Introduction
A leaky water key can make playing difficult and a horn sound strange. Instrument repair professionals can fix leaky water keys, but often times all a water key needs is a new cork—an easy fix you can do at home. Water key corks are inexpensive and available at most music stores and online, but a wine cork cut to the right size will work in a pinch.
What you need
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Tool used on this step:Tweezers$4.99
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Remove the old cork.
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Insert a sharp tool, such as one tine of a pair of tweezers or needle-nose forceps, between the cork and the metal edge.
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Pry up the cork using the metal edge for leverage.
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Repeat this at several points around the cork until the cork comes free.
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If you have a replacement cork, skip to Step 10.
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If you’re using a wine bottle cork to make a replacement cork, place the cork on its side and measure 3 mm from the cork edge. Mark this point.
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Using a serrated knife (such as a steak knife), cut the cork horizontally along your mark.
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Using a ruler, measure the diameter of the water key slot you removed the cork from in Step 2.
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Place the 3mm slice you cut from the wine cork flat on a surface.
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Mark a point in the center.
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Using a ruler, measure half the diameter from Step 5 above and below the center mark.
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Rotate the ruler 90 degrees and repeat Step 7.
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Draw a circle connecting the four marks around the center.
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Using your knife, cut out this circle.
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This might take a few tries, so if you end up with a non-round circle cut out, repeat Steps 3-9 with the remaining wine cork.
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Dry fit the new cork in the water key slot to make sure it is the right size.
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If your cork is too big, you'll need to cut it a little smaller.
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If your cork is a little uneven, don't worry. Its job is to seal the water hole, which is much smaller than the cork itself.
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With a hot glue gun, put a drop of glue in the water key slot and place the new cork on top.
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Press firmly on the cork for a few seconds.
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Ask FixBot
If your water key still leaks after replacing the cork, it may need to be bent back into place or may need a new spring. See an instrument repair professional or another online guide for help with this.
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Team
Cal Poly, Team 23-3, Green Winter 2015 Member of Cal Poly, Team 23-3, Green Winter 2015
CPSU-GREEN-W15S23G3
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2 Guide Comments
Let me suggest that there is an easier way to a permanent solution for leaky corks - remove the water automatically by installing a JoyKey. No more leaking corks, no moving parts, no sptings or having to manually deal with water.
For more information:
www.thejoykey.com and http://thejoykey.com/wp-content/uploads/...
