Greetings:

The last couple of player restorations I've done I've made use of
Schaff's new line of cloth from Australia. The cotton cloth is great
but I have reservations about the double-ply silk motor cloth. It
measures .009", but is not particularly supple. I've also seen some
slight tendency for the silk to separate from the rubber. The last wind
motor I did the pneumatics were rather stiff closing, and unfortunately
also rather uneven in that regard, so the motor "loped". I surmise that
I may need to hold the pneumatics closed tightly for a while to
introduce sharper creases. I'm annoyed, 'cause I don't think this
should have to be necessary.

Several questions come to mind:

   1. Have others had similar experiences with the Schaff silk cloth?

   2. Wind motor pneumatics typically open a lot further (during
      construction) than they are allowed to when attached to the
      crank. Is this to optimize the pneumatic's movement through its
      most linear range?

   3. Is there an optimum dimensional relationship between pneumatic
      width (looking across the mouth) to the pneumatic opening
      dimension? Is it possible that too wide an opening puts too much
      material in the mouth of the pneumatic, making it stiff?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Doug Rhodes

P.S. I didn't get to go along with Brother Robbie Rhodes on that
     Caribbean cruise. Shucks...