Thanks guys for info an ideas.

Even when pressing down firmly with my hand in the center of the better bar with the high density foam I was unable to get all keys to bottom out.

The new motor arrives to today. I'll post some photos as soon as it's in.

By the way,what is the "12 step recovery plan"?

I built a pounder like this many years ago that worked on the same principal, pounding all the keys as a unit. I came to the same conclusion as Jim, individual pounders for each key would work better. I could never get even wear on all the keys.

It certainly made a lot of noise. I would cover the piano with blankets and leave the shop. Even standing in the driveway it made a terrible racket.

I looked for a long time to find one of those old player units that would sit above the keys. I never found one. I now use a different system that works well for me.

A dorky joke

This escalates the construction, but how about having a dedicated spring and depressor for each key,mounted on your existing rails. The spring rate would match the force needed to depress the key, and each key would be pressed independently, by a the single cross arm??

Jim Ialeggio