Posted by Tim Cary on September 06, 2000 at 16:01:03:
In Reply to: Re: plastic rotor bearings for Mirafone tuba posted by Beau on September 06, 2000 at 15:29:56:
Hello! I owned a 186-5U CC that was about the same vintage as your horn (sold it about 5 years ago). You should be able to buy corks through any repair supply house (like Ferrees). As for rubber, what you are looking for is called neoprene rope. It can be obtained from industrial equipment stores, you just need to figure out what O.D. rope you need. My teacher from HS and college used vacuum cleaner belts. These are availble at any store that sells and repairs vacuum cleaners. You just need to find a belt with the right diameter and then cut pieces to size. After installing either cork or rubber bumpers, you will need to trim them to size, to ensure proper rotor alignment with the valve tubing. Neither corks or neoprene is standardized, you just need to find what fits and adjust it accordingly. If these aren't adjusted, the horn won't play in tune. Also, while neoprene bumpers will last much longer than cork, neoprene has more "bounce" than cork, and this was one aspect of neoprene that I did not like.