The Puffer Forum

Operation Piano is a go. I have the will and I now have a way. I will be utilizing a friend's basement as soon as I find a free (or cheap) piano for the taking.

I'm still not sure about the name. Operation Piano? Project Piano? Aquiano? Pianaquarium?

Last week while I was doing the usual, everyday routine (next to nothing), I was thinking of turning a console TV into an aquarium. But that's a common for oddball projects so I exaggerated. What else can contribute it's general shape and looks and function as a functional aquarium? A CRT computer monitor (JP's future nano tank), a big old school stereo speaker (with the 2-4 speakers holes for viewing pleasure), and various cabinets (tv stands, nooks, bookshelves).

Personally, I really liked the idea of a front loading washing machine with it's "port hole" view into the aquarium. J-P mentioned modifying a coffee table (but I have a 2 year old daughter... accident(s) waiting to happen). I thought of turning my computer desk into two aquariums by removing the drawers on either side, but I'm rather fond of it. So I "settled" on a piano.

That left me with three problems. A place to actually work on it was obviously the first. I don't have a garage or a shed. My basement could handle it, but I wouldn't be able to get it down there or do any laundry. My friend just moved into a new house and isn't using the basement. It's a full size, unfished basement with what looks like a former grow-op or bomb factory and all it has is a big old cabinet and a washer and dryer (in addition to the sink and many cans of paint and paint remober). It's perfect.

My next problem was a way to move the piano once I found one. As you can tell by name, I don't have room in my car as it is indeed a 1995 Camaro. Again I had to call in a favour. Luckily a buddy is currently laid off and said he'd gladly put his pickup to use.

GREAT! That left me with one last problem and probably the most important. The piano. I never knew how powerful Facebook and MSN Messenger could be. I advertised that I needed a TV or Piano on both, just amongst my friends. A lot of people commented on both saying they don't have either but they would keep an eye out. Sure enough, yesterday somebody gave me a link to a free piano. Today I confirmed with both of my friends their contributions to the project. All I have to do now is wait in eager anticipation for the piano's owner to reply and I'll be all set to start. If that fails, well it will delay the start until I can find another.

My intention with this project is to keep the piano looking like a piano, not an aquarium with piano keys. That is to say when the aquarium is all "buttoned up" for the night, or to surprise guests, it will look like a regular piano.

So this here is the start of a DIY Upright Pianaquarium. I will be posting pictures and stories as I progress.

Thanks in advance to staying tuned.

Credits
Finder: Carisa W.
Transportation: Rob H.
Moving: Tommy L.
Location: Kittle L.
Assistance: Sascha T.

Day 1 (Jan 20 2010) : Picked up the piano.
1 Piano: Free
1 Case of beer: $30
Total cost of project: $30

Day 2 (Jan 22 2010): Posted 14 pictures. Removed the top/key covers. Removed the hammers. Removed the keys. Removed the strings.
Costs: None
Total cost of project: $30

Day 3 (Jan 24 2010): Posted 11 pictures. Removed pedal board. Removed 200+ tuning pins. Removed the back board. Removed the cast iron plate. Removed the legs. Piano is now totally gutted.
Costs: None
Total cost of project: $30

Day 4 (Jan 27 2010): Posted 6 pictures. Begun sanding.
Costs:
1 5pc package of 60grit sandpaper for the random orbital: $6
1 8pc package of various grit sandpaper sheets: $5
Total cost of project: $41

Day 5: (Jan 29 2010): Posted 2 pictuers. Begun chemical removal of stains, finishes and excess glues.
Costs:
2 pairs of latex gloves: $2
2 4pc paint brush sets: $2
1 1L tin of finish remover: $10
1 4L tin of finish remover: $40
1 pack of stripper scrubbers: $1.25
2 packs of steel scrubbies: $2
1 4L jug of varsol: $7
2 dust masks: $2.50

Total cost of project: $107.75

Day 6: (Jan 31 2010): No pictures. Continued with chemical removal of stains, finishes and excess glue. The stuff is stubborn. Short day.
Costs: None

Total cost of project: $107.75

Day 7 (Feb 1 2010): No pictures. Finally finished removing the finish and stains from the actual piano and major accessories.
Costs:
2 new paint brushes: $2

Total cost of project: $109.75

Day 8 (Feb 3 2010): TBA
Costs:
Blood, sweat, tears.
1 arm
1 leg

Total cost of project: Thank god I didn't pay for the piano.

Good luck! Can't wait to see the progression!

Dude e-mailed me back. Will be picking up the Piano tomorrow (Wednesday). Expect the first set of pictures tomorrow after the acquisition and the tear down should start on Friday or Sunday.

Sounds really interesting camaro!
Looking forward to reading along the way & of course for the final project!

Really neat of you to take on something that no one has done before! (As far as I know anyway!)

So today was the official start day of the project. Went fairly smoothly given the fact that neither of us had any knowledge of the workings or construction of pianos. Of course, being men, we are above looking it up and searching so we're totally winging it. We are almost done dismantling it but we have a couple road blocks a head, namely the tuning screws used to tune the piano.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me when I actually picked up the piano but I took some today before we began to dismantle. The piano was in almost perfect condition (a couple scuffs) and was last tuned in March. It sounded pretty good. Looked even better. But the will to destroy and then give the breathe of life overcame. It was almost a shame.

Here's the first set.

Second batch. Same day.

Next batch. Just trying to keep the pictures/post down a bit.

OMG that is going to look so cool!!

Today was crazy long. Last night I was hit with something and spent half the night running to the bathroom. Today was not much better. I think I was in there every five minutes. I was beginning to think today was in jeopardy but I stuck it out. Grabbed some McDonald's on the way over, wolfed it down and got to work. Unfortunately no beer for me today. Lost too many fluids last night in addition to already being fairly dehydrated. And the dust didn't help much so I stuck with water.

Today wasn't hard per se, just long, repitive work. I couldn't located a piano tuning lever to borrow so I used a socket set to remove the pins, sometimes it gripped sometimes it didn't. It had to be kept on an angle in order to properly grasp the pin and be spun eight to ten time before the pin was unscrewed enough to pull out. It also turns out friction heats things up. Some of those pins were super hot. I do have a couple burns. To make things worse, they would often get jammed inside the socket so I had to remove the socket and pound the pin out with a screw driver. Almost five minutes for each pin at first. My friend used a combination wrench which was a bit easier. Could just keep spinning and release it a little bit to drop the pin and start over. This took by far the most time.

Next up we had to figure out how to remove the cast iron backing. We couldn't take the front ledge off, it was too secure. Couldn't slide it out of the top because it had some brackets below the front ledge. That left the bottom. The pedel board was removed and so were the legs. So the piano was laid to rest on its back. A heat gun, combined with brute force was very useful for the latter. The heat gun worked to breakdown the glue and staining that held the legs in place and strong hoofs with the boots proved too much for the remaining glue to withstand.

Then we ran into a problem. The piece I call the sound board was one piece. It ran from the top right of the piano to the bottom left. It was wedged underneath the cast iron, but also popped out enough to prevent the cast iron from sliding. It was screwed and glued on. to get at the screws we had to stand it back up which meant reattching the legs. We were able to get at most of the screws but it was not to be that easy. Using screw drivers and a heat gun, we pried a piece of it off but there was no way to get off without breaking it.

And break it we did. A couple kicks, karate chops and some more kicks finally got the board of and most of the backboard as well. With all of that stuff out of the way. We again put the piano down on it's back and removed the legs. Then came the removal of the cast iron. That was simple enough but I'm pretty sure it was a third of the weight of the full piano.

We called it a day after that. Here are some pictures.

Last 6 pictures of Day 3.

That looks tight. Can't wait to see the finished

Definitly a good start there

This is an awesome project, i love the originality and the end result will, no doubt, be stunning.
I have no idea if this is a possibility or what the dimensional constraints that you are working with are, but....
did you consider leaving the Iron frame inside the piano?
I realize that the weight of the thing alone is a good reason to remove it, but wouldn't it look amazing if you could see the metal frame through the back of the aquarium?

maybe it is just the engineer in me talking but i think it would be cool...

I very much appreciate the optimism that's been expressed here. It really surpasses me own haha. And I thank everyone on the forums and on chat who has supported the project.

To be honest. I didn't even know there was a cast iron fram inside. Not a clue. Until we took the hammers off then I realized where half the weight of the piano came from; the strings and frame. The frame itself doesn't take up all that much room but the weight is a huge, huge drawback. We've estimated it to be in the neighbourhood of 150lbs. I never really had any thoughts of keeping it in there and especially not now. I'm sure the stand could support it and a smaller aquarium but I would reenforce it just to make sure and the weight would be a huge, huge problem. So as for now, the only plan I have for the actual finished project is that when all the covers are back on, it looks like a piano.

I have no plans to even keep it, use it, stock it or anything else. I'm just... building it to build it. I may keep it or I may sell it. I'm not sure... yet.

Dude...thats freakin' AWSOME!!!!! I want to see it all done, and full of fish too!