Re: Valve Alignment


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Posted by Jim Tyler on September 19, 2000 at 03:11:44:

In Reply to: Valve Alignment posted by Anonymous on September 18, 2000 at 11:54:07:

This method will sound complicated, but it is really simple, and it works! It will also work on other valve instruments that are too small for mirrors. Take a piece of coat hanger wire (5 or 6in), bend the tip at a sharp 90 degree angle (not a gentle curve), and file off most of the resulting bent part until you just have a remnant of a hook. Remove the piston, slide the hook up into the valve cylinder and hook the opening that goes to the next valve (or lead pipe, or out to the bell, but not loop of tubing) Wrap a piece of plastic electrical tape around the wire exactly at the bottom of the cylinder. Take the wire out and measure from the hook to the tape. Use something accurate like a machinist's 6in metal rule, or a vernier or dial caliper. Now take the same measurement from the bottom of the piston to the bottom of the hole that aligns with the hole in the cylinder when the piston is up. Use the same tool for repeat accuracy. (while you are here take the same measurment to the piston hole that lines up when the piston is down and set it aside) Subtract the piston measurment from the cylinder measurement, replace the piston in the cylinder, leave it at the top of its stroke, place the rule in the bottom against the piston and the reading at the base of the cylinder should be the same as the result of the subtraction. Now subtract the set aside reading from the cylinder reading, push the valve down, put the rule in the bottom, and you have the alignment both at the top and bottom of the stroke. Hope this helps,
Jim Tyler


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