Metal valve guide noise

[arpthark]

On this old Besson, the metal valve guides are a bit noisy.

Anything to be done, short of getting new ones installed?

[bloke]

On this old Besson, the metal valve guides are a bit noisy.

Anything to be done, short of getting new ones installed?

Not really. In the past, there was obviously much more tolerance of extraneous noise with tubas.
I'm thinking the first to address it was Miraphone, with their little screws in the backs of their rotor caps - which served as stop gaps against bearing wear, as well as nylon bushings in their S-arms, rather than steel.

[arpthark]

I have not looked very closely at the guides themselves, and I have no idea how feasible this is, but would it be a tough task to convert the guides to nylon to reduce noise?

[bloke]

I have not looked very closely at the guides themselves, and I have no idea how feasible this is, but would it be a tough task to convert the guides to nylon to reduce noise?

Go to mcmaster.com , find some nylon screws of the same thread size (with heads featuring enough material for the following), and cut the heads down to the shapes of valve guides.

I may not have remembered the King/Olds thread size correctly, but it might (??) be SAE 3-48, whereas the typical metric thread is M3 x .5 (or often only listed as M3).

drop-down: The 3mm x 10mm size should offer you enough material to work with:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165047635845

bloke "Hey...You're going to have to trim (sold specifically as) "valve guides" anyway, so what's the difference? - other than these are cheaper."

[bort2.0]

I've done that before. Wasn't so much fun, but I only had to do it once, and it worked great.

[arpthark]

Thanks, might be a summer project.

[Thomas]

Hi, I can only encourage you to do this.

I did exactly that (replacing the metal guides with nylon screws) for my Besson BBb on all 4 valves on a calm (long) evening approx 2 years ago using 2 small cutter knives (rectanglular blade to do a straight cut off + thin triangular blade for minor corrections and smooth edge and surface finish) and a nail file for the height adjustment. I used small pliers to carefully screw out and in. Just carefully cut/file the heads down to fit both in height an width and check in between for minimum tolerances, good oil and usage will do the rest. I did not heat the cutter knive.

That combined with new felts and a set of Mead Springs made the valves running perfectly both in alignment, speed and (no) noise since then.

[bort2.0]

Thanks, might be a summer project.

It takes like 10 minutes per valve, if that.

It only sucks because the pieces are so small, and you have to use something really sharp to cut it.

I did this for my PT-7 and it took it from a clanky annoyance to fresh clean and modern.

[arpthark]

Thanks, might be a summer project.

It takes like 10 minutes per valve, if that.

It only sucks because the pieces are so small, and you have to use something really sharp to cut it.

I did this for my PT-7 and it took it from a clanky annoyance to fresh clean and modern.

Yeah, but I view summer as some far-off reality where I will have tons of free time where I can sit down for 40 minutes to do this and not be interrupted by a crawling kid who has yet again managed to find something disgusting to put in their mouth.

[bloke]

I can do your entire tuba in 10 seconds - as long as it's "to my personal satisfaction".

As a matter-of-fact, I just did it.

...Actually - less than an hour - I...

- removed all the dents from a vintage/original lacquer King 2B "Liberty" bell section
- removed the crimps from the small-side tuning slide inside slide tube
- aligned the main tuning slide
- removed numerous dents from the main tuning slide bow
- removed dents from the playing slide, aligned the tubes, and cleaned it
- straightened the water key and replaced the cork...plus that silly does-nothing thing on the tip

(I'm leaving for a gig in about a half-an-hour...It belongs to the guy who hired me, so...)

[arpthark]

I can do your entire tuba in 10 seconds - as long as it's "to my personal satisfaction".

As a matter-of-fact, I just did it.

"that'll be $300"

[bort2.0]

Thanks, might be a summer project.

It takes like 10 minutes per valve, if that.

It only sucks because the pieces are so small, and you have to use something really sharp to cut it.

I did this for my PT-7 and it took it from a clanky annoyance to fresh clean and modern.

Yeah, but I view summer as some far-off reality where I will have tons of free time where I can sit down for 40 minutes to do this and not be interrupted by a crawling kid who has yet again managed to find something disgusting to put in their mouth.

I think you're describing "retirement"

[bloke]

You can trim them on the instrument (once you've chopped off most of the extra material) by slipping a single edge razor blade underneath the edge of it and trimming it with another single edge razor blade - so that your blade hits the other blade after the cut, rather than making a mark on the piston wall.

[YorkNumber3.0]

.

[bloke]

Bands are noisy (percussion constantly doing "something", etc.)...so we couldn't really hear it.

Other ensembles aren't quite as noisy, and recording engineers "shure" do hear that stuff.

I noticed how quiet my Miraphone tuba was (when I bought it new, 50 years ago), so I noticed when it began to make a little noise.

guitar:
I never liked "neck squeaks", and they ARE avoidable.