Anatomy of a WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ
Valves.
In preparation for most other things remaining I took time out to prepare new
valve disks for everything else. I chose to buy new fiber disks instead of cleaning off
the old disks as I went. The new disks are probably stiffer and flatter than the originals
and it saves the time and effort in cleaning them off. The problem with the new disks
is that, for some reason, they either come with a center hole which is too small for the
valve stems or unnecessarily large and too sloppy. I bought the small holes and drilled
them all (2000) out to the correct size before applying the leather.
Most valves are 5/8" and almost all the others, which are generally for the percussions, are 1".
The shutter valves are much larger but they will come later.
I did try glueing a number of disks to a piece of leather and then punching them out afterwards.
This had a tendancy to tear the edge of the disks which proved the glue was holding but ruined
the disk, so I punched the leather first and then carefully glued the leather to the disks.
It is important to use just the right amount of glue to ensure a good grip right to the edge
without having glue ooze out and harden up the edge of the leather or fill the hole in the disk.
Keeping glue way from the face of the valve is also important.
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