The bellows seal on the treble end of my friends Hohner imperator is leaking, this is a non standard bellows fastening with latches instead of pins, is it a special seal or will the standard closed cell sealing strip work ok ?
Hohner imperator, double cassotto bellows seal
- Thread starter colinm
- Start date
Could be but it is leaking when fully latched
As far as I remember (it's quite a while back I owned an imperator) the gasket itself is same type as on every accordion - it's irrelevant whether the treble side is fixed by pins to the bellows or by latches (as for Imperator and Atlantic). A standard gasket dimension is 5 x 3mm, could be 4 x 2mm as well. You should be able to measure the groove's width by means of a caliber.
Thanks Philigo, that is one vote for standard gasket seal, it would be good if someone could confirm this please.
Latches can creep, pins cannot.
Standard 5x2mm gasket tape should work.
Yes it looks like 5x2 which is on now
Tcabot, Can you tell me if there is any adjustment on the hinge part of the latch please
The pins are at right angles to the direction of pull. Until they fall out, they provide a fixed point of reference for the closure. The latches aren't. They tighten the fit as they are pulled close. There is a reason I fitted the pair of latches that tended to creep with string and spring. They even had eyelets that looked like they were intended for it. It stopped an occasionally worsening air leak from occuring.
Make no mistake: I love my latches, but in my case the ones on the bass side required that extra bit of effort to stay fully closed and airtight reliably.
Is there a correct way to fit the treble side to the bellows, can it be placed flat on to the bellows or does the hinged side have to be fitted first ?
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
That's true.
I have an 80 year old Busilacchio 41/120 PA, which spontaneously pops some of its bellows pins whenever the relative humidity falls to below about 20% or so.
I just push them back with my finger.
I have seen people put the front side on first and others put the back side on first. Both ways may work and once it is latched and locked there should be no more leak (unless you have one where the grill stays on with bolts that go through the metal housing to the inside and you have leaks there.
If everything is on correctly but it still leaks, it's time to try 6x3 gasket tape. Until now I have seen just 2 accordions that needed 6x3 to get a perfect seal. (Neither was an Imperator though.)
Thanks Paul, I have 5x2 and 6x3 tape so I will experiment
Yes, they are right about the gasket.
Now, the big challenge is properly knowing how to angle the accordion to make sure that you don't push, bend or break the gasket. The reason for that is because of the way the Imperator locks in (no bellows pins to pull out, its a mechanism).
Even a new gasket can be easily made to leak if you don't assemble properly... ask me how I know... lol
Now, the big challenge is properly knowing how to angle the accordion to make sure that you don't push, bend or break the gasket. The reason for that is because of the way the Imperator locks in (no bellows pins to pull out, its a mechanism).
Even a new gasket can be easily made to leak if you don't assemble properly... ask me how I know... lol
Jerry , I have looked for assembly instructions but cannot find anything, I can try hohner but I do not have a contact, do you have any assembly instructions ?Yes, they are right about the gasket.
Now, the big challenge is properly knowing how to angle the accordion to make sure that you don't push, bend or break the gasket. The reason for that is because of the way the Imperator locks in (no bellows pins to pull out, its a mechanism).
Even a new gasket can be easily made to leak if you don't assemble properly... ask me how I know... lol
cm
No Colin, sorry, so exactly which Imperator do you have? Indeed some of the older ones did have bellows pins. The ones that do not are simple, once you know the trick... lol
I have the Imperator V, the one with A Mano reeds and 23 unique registrations. A pic of yours would help, also confirmation that you have traditional bellows pins, or not.
If yours is like mine:
0 - remove the accordion grill
1 - Make sure the mechanism is in an OPEN state
2 - Orient the treble half (has no bellows on it, those are on the bass side), on the table in front of the bass section so that the treble side is facing you
3 - lift up the treble half and tilt it slightly away from you
4 - carefully place the treble side on the REAR pins first, make sure that the rear portion is gently placed against the bellows gasket and isn't moved or shuffled
5 - rock the treble section forward towards you, the front locking pins fall in to place
6 - Using the levers, lock the mechanism in place
7 - install the grill
When I say "tilt" it's a SMALL tilt of maybe a couple inches. More, and it won't lock in... less, and it will lock in improperly and leak.
It actually takes longer to explain than do, but once you have the knack, its much easier... but its definitely not intuitive the first time at all.
For contacts at Hohner, try Ralph. (rtritschler@hohner.de), he does the repairs for Hohner as well as being the official archivist. Use Google translate and communicate in German, his English is non-existent.
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Thanks Jerry, that was exactly the technique my friend was using, so I need to check for distortion, then fit new seals.
