I Love McMaster-Carr

[the elephant]

I just bought another package of square-cut, Buna-N O rings from McMaster-Carr.



(Try to keep your excitement level under control, people…)

[bloke]

…because my o-rings are heeah.

[tofu]

.

[the elephant]

[UncleBeer]

I sure wish they'd stock brass tubing in useful outer diameters and wall thicknesses. Seems American suppliers aren't willing to do this. Sure, I can draw larger tubing down to size, but I'd rather not for slides and such which really need to be perfect. And yeah: Allied will sell slide tubing for specific instruments, but it's pretty limited.

[bloke]

I used some square-rubber O-rings in the past, but I currently don't own any tubas whereby any of the pitches (associated with any particular slide) required pushing any slide in all the way...so I haven't bought/used them for a while.

They've obviously better for this application, but machining a fatter-wall-thickness-than-outside-slide-tubing ring (to additionally support such an O-ring) helps these square O-rings work even better.

EDIT: I still like 'em...
I might buy some, next time I order some other stuff...

[the elephant]

I did that on my Holton. The 186 has them from the factory (with a tiny, inward bevel to help guide the slide in without noise).

Holton…


186…


These end rings (sometimes referred to by Miraphone as reinforcement rings and not the recently heard "grease cups" ———— ) provide a great home for square-cut O rings.

Bu the way, I think I have settled in on this factory CC 186 to the point that few (if any) slide pulls are needed if I use all the standard alternates. I pull 1st about 1.75" and don't have to mess with it much. I am still dialing in the slide positions, but where I have them set right now seems to work best. I might want to cut 5th by a quarter of an inch on each side of the lower slide. (That was the only one measured out and built by me, and I had to use a Jinbao 410 for reference; I got really close, but low F is about 5¢ low with both slides all the way in and 4th where it needs to be. I want the top slide out about a half an inch in case I need to push in for something.)

Additional research (i.e. freelance work) is needed, of course. ;-)

[bloke]

I bought (early 1980's) a new goldbrass 188 (that I believe was made for Roger Bobo and rejected...I should have rejected it too...a dog) which featured some specially-machined not-soldered-place nickel rings (washers) to support O-rings for the 5th slide. They were quite wide.

The reason that I suspect it was made for Roger Bobo is because it featured a LEFT-hand operated 5th valve and a LEFT-THUMB 5th slide trigger (features seen on some of his personal instruments). That trigger was pretty slick; it folded up for storage (to avoid bending it).

Overall, it was far-and-beyond the worst 188 I've ever played...and I was lucky enough to have been talked into buying it... c. $5K

[the elephant]

I have also played a doggy 188. They are not the norm, fortunately. It is the only 188 I have ever disliked. It was silver plated and had lots of solder scars from some serious work. It looked like it had been crushed in a car wreck at some point.

[bloke]

I have also played a doggy 188. They are not the norm, fortunately. It is the only 188 I have ever disliked. It was silver plated and had lots of solder scars from some serious work. It looked like it had been crushed in a car wreck at some point.

Since we're off on a typical tangent...
I put a considerably larger mouthpipe on that instrument, and it did NOTHING WHATSOEVER for the trademark "tight" low range.
general advice to thread lurkers:
It's best (just like so-called "German" F tubas) to learn how to play a 188...ie. "Give it what it needs, and don't slobber into it as if its a sousaphone."

[the elephant]

I love how these work on 1st, and I like the look, so I added them to all my upper slides. Since I only rarely ever move them a "click damper" is not needed. As stupid as it may be for a function-driven person like me, I think they give the horn a "finished" look. So sometimes I am a form-follows-function person, seeing the raw beauty of something that is well designed and well made, and sometimes l like a little functionless bling.

[the elephant]

Oh yeah, and I *still* love McMaster-Carr because they are a freaking cool company.

And I love ULINE.

Oh, and FASTENAL is another great company.

Ready?

Discuss.

[bloke]

I like it when Walmart marks down chicken thigh quarters to $.39 a pound…

… oh yeah, and I love Dollar General.

[tofu]

.

[the elephant]

Didn't know that. Thanks for the info on the founder. And cool story…

[bloke]

I buy stretch-wrap from ULINE...

How ELSE can I recycle a (completely worn-out) carton for the EIGHTH time - when shipping something to Anderson for plating, and it's the ONLY carton that I have which is "just right right size"...???

Someone should video Mrs. bloke and I chasing each other in a circle when stretch-wrapping a particularly large-awkward carton.