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I really don’t like repairing sousaphone cases - particularly not after struggling to repair the instruments that are inside of them.
They are round, huge, awkward, they won’t stay in any position, and nobody wants to help me with them - because they’re sitting out in the 99°F part of the barn. Also, it just seems like this stuff is a job for luggage repair people - particularly when I have so many instruments (not pieces of crappy barely-good-enough-for-giving-away-free-with-the-instrument luggage) to repair… but I guess I should be fair and realize that - when someone repairs my car's transmission or engine - there I am asking them to take my crappy plastic car door interior apart and replace some piece of crap plastic door handle.

Hey…
At least I’ve never had a J.O.B.

(it seems as many people get nervous when they don’t have one. I’ve only gotten nervous when I’ve considered accepting one.)

That’s a lot of (former) rivets!

You need a longer drill bit.

York-aholic wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 8:11 am


That’s a lot of (former) rivets!

You need a longer drill bit.

I'll put the bit back in the drill, clamp the vice down in them, run the drill counterclockwise, and clear the bit (but you knew that).

At least these cases CAN have hardware swapped out and aluminum lid edges beat back into submission. Hate it, but do-able. Better done by someone other than me (who GAS).

What about the supremely crappy Chinese cloth covered styrofoam zippered things that come supplied with an equally craptacular trumpet looking thing? I repair for a school district that has a boatload of them. I just love to see work orders for those cases. The teachers get the cases back with a note that has one word: NO.

Chinese zippered trombone cases are my favorite.

The JP zipper cases are sturdier than some, but - CAN ABSOLUTELY BE TORN UP...and

zippers:

They're not only a pain in the (_!_) with Chinese cases (whether crappy or "pretty good") but Bach (etc.) cases as well as high end aftermarket cases.

DEMAND LATCH CASES (from manufacturers, people (for pity's sake ).

JP - as they run out of the stockpile of zipper cases - are replacing them with (impressively sturdy - either straight-up MTS knock-offs, or not-at-all-like-MTS-yet-better-than-MTS) molded LATCHED cases.

When I sell those tubas (which are still supplied with zipper cases) to schools, I tell, them this:

If you can, save up $250 each year - for the next three years - or budget $750 - in three years - for a replacement LATCHED molded case.

...and I tell them that BEFORE selling them the instrument.

repairs:
I DO have some beat-up latch cases (horn, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, sax, etc.), which (along with the needed repair) I'll sell to schools for VERY LOW prices (to replace trashed zipper cases).
Typically, they are cases that came with instruments that I bought to flip. I replaced those cases with NICE or NEW cases (prior to selling those instruments), YET hung on to the sorta-OK cases (for these specific purposes).

bloke "which defines me as green, yes?"

bloke wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 8:28 am

York-aholic wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 8:11 am


That’s a lot of (former) rivets!

You need a longer drill bit.

I'll put the bit back in the drill, clamp the vice down in them, run the drill counterclockwise, and clear the bit (but you knew that).

Oh, it's a drill bit!

I thought it was a valve stem.

yeah..."production"...

I'm not going to fix one school's batch of sousaphone cases and stop (out in the non-air-conditioned part of the barn) to clean off the drilled-out rivets (from busted latches) after each one...

...particularly if I'm supporting some awkward truck-tire-sized big round P.O.S. in ONE hand while trying to drill with the OTHER hand.

Also, (the typical large square drawbolt latches - which is the style commonly installed today), I'm NOT going to buy the "Yamaha" ones, the "Jupiter" ones, the "MTS" ones, etc, etc.

I'm going to always buy a sack-full of the CHEAPEST ones.

example of a sucker price - EVEN THOUGH straight from China (gotta be careful and SHOP this crap!)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143701610630

Sadly, Ohio Travel Bag is out of stock (for quite a while, now), and the Getzen folks don't stock them at all.