Tag Archives: texas hill country

Solar Powered Rainwater Project – The Chinese Connection

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It’s been a while since I reported on the Solar Powered Rainwater Project. Since that early-April post, I’ve been gathering the rest of the parts, and we took our annual trip to the Red Power Roundup — this year at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. The biggest part of the delay was waiting for the inverter/charge controller. I wasn’t thrilled with the delivery delay on the device, but it turned out well in the end.

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Weber Piano Action Rebuild – On to the Wippens!

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Another trip to Bernard’s piano shop and another list of tasks. I installed most of the rocker capstans (#2 in the diagram above) with the new square-drive screws at home, and used a little wax softened with mineral spirits to avoid … Continue reading →

Weber Piano Action Rebuild – Keyframe with Refurbished Keys

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I’ve been making progress on the Weber Project, but with a trip to New Mexico and various Spring activities, the pace has lagged. We’re back on track though. I mentioned in the last post that more work was needed on the bushings — they were too tight for the keys to move freely in the keyframe.

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Solar Powered Rainwater Project – Solar Panels Installed!

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The new 250-watt solar panels arrived very quickly. I was eager to install them, but they were just a bit larger than I could handle safely on the garden shed roof. Fortunately, I didn’t have too wait long, and my neighbor Jason was available a few days later.

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Weber Piano Project – Keyframe Cleanup

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With key bushings installed, it was back to the piano shop. In order to test the work, we would need to try a few keys in the keyframe and see they fit. First though, a little cleanup was in order. … Continue reading →

Weber Piano Project – New Bushings!

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So far, we’ve removed the action from the piano, disassembled, and cleaned it. There’s a surprising amount of effort involved in just those steps, and it was great to finally make progress in the rebuild. Make no mistake, the disassembly and … Continue reading →

Weber Action Rebuild – Key Cleaning Update

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In my last post, I listed the various tasks to finish key restoration. During the week, I was able to get the remaining tools to install bushings. These include a brush to apply hide glue, a small painting knife to … Continue reading →

Weber Action Rebuild – Removing Bushings and Cleaning

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After bringing the piano keys home from Bernard’s shop last week, I was hoping to remove the key bushings and clean the wooden, ebony and ivory parts. To remove the bushings, I rigged up an old travel-sized clothes steamer and … Continue reading →

Weber Grand Piano Action – Teardown

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After months of discussion and planning, we were ready to rebuild the action in the Weber grand piano. I had moved the action to Bernard Mollberg’s shop near Blanco, Texas the previous week, and was looking forward to starting. Arriving at the … Continue reading →