Piano Bar pt 7 - Trouble shooting the feet
Hey Reader!
When I was getting the piano to me, there was an incident in which one of the four casters snapped. I figured this was a good opportunity to update the casters, and replace them with rubber ones that wouldn't ruin my floor.
I went out to my local home improvement store with the broken caster in hand and found myself faced with a lot of math questions. Casters are weight tested and you need to make sure that you have casters that can accommodate the weight of the thing you are attaching them to. The casters in sizes similar to the one I already had were rated to about 90 pounds. I was faced with some questions that seem silly now. Question 1: Is that 90 pounds per caster for a total of 360 pounds (90 times 4). I quickly answered that one with, yes - obviously.
Question 2: How much does my piano weigh? Average piano weight is 400-500 pounds, and the harp is 150-200. Since my harp is gone, I could expect the piano to be about 200-350 pounds. To be safe, I decided to up my caster number to 5. Again, had I stuck with metal casters this would have been unnecessary, but I plan on having hardwood floors eventually.
I decided that when I got home I would tip the piano over and get a look at the underside. It is a bad idea to tip a piano over by yourself, even with the harp removed. I won't be recommending it. It was most certainly a bad idea. I was lucky.
Then I was less lucky. The casters are inset and they have round bases. The casters I got (and every other caster I saw) has a square base that won't fit in the inset. Carving out a square inset seems like it might be beyond the scope of my skills, and would create more problems with the next issue.
I wanted to add a fifth caster, but there is not actually a space to do so. The board that creates the bottom of the piano is not actually part of the bottom, and if I tried to do an inset, I risk going too far right through it. Further, the piano is going to sit much higher than the old casters, by about an inch.
I don't really have much more to say about this, other than I am still brainstorming.
Honestly though, this is part of the reason I like this project. Every time I think I have something figured out, there is a new problem to troubleshoot.
We will see how I do.
Stick around and find out!
Keep making cool stuff,
Until next time,
JoshPrime
When I was getting the piano to me, there was an incident in which one of the four casters snapped. I figured this was a good opportunity to update the casters, and replace them with rubber ones that wouldn't ruin my floor.
I went out to my local home improvement store with the broken caster in hand and found myself faced with a lot of math questions. Casters are weight tested and you need to make sure that you have casters that can accommodate the weight of the thing you are attaching them to. The casters in sizes similar to the one I already had were rated to about 90 pounds. I was faced with some questions that seem silly now. Question 1: Is that 90 pounds per caster for a total of 360 pounds (90 times 4). I quickly answered that one with, yes - obviously.
Question 2: How much does my piano weigh? Average piano weight is 400-500 pounds, and the harp is 150-200. Since my harp is gone, I could expect the piano to be about 200-350 pounds. To be safe, I decided to up my caster number to 5. Again, had I stuck with metal casters this would have been unnecessary, but I plan on having hardwood floors eventually.
I decided that when I got home I would tip the piano over and get a look at the underside. It is a bad idea to tip a piano over by yourself, even with the harp removed. I won't be recommending it. It was most certainly a bad idea. I was lucky.Then I was less lucky. The casters are inset and they have round bases. The casters I got (and every other caster I saw) has a square base that won't fit in the inset. Carving out a square inset seems like it might be beyond the scope of my skills, and would create more problems with the next issue.
I wanted to add a fifth caster, but there is not actually a space to do so. The board that creates the bottom of the piano is not actually part of the bottom, and if I tried to do an inset, I risk going too far right through it. Further, the piano is going to sit much higher than the old casters, by about an inch.
I don't really have much more to say about this, other than I am still brainstorming.
Honestly though, this is part of the reason I like this project. Every time I think I have something figured out, there is a new problem to troubleshoot.
We will see how I do.
Stick around and find out!
Keep making cool stuff,
Until next time,
JoshPrime
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