 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: knotty
Date: 2015-06-09 18:45
For clarinet padding work, wondering what kind of butane refillable mini or pencil type torches your using. There are brand names like Bernzomatic and Lenk and many more no names from China.
Thanks!
~ Musical Progress: None ~
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2015-06-09 20:07
I use one I got from West Marine (so far as I know, they are not yet international). It is an Ancor Micro Jet and uses a refillable butane lighter for its fuel supply. It produces a pin-point flame about 1 cm long. I have found it very useful. Since West Marine started in Gilroy, I'm pretty sure they have a store in San Francisco. I expect it is available through other outlets, as well.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-06-09 22:53
A butane flame seems rather severe for padding work.
I (and most repairers I know)_use a simple alcohol lamp with open flame that can be adjusted by varying the amount of exposed wick and that works fine for me.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2015-06-09 23:33
I'm with Norman on this one - I use a homemade alcohol lamp.
Be extremely careful with a butane torch, they're very hot - one tiny slip and you have a problem.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: KenJarczyk
Date: 2015-06-10 01:09
Alcohol lamp and and old Eric Brand blow-tube for me.
Ken Jarczyk
Woodwinds Specialist
Eb, C, Bb, A & Bass Clarinets
Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxophones
Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo
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Author: bill28099
Date: 2015-06-10 01:32
I use some #12 gauge solid copper wire in a Weller soldering gun, shape the copper as you wish. Flame around an old wood horn doesn't bother me but flame around my Buffet Prestige bass to C sure does.
A great teacher gives you answers to questions
you don't even know you should ask.
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Author: knotty
Date: 2015-06-10 01:32
Thanks BartHx and guys for the heads up on butane torches. When I have all the keys off for repadding, I use the alcohol lamp exclusively, have been doing it that way. But when floating or adjusting pads on the instrument, I use the butane. Perhaps I should describe what I do. First the flame is adjusted very low, perhaps 3/8" in length. Next I always approach the pad cup from a very low angle, almost parallel to the cup and play the very narrow flame just touching the cup. Butane being so hot, it takes only a few seconds to soften the pad glue.
Addition: I forgot to mention, I also have a few various shaped pieces of sheet metal to protect the body around the area I'm working with the flame just in case.
I just thought I'd see what others are using in the way of butane torch brands because mine broke and have to get another one.
~ Musical Progress: None ~
Post Edited (2015-06-10 02:03)
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Author: knotty
Date: 2015-06-10 01:36
Thanks bill28099, I think we both posted at the same time. Yes, my other alternative to the alcohol lamp is a soldering iron, a very small one where I ground the tip to have a flat surface to have a wider area for faster heat transfer.
~ Musical Progress: None ~
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Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2015-06-10 02:41
I use butane torches in my shop, but not to pads clarinets. I use an alcohol lamp. Acetylene or natural gas are probably more common. I also use a soldering gun.
Steve Ocone
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2015-06-10 02:49
Seems to me I've seen more Bunsen burners than alcohol lamps in the shops I've used. But I think they use natural gas, which requires a supply. Does NG burn less hot than Butane?
Karl
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Author: 4accord
Date: 2015-06-10 04:09
I've been using a small propane torch - the kind with the small cylinders you can buy very inexpensively - and a screw-on nozzle I've had for eons. It has worked great for pads on and off the clarinet (or wooden flute), BUT I am always super careful around the wood. I watch the flame height, the time in seconds, and the angle of the heat, and I always protect the wood with some folded aluminum foil - which offers some but not great protection. Have never had a burn or scorch, but I have burned the edges of a couple of pads. I have also fried some glue, which creates a really nasty clean-up problem not unlike what can happen to a caked-on frying pan. I have started to use an inexpensive soldering pencil most of the time now, because I can be so much more precise with a lot less risk, and usually am just trying to soften the adhesive for minor repositioning of the pads. I think a risk with soldering pencils can be scratching the pad cup, so I try be very careful about that. When the keys are off the instrument, however, I feel totally comfortable to continue with my propane.
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Author: GLHopkins
Date: 2015-06-10 05:20
I've been in the band instrument repair business for over 35 years. I've used all sorts of torches, but I've never had a alcohol lamp. The string tech that works in my shop uses one. My current torch of choice is the Blazer ES1000 with the angle head. I've been using them since the late 90s...............That being said, I'd never suggest that type of torch for amateurs. You can screw up in a hurry if you're not careful.
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2015-06-10 06:14
OK, since he asked about butane torches, that is the question I answered. When I am doing a repad at the bench, I use a heat gun on its lowest setting. That gives me enough time to remount the key and float the pad before the hot glue I use solidifies. However, that will not fit in my emergency kit. With the community band in which I play, I have been known to make repairs for someone during a concert intermission. I have also reset a loose pad between numbers. For that, careful work with the butane torch works great. We are in the California foothills and it is a long way to a competent repair shop. We do have a shop not far away, but I have, literally, never seen an instrument that was playable when they finished with it. The result is that people tend to keep playing until something breaks and then I hear about it. I think the extreme was one clarinetist who was proud that her clarinet had not been in the shop in 26 years (of course, by then, she was the only one able to play it until she let me overhaul it). I carry a back-up clarinet and it gets used, but I have never had to use it myself. With a selection of barrels to match their mouthpieces for intonation, I have convinced several people that a Centered Tone is a pretty nice instrument.
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Author: Jim22
Date: 2015-06-10 06:32
Soldering iron is interesting. What wattage? What type of tip? Is the tip modified at all?
Jim C.
CT, USA
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2015-06-10 13:06
When I'm working at the bench with keys that are off the instrument I usually use a spirit lamp, but when working with pads on the instrument or when away from the bench I generally use a common bic lighter. I think that butane torches are too hot for pad repair work. I find I can get better control of where and how much of the heat goes this way. I use butane torches for soldering, annealing.
I can relate to BartHx's experience, I recently repadded a B & H Edgware that hadn't seen a repair shop for decades. The owner said he had to completely re-learn breath control when I gave it back.
Tony F.
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Author: knotty
Date: 2015-06-10 18:36
Jim wrote: "Soldering iron is interesting. What wattage? What type of tip? Is the tip modified at all?"
I use a 42 watt iron. It had a pencil type point which I ground a flat surface for more contact area.
On nickel keys, it hasn't scratched but wouldn't use it on silver. One thing to be careful of is, the pad cup tops are very slippery so the iron can easily slip off and touch the body. Requires a steady hand.
I agree the butane torches are very hot, just takes perhaps 3-4 seconds to melt pad glue. Easy does it is the word.
~ Musical Progress: None ~
Post Edited (2015-06-10 18:37)
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Author: MichaelW
Date: 2015-06-10 18:42
Attachment: Brennblech.jpg (8k)
Those small butane torches have two advantages over normal gas lighters: they don't produce grime , and the flame is narrower and so can be aimed more exactly. "In situ" I never use a flame without a piece of stainless sheet, adequately shaped, between wood and cup which also serves for fine positioning of the pad. Aluminum foil to my opinion wouldn't serve any of these purposes.I recommend Harald Hüyng's illustrated "Polsteranleitung": http://www.hueyng.de/index.php?id=24%5Burl%5D%5B/url%5D from which I've taken the foto (hoping he wouldn't have objections).
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2015-06-10 19:47
Tony F:
The torch I was trying to describe uses a Bic lighter as its fuel source. The housing adds a nozzle that increases the velocity of the gas from the lighter and provides better mixing with oxygen. The result is a flame that is somewhat hotter than would be provided by the lighter alone. It produces a perfectly conical flame that is about 2 mm in diameter at the base and <1 cm in length. In addition, it has enough velocity that it is not effected by local air currents. With a steady hand, it can be played ACROSS the back of the cup without getting near the pad or instrument body. I will not use it on a cup that is in a position that might require me to angle the flame even slightly toward the pad or body of the instrument.
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Author: bill28099
Date: 2015-06-10 20:11
I use an old Weller 100/140 watt soldering gun. For a tip I use #12 gauge solid copper wire which has been shaped to my liking for the cups being heated. I don't use the tips that can be purchased for such a gun, they are too small even if filed flat, besides that copper wire is cheap as compared to soldering gun tips.
A great teacher gives you answers to questions
you don't even know you should ask.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2015-06-11 09:51
I have five gas torches, a weller soldering gun, a soldering iron, but for repadding clarinets I mostly use an alcohol lamp and a smaller electric heater.
It doesn't really matter what you use as long as it works and doesn't damage anything. I've never needed "protection" to the body. The worst that ever happened was damage to the new pad and this was so rare anyway.
Someone mentioned being bothered by a flame around their low C Buffet bass clarinet. It is actually less risky to use a flame on a bigger clarinet, but I've used a flame on a plastic Eb clarinet with no problems at all too.
I would avoid a cheap no name torch. I'm sure many have them and they work fine, but I've heard of too many problems with them, and suddenly not working were the least of them (they can be dangerous).
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Author: cyclopathic
Date: 2015-06-15 08:31
Norman Smale wrote:
> A butane flame seems rather severe for padding work.
> I (and most repairers I know)_use a simple alcohol lamp with open flame
> that can be adjusted by varying the amount of exposed wick and that works
> fine for me.
Works great for sax pads, esp for bigger tenor size. Pen-torch should be small for clarinet pads.
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