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Removing stubborn bellows pins

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lordzedd

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Hi folks,

A few months back, in my pursuit of acquiring cheap instruments, I got a Kreminna Ruslan off of eBay.

PXL_20230221_145734956.jpg

Being a soviet era children's instrument, it wasn't built to very high standards in the first place. I've managed to improve the bass mechanics a bit by reducing the slop in some connections, but I haven't been able to get to the reeds, which is needed. The pins going into the celluloid are flat bottomed and have heads that are not tall and not waisted.

PXL_20230223_020544040.jpg

I have tried using my homemade bellows pin puller, pliers, and even a carefully held hobby knife: I can't get any grip on these pins to pull them out. Is there some tool or technique that I'm missing? The only things left I can think of are to destructively dig into the celluloid around each pin, or to try to file the heads into a shape that can actually be gripped by something. I am ok with sending it to a pro if needed, but I feel silly not being able to do literally the first step of disassembly myself.

My intent is to replace them with better pins once they are out, does anyone have a source for pins with 2mm shafts and 16mm overall length (I've been able to remove them from the treble grill)? I have found 2x15mm at CGM.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Zach
 
I have a set of Screw Removal Pliers Extractor Pliers.

They work from some screws and don't work for others. It's not possible to say without actually trying.

Is it possible to cut a slot in the pin head with a Dremel tool, and use a flat head screwdriver to turn it, hopefully pulling the pin out just a little bit, enough for a pair of pliers to grip the head?
 
there is a type of dykes (wire cutters) which is ground flat so that
it cuts flush for close work on circuit boards..
i have one from Diamond and it is strong enough to pull a pin

a similar surgical cutter is available (most dermatologists have them)
but it is light duty

or you can take a cheap pair of dykes and grind them flat, then
file a round notch in them..

the point being, flush will take it closest to the celluloid
and the thinness and angle of the cutting grind may get you enough
grab to lever it up
 
pentaprism said:
I have a set of Screw Removal Pliers Extractor Pliers.

They work from some screws and don't work for others. It's not possible to say without actually trying.

Is it possible to cut a slot in the pin head with a Dremel tool, and use a flat head screwdriver to turn it, hopefully pulling the pin out just a little bit, enough for a pair of pliers to grip the head?
Click to expand...
I do have a rotary tool to use, though I think I will try a more specialized tool like you and Ventura are mentioning before I go that route.
 
pentaprism said:
I have a set of Screw Removal Pliers Extractor Pliers.

They work from some screws and don't work for others. It's not possible to say without actually trying.

Is it possible to cut a slot in the pin head with a Dremel tool, and use a flat head screwdriver to turn it, hopefully pulling the pin out just a little bit, enough for a pair of pliers to grip the head?
Click to expand...
The old ad for this product is everything you would ever want from a specialized Japanese product:
 
I bought a tool to remove bellow pins, from Carini, but it had straight ends and thus the tool works like a small bolt cutter. I made half-circle cutouts so there is a circular hole that lets me grab the bellow pins without cutting them. So far I always managed to remove the pins, also on old accordions from soviet times.
 
I got this set of quite ordinary pliers which had been slightly modified to get under the heads of bellows pins from Charlie Watkins of WEM London about forty years ago. They have been a great help in removing stubborn pins while at the same time avoiding damage to the accordion body.
Pentaprism makes a good suggestion in trying to cut a slot in the head of the stubborn pin so that a flat screwdriver can be used to try and loosen it: yet another way 'shock' the pin and loosen its grip.

PinPliers.jpg
 
boxplayer4000 said:
I got this set of quite ordinary pliers which had been slightly modified to get under the heads of bellows pins from Charlie Watkins of WEM London about forty years ago. They have been a great help in removing stubborn pins while at the same time avoiding damage to the accordion body.
Pentaprism makes a good suggestion in trying to cut a slot in the head of the stubborn pin so that a flat screwdriver can be used to try and loosen it: yet another way 'shock' the pin and loosen its grip.
...
Click to expand...
Similar to mine, but I made a round cutout at the end to prevent cutting into the pins.
 
My version of pin puller pliers. Cheap flush end cutters- there is no benefit to using high quality tools for this purpose.

Grind the end so that the face is smooth and slightly convex. As new they will have a bevel on the outer side of the face- this would hold off the puller from getting under a tight pin head so you'll want to grind the face down until it's gone and there is a sharpish edge with the bevel all on the inside instead of inside and outside.

Note that they are intended to be "cutters" as sold. If you have a lot of faith in your fine motor control while tightly squeezing the handles to get under the head of and pull the pins you're done. I figure that I personally would eventually screw up and at least badly notch if not actually cut off the top of a pin if I didn't drill a pin diameter sized hole (right about 2.6 MM is probably ideal for most pins) through the jaws so that I could grip away without trepidation.

I have the hole offset to one side because there are accordions where the pins abut a raised area and being in the middle makes things awkward when getting a nice firm approach and avoiding cosmetic scratching.

You could do it with a file and a LOT of patience but even cheap tool steel will take a while- a grinding wheel really speeds things up.

Good luck.
IMG_0408.jpg
 
Last edited:
 
Last edited:
Dingo40 said:
These are actually nail " pincers", not end cutters:
Also:
Click to expand...
or ...wait for it...: https://www.amazon.com/Wiha-32734-W...8799&sprefix=flush+end+cutters,aps,341&sr=8-5

There seem to be many very similar tools with very similar names. The ones best suited all come together at the ends rather than the sides and have edged jaws that meet rather than two flat surfaces coming together as in normal pliers.

Note the bevel in the picture on the outside of the "carpenter's pincers"- that bevel keeps one from getting under a flush pin head which is why one would grind it away.

The Japanese high quality really nice tool screw removal pliers work quite well for stuck screws and pins as well but almost always wind up chewing up the ends of the pins pretty severely.

If you work on musical instruments in general you'll inevitably wind up with a wall full of home made special tools- they may only be needed for one purpose, but for that one purpose they surely are useful.
 
Ventura said:
there is a type of dykes (wire cutters) which is ground flat so that
it cuts flush for close work on circuit boards..
i have one from Diamond and it is strong enough to pull a pin

a similar surgical cutter is available (most dermatologists have them)
but it is light duty

or you can take a cheap pair of dykes and grind them flat, then
file a round notch in them..

the point being, flush will take it closest to the celluloid
and the thinness and angle of the cutting grind may get you enough
grab to lever it up
Click to expand...
The word "dykes" has a totally different meaning in the UK.
As for "grinding them flat and filing a notch in them" :eek:
 
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