 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: mvjohnso
Date: 2012-02-28 21:18
I have a Buffet Festival and recently the auxiliary Ab/ Eb key broke. What happened was that the solder (glue?) broke in between the lever of the key and the metal tube that the screw rotates in. I have tried various fixes myself including soft soldering (complete waste of time) and brazing (used the music medic creamy silver paste but that failed to last as long as my soft soldering attempts. I know that by far the easiest way to fix it would be to send it to a repair shop, but I don't fly that way. I like repairing my own horns and have gotten quite good at it, and I'd rather not pay someone a ridiculous amount to just weld one key together (I just overhauled my clarinet myself). Also, I'm in New Orleans and despite being a music center there aren't any good repair people around so I would have to send my only clarinet away for a few weeks to fix an auxiliary key which i can do w/out (except for on the Debussy). Please let me know of nay suggestions as I don't care what it looks like as long as it works.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-02-28 21:40
Do you know any jewellers or jewellery makers in your area? They could probably do the job for you.
In order to silver solder it back together, you need to heat it up so it's glowing red in order for the silver solder to melt, so clean up the broken areas of both the key and the ley barrel, apply the correct flux to the join, jig or wire it together to hold it in place during soldering and use a fairly large gas flame to heat the joint, then apply the silver solder wire.
Use Easi-flo silver solder and flux which you should be able to buy from a jewellers and you should be able to get a good strong solder joint. But remove the plastic pin from the end by pulling it straight out before heating the key up so it doesn't melt.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2012-02-28 22:02
If you've previously tried to soft solder the key, all traces of the soft solder must be removed before you will get a good silver solder joint. You can do this by heating and wiping with a piece of chamois or cloth and the, remove the last traces with fine filing or steel wool.
Tony F.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2012-02-28 23:44
I was wondering....... if the parts need to be red hot to take in this process, doesn't that remove the plating and necessitate a replating as well?
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-02-29 01:34
It will usually damage the plating to some degree in most cases, but sometimes you can get lucky and the plating goes frosty (which can be burnished and polished bright again).
But do expect there to be plating damage when silver soldering is being done, so the key may need replating.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: mvjohnso
Date: 2012-03-01 01:30
I'm pretty sure I was retarded last time and tried to weld it with just the flux. Anyone try this product or one like it? If so, does it work?
And, to the concern about the plastic rod, that piece of sh*t broke off a few years ago and has sense been replaced w/ a metal one. And that key needs to be re-plated anyways.
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Author: mvjohnso
Date: 2012-03-01 07:17
Don't really like the way it's shaped, that combined with 6 years of me grabbing the lower joint like a caveman while taking it apart lead to its original demise.
Post Edited (2012-03-01 07:27)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2012-03-02 12:23
>> I'm pretty sure I was retarded last time and tried to weld it with just the flux. <<
It did sound strange when you wrote "used the music medic creamy silver paste".
Did you use the syringe with solder and flux paste: http://www.musicmedic.com/catalog/products/sold-f220.html
Or the flux: http://www.musicmedic.com/catalog/products/sold-f200.html
The first is supposed to be actual silver solder and flux, the second is only flux. I've never used the solder paste, but "soldering" using the flux paste only will not older anything.
Also, if you are going to silver solder you have to make sure you remove all traces of the previous sof solder, otherwise it is likely to be too weak. A good silver is how this parts are connected usually. You can see clarinets more than hudred years old and they have keys with no problems. It is rare but occasionally some silver soldering does fail for various reasons, but it really doesn't happen often. So if your silver soldering is good it shouldn't fail.
Post Edited (2012-03-02 13:58)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-03-02 12:48
Either the key broke due to a dry joint or there wasn't enough solder used. If you do leave traces of soft solder and then heat the metal up to red hot, the presence of soft solder will eat into the base metal at such high temperatures (in a similar way solvent eats into polystyrene).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: mvjohnso
Date: 2012-03-02 13:54
It was just the flux, I've never welded before and I didn't know that I was missing the actual solder. I ordered silver rod very recently and plan on using that. And I know that I need to remove the old solder (especially sense its a soft solder). Thank you for all the help.
edited: the soldering worked this time.
Post Edited (2012-03-04 03:03)
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