Problems removing the Spindle

[Sebastian Bravo]

Some days ago, i was playing in a Bar, and a guy shed a little of wine on my accordion, basically just in the middle of the keyboard. That situación got me crazy, and i was furious, and i stopped playing. Then, i went to my house, and tried to clean all visible wine marks.

Now, G4, A4 and B4 sounds like *shhhk shhhk* when i touch them. The sound is covered when i play loud. But playing quiet is very annoying. So i thought that the wine got into the spindle and caused the noise.

I tried to remove the spindle, pulling it while twisting (as accordion revival page says) but i couldn't. It was really tight. And the end of it broke. So now i can't pull it. I uploaded a photo.

I don't know what to do now, and the noise continues. Its getting me mad.

I hope someone can bring me help

 

[colinm]

These are possibilities, think about them before you do anything
1 Do nothing , the noises may go away as the keys dry out
2 Buy a magnifying glass and a torch, look between the offending keys, if you can see the spindle then buy a hypodermic syringe and inject a little thin oil
3 I assume there is no hole at the other end of the spindle, carefully make one, you will find the pointed end of the spindle, and you may be able to carefully tap the spindle out with a flat punch
You may need help from a craftsman
Buy a new spindle
Good luck


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[landro]

I`s be very careful when trying to tap out a stuck spindle . You don`t want to twist and force those keys to lock up against each other making a bad situation worse.
I`d be injecting a bit of WD40 between the keys in line with the rod , (as suggested above) letting it sit overnight and hope it frees up .You might not have to pull the rod after all.

 

[Soulsaver]

Always take the line of least invasive action first - avoid turning irritation into a disaster... removing the spindle can be one of the most difficult & risky jobs on accordion

So, as above, let it dry completely and see if the problem resolves.

Then come back for further advice and see what opinions you've got for best approach.

What make is the accordion?

 

[jozz]

find a good accordion tech, they have tricks to do this

I believe it involves heating up or electrifying the spindle, so it first expands, and then shrinks when cooling down

 

[Soulsaver]

find a good accordion tech, they have tricks to do this

I believe it involves heating up or electrifying the spindle, so it first expands, and then shrinks when cooling down

We know the tricks, too, and whether you take it to a tech or not, electrifying carries significant risks and would be a last resort. ... so you exhaust the stuff you can do yourself, first, with minimum risk.

Plus taking it to a tech may not be possible/desireable/affordable.

 

[Sebastian Bravo]

find a good accordion tech, they have tricks to do this

I believe it involves heating up or electrifying the spindle, so it first expands, and then shrinks when cooling down

I have read that on the internet, and, as SoulSaver says, its the last resort.

to everyone who says that i have to wait until it gets dry, it is dry. Its summer here, and i have played on +25ªC (I know that this is not good for the accordion, but, that high temperature would have dried the wine)

Im a Intermediate Accordion Technician, and this is the only thing that i have never done, removing the spindle.

I think i will try with the WD40 as Landro Says. I hope it works, but sadly, that old smell will be covered with the WD40, and i love that smell.

Thanks for all your replies! Ill be commenting later if the suggestions work

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

I have had good results where keys and levers get stuck, or slow moving by applying a small amount of Powdered Graphite to the affected area. It can be a little messy to apply but it is not a liquid and does not have a strong smell and the black dusty residue can be removed with a vacuum cleaner.

Good luck.

 

[jozz]

We know the tricks, too, and whether you take it to a tech or not, electrifying carries significant risks and would be a last resort. ... so you exhaust the stuff you can do yourself, first, with minimum risk.

Plus taking it to a tech may not be possible/desireable/affordable.

I see the logic in that, but I just wanted to say, if you do have access to a guy like that: I had the same issue, I actually made the same mistake by breaking the end of. So I was trying things myself in the end I took it to my tech. He sorted it in 10 minutes and didnt charge me. He actually had a (self-made?) device for it, because on older boxes its almost always stuck in some way. So I figured every restorer knows this trick.

 

[Sebastian Bravo]

We know the tricks, too, and whether you take it to a tech or not, electrifying carries significant risks and would be a last resort. ... so you exhaust the stuff you can do yourself, first, with minimum risk.

Plus taking it to a tech may not be possible/desireable/affordable.

I see the logic in that, but I just wanted to say, if you do have access to a guy like that: I had the same issue, I actually made the same mistake by breaking the end of. So I was trying things myself in the end I took it to my tech. He sorted it in 10 minutes and didnt charge me. He actually had a (self-made?) device for it, because on older boxes its almost always stuck in some way. So I figured every restorer knows this trick.

How lucky! But in my country, that isnt an option. Because im a friend of the best technician here and he doesnt own that device.

I did the WD40 solution and it worked! Thanks to everyone!

 

[Soulsaver]

Congratulations. I hope it didn't affect that vintage smell too much.
Good luck.

 

[debra]

...
I did the WD40 solution and it worked! Thanks to everyone!

Glad to hear that worked!
Dont forget to remove any excess lubricant before putting everything back together.
Accordions do not like any type of oil because as others have said it makes dust stick to it and in the end makes things worse.

 

[Sebastian Bravo]

Dont forget to remove any excess lubricant before putting everything back together.

i cant remove the keyboard, so i used the WD40s long red tube to apply the oil. Removing the cover and the registers i had better access to apply it., but i cant remove the excess. i hope it doesnt cause any problems with dust in the future.

 

[kimric]

I have done the trick with the battery at my shop at least a dozen times over the years. It helps if you have stripped down a couple of old instruments for parts so you have an idea what is under the keys before trying it.

I would not use WD 40 as it thickens up as it ages pretty quickly , if you must use oil get the stuff for sewing machines as it won't gum up so fast.
It is pretty hard to get the oil to where you want since you almost never have a line of sight to the problem.

In the case of liquids getting in the keyboard , drying it out fast is really important. Setting up a fan to blow air over it as soon as you can is a good way to dry it out with minimum trauma.