Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have a Delrin™ flute with a tuning slide. The slide has gotten too slippery and now moves far to easily (like when I'm playing). I've never put any sort of lubricant on the slide. Any suggestions (other than a handful of sand) to "stiffen up" the movement of the slide?

Thanks and best wishes.

Steve

A mix of vaseline and beeswax is usually recommended as slide grease, upping the amount of beeswax would probably give you enough friction to keep the slide in place.

Maybe a piece of PTFE plumbers tape(?).

I got a pre used flute with slightly loose cork joints, I coated them with cork grease, & left it to soak in for a day or two - it seems to have swelled the cork just enough to make the joints more secure.

I had a slipping slide problem with my Windward. On a recommendation I think I read here, probably a while back, I went to the hardware store and got a wax ring used for toilet bowl installations. Dabbed a very thin amount around the slide, and it worked to stiffen it up while still allowing adjustment.

As a person that also plays the trumpet I would put on some tuning slide grease. Not slide grease which is meant to be slick but tuning slide grease which meant to be a little sticky.

Just squeeze the inner tube at the open end a little to make it a fraction out-of-round. (You clearly wouldn't want to take this too far!) Then when the inner slide is reunited with the outer slide, forcing it to return to circular, it will try to spring back to slightly ovoid, providing the resistance needed to keep it in place. Before reassembling, clean the slides and then grease the inner slide with cork grease, mutton fat, whatever....

When you think about it, it would be very hard to make perfectly round slides that had just the right amount of slidyness. And you don't want them that perfect, as a single molecule of dirt would probably bring them to a screeching stop.

Do check, before doing this, that the slide arrangement is airtight (suck test with hand over the open end), just in case the slide is so loose as to be admitting air. If you detect air flow, grease the slide and see if that's enough to prevent the leak. If it doesn't seem reliable, then you might want to take it to a woodwind repairer to have the slide expanded slightly.

In terms of squeezing the end of the slide, finger and thumb might be enough, depending on the thickness and level of temper of the metal. But you might need to squeeze it in a vice. As mentioned above, don't take this too far. Squeeze a little, try it, squeeze a tiny bit more, etc. It won't take long to get it Goldilocks ("just right"). Make sure always to be squeezing the same way (eg embouchure hole facing along the vice) or you can be undoing the squeeze you've just done! And if you go a snidge too far, squeezing at right angles (embouchure facing across the vice) will reset it. Make sure to have soft jaws on the vice, even if that's just a few strips of masking tape on both jaws.

Archer's bowstring wax is another good alternative, if you already have some around the house.

Terry McGee wrote:Just squeeze the inner tube at the open end a little to make it a fraction out-of-round. (You clearly wouldn't want to take this too far!) Then when the inner slide is reunited with the outer slide, forcing it to return to circular, it will try to spring back to slightly ovoid, providing the resistance needed to keep it in place.

I picked up this trick from Terry (in a older thread on this forum) and I use it all the time to great effect. I buy telescoping tube stock which is very precise, but manufacturing tolerances do vary and not every batch I get has a perfect fit. Some are too tight and have to be sanded down (I'm speaking of a few passes with some very fine sandpaper on the lathe) and others are too loose. When loose I use this squeeze-technique and it always answers.

Latticino wrote:Archer's bowstring wax is another good alternative, if you already have some around the house.

Haha. Yeah, that's not esoteric at all. Though I bet it does do the job, as might cross country ski wax. As a midwesterner in the USA we all got excited about cross country skiing in the 80s, but seldom have a winter with enough snow to make it worth our while. I think I just Goodwilled my box of ski wax in 2106. Nothing like 30 years of hope. (I suppose I could have moved to Minnesota.)

Though I do share a session with a historical fencing instructor, you know, medieval broadswords.

This group certainly holds the attention of a group of people with a wide variety of interests.

busterbill wrote:(I suppose I could have moved to Minnesota.)

Hey, we're not all drifts and igloos here, you know. Last week was that devilish heat wave, and boy, were we damp and smelly.

Nanohedron wrote:

busterbill wrote:(I suppose I could have moved to Minnesota.)

Hey, we're not all drifts and igloos here, you know. Last week was that devilish heat wave, and boy, were we damp and smelly.

But you have such wonderful snow.

busterbill wrote:But you have such wonderful snow.

Well, I hadn't heard it put that way before, but Minnesota couldn't be all that special when it comes to snow; at our latitude it would be no surprise whichever state you go to. But speaking on behalf of my fellow Minnesotans, we are flattered by your kind words. In any event, as to "wonderful", timing is everything: in late winter, snow becomes snirt (a snow and dirt amalgam that sharpens our longing for a change of seasons, or at least a fresh snowfall to temporarily spruce things up). At that stage the word "wonderful" loses its force except in the most uncommon sense.

But do come visit. We Minnesotans cavort and frolic whatever the conditions.

And now, back to the topic at hand...

Thanks all for the suggestions. I tried the McGee Squeeze and that took care of most of the issue. I was in the process of putting a jar of Vaseline and some beeswax in the blender when the agent in charge of domestic cookware ordered a cease and desist order. So I just used some beeswax, not having an archer handy, and that helped also.

Appreciate the insights (but am less enthused about the snow conditions in the upper midwest).

Best wishes.

Steve

But, but, every household in this fine nation should have a resident archer... Oh how the tradition of yeomanry has sadly declined.

Steve Bliven wrote:(but am less enthused about the snow conditions in the upper midwest)

We like to say it keeps out the riffraff. Apparently it's working.