Busbar Lube Job

This writeup was submitted by BobSchleicher to the OriginalHammondLeslieFaq

Your manuals may need a busbar lube if the notes are scratchy, intermittent, and don't respond to the busbar shifting procedure (see HowToCleanKeyContacts). This procedure is probably best left to a professional technician because you can easily damage something by forcing things.

Warnings

First, the cautions: You can do VERY serious damage to your keyboards if this procedure is done incorrectly, so take your time and follow instructions.

The manual chassis (keyboards) is very heavy. If you're not strong, use two people to remove and install them. Have all the materials on hand as well as the service manual for your instrument.

Preparations

You will need the following materials:

1. A can of "Nevr-Dull Magic Wadding Polish" - A treated wadding available at most hardware or antique stores.
2. A box of alcohol prep pads - any drug store.
3. Hammond Busbar lubricant - Tonewheel General Hospital (See below for possible substitutes.)
4. A book of matches.
5. Time and patience.

The Procedure

• Refer to the service manual for your model and remove the manual chassis. Be sure to protect the finish on the organ with posterboard or several layers of newspaper positioned at the ends of the cheek blocks. (See also HowToRemoveTheManuals.)
• Stand the manuals on end with the presets (left side of the manual) facing up. * Remove the small rectangular plate from both keyboards, and remove the large screw which goes through the drawbar base. You will now see a gadget that retains the busbars. Loosen the two screws and move the restraint back to allow removal of the rods.
• Take your matchbook and jamb it between the cheek block and the Cancel key. This will prevent you from hitting a contact, or getting the rod back in on the wrong side of the busbar. (The point here is to make sure a preset never, ever gets accidentially latched down.)
• Start at either the top or bottom and remove only one rod. With a gob of Nevr-Dull, wipe the rod several times. You'll be amazed at the dirt and crap you get. If the wadding sticks or tears while cleaning, inspect the palladium wire for broken or missing sections between the spot welds. If the rod is damaged, replace it. (Again, Organ Service Co.) If your organ has the round gold plated rods, this will not be a factor. Just make sure they are very clean and bright.
• Now, with an alcohol prep pad, wipe the rod several times. Use one pad for each rod, dry and apply a thin coat of bus lube to the rod. (Some people swear that bus lube is rarely if ever needed.) It's time for the fun now. Make sure the rod is not bent and re-install in the same place from which it came.

CAUTION!! If you encounter any resistance, STOP. Remove the rod and again inspect for bends. Keep trying until the rod goes back in easily. I've found that on later units with the square rods, it sometimes helps to arch the rod slightly as you re-insert it. Make sure the Cancel key is down! I'd bet that a great deal of swearing is in order at this time, but don't force the rods. On later consoles, there are holes for additional rods. Be sure to replace the rods in the same holes originally used.

• Repeat the procedure for all 18 rods, move the retainer to the original position, replace the cover plates and re-install the keyboards. The pedal switch may need a lube too. The procedure is similar. (See below.)
• Apologies in advance to tech who don't want this information out there.
• Don't force the rods and best of luck. I'm sure you'll like having all the notes play again.

Lubing the Pedal Busbars

I've done this on my C-3 (and it was worth it). The procedure is roughly similar to that for the manuals. The following notes are from memory, and so are a bit sketchy and may not be 100% correct --- sorry, feel free to make corrections or additions.

How to get to the pedal busbars:

• Remove the PedalClavier.
• Get a couple of blocks (4" by 4" by 18" or so, I think would work well) and use them to jack the organ up off the ground. (Jack the organ up 4" not 18" :-) (I guess you'll need four blocks for a B-3.)
• Remove the screws and little plate which hold the pedal wiring tube to the TG shelf.
• Remove the screw which attaches the swell pedal linkage to the swell pedal. (You may want to remove the swell pedal linkage altogether, just to get it out of the way.)
• Remove the four screws (one is a hex-head) which secure the wood cover plate to the pedal switches.
• Remove the screws which hold the pedal switch assembly to the back rail.
• There are two large bolts (one at each end) (with nuts) which hold the switch assembly in place. Remove them, carefully, and the switch assembly should drop out the bottom of the organ.
• Carefully maneuver the pedal switch assembly out from under the organ. You want to get it tipped up on end with the right side (viewed from the front of the organ) up. I managed to do this without unsoldering any of the pedal harness wiring. It may be safer to unsolder the pedal wiring (from the TG and the resistor panel) so that the pedal switches are no longer attached to the rest of the organ.
• Now you should be able to see the busbars. There are four of them (on a B-3, C-3 or A-100, at least --- RT-'s and D-100's have more, I think). Each one has a wire soldered on to it, which you will need to unsolder --- other than that, proceed as described above for a manual busbar lube.

--JeffDairiki

Alternatives to Hammond Bus-Lube

Official Hammond Bus-Lube is a conductive grease. It looks like (and has about the same consistency as) slighly dirty Vaseline.

A substitute for the official stuff --- I think it's more-or-less identical --- is a product called "Tunerlub" made by GC. This is available at electronic parts houses. (UnionElectronicsDistributors, for one, stocks it.)

Originally, I believe, Hammond did not use any lube at all on the busbars. The lube was introduced later to combat contact problems caused by the out-gassing of certain plastic parts used in later manuals. I've often heard that unless you have one of the organs with plastic parts no lube at all is necessary. (Or, alternatively, a lighter contact conditioner like ProGold could be used.)

TopicRepair