Week 3- Key Adjustment and Alignment

Key Adjustment and Alignment

The week focuses on the lateral play and end play in key mechanisms.  We looked at hinge rod set ups as well as Pivot screw set ups.  Going in depth into the differences between point style pivot screws and pilot style pivot screws, I was able to deduce what necessary steps needed to be made in order to have a key fall by its own weight, and articulate cleanly.

Here I am using the swedging pliers on the E/B lever.  Focus was placed on making sure the hinge rod was all the way through the hinge tube.  While the swedging pliers are useful when there are parts between a spring hook and key arm that can be reached, I found the Collet tool to be a much more useful swedging method.

I found it much more effective to swedge in this fashion.  I was able to tighten the diameter of the hinge tube, which also lengthened the tube, eliminating the end play in my key.  As a final step, I used a hinge tube shortener to remove just a small amount of the tube for a perfect fit between the posts.