Re: valve extensions or other remedies


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Posted by John Swensen on August 17, 2001 at 08:44:25:

In Reply to: valve extensions or other remedies posted by *lucky* on August 16, 2001 at 19:23:31:

My hands are not terribly small, but my fifth fingers are about an inch shorter than the rest, so the fourth valve is a little hard for me to reach on my PT-6P, especially when depressing the fifth valve. I have considered a making a modified fourth valve button (the threads are M4x0.7, by the way), but another possible solution is to move the thumb ring and fifth valve lever.

If you remove your thumb ring (I assume it just unscrews, like on the PT-6P), can you shift your hand down and towards the valves enough to reach the fourth valve? If this works for you, the mounting bracket for the thumb ring could be shifted slightly, and the thumb tab for the fifth valve could also be shifted down or, better yet, removed and replaced with an adjustable tab that clamps to the push rod.

If moving the thumb ring won't work, an offset valve button would be easy to try. Take some 1/8" brass (even plastic would work for experiments), about 1/2" wide, and as long as it needs to be to reach your fourth finger. The end of the button at the valve stem needs to be wide enough for the felt to bear against (this felt controls the valve alignment in the down position). Drill a hole to clear an M4x0.7 screw, attach to the stem, and play around with the angle and length until you find something comfortable. If you are happy with a configuration, make a pretty version in brass, have it lacquered or silver plated, and attach it with a nice, stainless-steel screw (a button-head, hex-socket screw would be my first choice). Save the old button in case you ever sell your horn.

The B&S valves are so picky about side forces that your valve will be sticking like crazy long before any abnormal valve wear occurs. In fact, I predict that you will have fewer sticking problems, because you will not be applying side forces as you try to stretch your finger to reach the valve.



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