crowmadic

My understanding of Verticle Valve Alignment goes like this:
1. Remove 2nd valve slide.
2. Depress 2nd valve.
3. Align slide openings with valve ports.
4. Add or remove pads/corks to achieve perfect alignment.
5. Add the same pad/cork combination to valves 1 & 3.

Do I have this right?...................tom

rowuk

Nope,
you have to use whatever is necessary for EACH valve. The pros can put the valve on a lathe to get standard height. DIYourselfers have to take what they get, even if that means each valve button at a different height.
Don't forget, the valve has to be aligned when it is not depressed too. Small mirrors and fiber optics let you see what you are doing!
It is doable, you just need some basic tools and a lot of time.

patdublc

For example, when I had Reeves check one of my horns, they supplied me with 6 measurements showing how far out of alignment each valve was in both the up and down position. The last horn that I had done checked out nearly perfect on all 3 valves in the down position, but was way off in the up position. Interpretting that - the horn played like it was supposed to with all 3 valves down, but was not even close to spec in the open position. I had the alignment done, the horn is now much more even blowing on all combinations.

B15M

The up position is the hard one but it can be done by measuring the distance to the port and then the distance from the compressed felt to the port on the valve.

This will get you in the ball park. I have a cornet that I don't play much and after about ten years of never changing the felts a repair man and I did the measurements. We replaced the felts with the proper size and the horn played a little better but, They call it a precession valve alignment and I don't think we achieved it at all.

It did something though

crowmadic

B15M.....Joe, Can you give me more details about how you made verticle alignments on the valves, open & closed. I need a step by step if you don't mind...........tom

B15M

brian moon

The alignment that you refer to that is commonly called "vertical" is a misnomer. What is really being aligned is the horizon so the proper term is really "horizontal alignment".

True vertical alignment is called by many "rotational" because the valves must be rotated in order to achieve the desired results.

crowmadic

How much is a professional valve alignment, we're not getting to far this way.........crow

Dale Proctor

I'd think just the opposite. Vertical is up and down alignment, because you're adjusting pads to control the vertical position of the valve in relation to its ports. Rotational, or horizontal alignment, is side to side, and is much more difficult to modify.

The "valve up" position is adjusted by the pads & corks directly under the top valve cap. The "valve down" position is adjusted by the pad on top of the top valve cap, or the pad under the valve button. It's relatively easy to check the "valve down" alignment by looking into the valve slide receiver, but the "valve up" alignment can be seen only with a small mirror (or fiber optics if you want to go high tech). An alternative way to do this is by measuring the port heights. I just had an alignment done by the measurement method, and the horn plays fine.

brian moon

Just think about an old TV, Dale, and you could be enlightened.