of red oak stock purchased from Lowe's, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inch wide and 4 ft long.  One edge is verified or made straight and a parallel line is drawn 1/2 inch in from the edge.  This line marks what will be the bottom edge of the trim piece and the center-line of the circular holes to be drilled.  Lines perpendicular to the edge are drawn using the keyboard natural keys as a guide to match the spacing of the natural keys.  A series of holes are drilled using 5/8 inch and 3/8 inch Forstner bits.  A final hole is drilled using a 1/8 inch brad point bit to clean up the guide hole left from the Forstner bits.  The picture below shows three finished hole patterns after having been drilled with the final 1/8 inch bit.  The other hole patterns on the left show the small guide holes remaining to be drilled.

The piece is rough cut parallel to the edge slightly more than 1/2 inch in from the edge, just below the centers of the holes.  I chose to use a good hand held jig saw and blue painter's tape as a guide.  With a plane, the rough cut is made straight and parallel to the top edge.  The picture below shows the piece placed along the keyboard's front edge after planing.

The trim is glued to the front edge of the keyboard.  My mentor uses good ol' duct tape to clamp the piece.  My keyboard developed a slight warp after it was made, so several clamps and a spreader piece of scrap oak were used to hold it flat.  Some plastic was placed under the front of the keyboard to keep things from getting stuck to the work surface.  After applying glue to the back of the trim, the piece was clamped to the front edge of the keyboard.  The next picture shows the clamped arrangement.  (Notice at the left of the picture an experiment in using poplar to make the arcades.  The wood was found to be too soft to keep from tearing out when drilled with the Forstner bits.  Where have I heard that would happen?!).