Post by jaco on May 4, 2008 8:45:57 GMT
Wind chimes
Just to show that I have not been totally bone idle lazy ……….
(made 2 of them)
Stock
Mahogany – about 115mm x 22mm x 240mm
Bubinga – any scrap 70mm x 20mm x 150mm
It needs to be noted that this is an extremely machine intensive project!
(It’s the only way to get rid of the spiders and webs)
Thickness – set machine to 0.5mm less than the thickness of the Mahogany board. Do multiple passes, adjusting the gap, till board is about 20mm thick.
Planer – Set the planer top to just take off half a hair and smooth the board.
Table saw – rip the mahogany to a width of about 110mm
Not an important step, just to use the machine, can be skipped.
RAS – cut the Mahogany in the middle. You now have 2 pieces 120mm x 110mm
Lets call this part A
Cut the Bubinga in the middle. You now have 2 pieces 75mm x 70mm
Lets call this part B
Find the middle point on A and B, mark carefully, as this is where the drill bit of the hole saw will go.
Hole saw – need one with an ID of at least 100mm for part A and 60mm for part B
Pedestal drill – using the hole saws, cut out the 2 discs from the Mahogany and the 2 from the Bubinga.
You now need 2 x 6mm dowels to line up and join the discs, 1 A + 1 B.
Use a waterproof glue, and glue the Bubinga disc to the Mahogany disc, cross grain, for strength, with the dowel through the middle.
Repeat for second set. You now have 2 AB sets.
While this is curing, find 2 bits of scrap hardwood, 20mm thick, 70mm x 70mm
This will be for the clapper.
Using a hole saw, about 50 – 55mm ID, drill out 2 discs. Call this part C.
(at this point there is a 6 beer break waiting for the glue to dry)
Lathe – Mount an AB set on the lathe, and round over the edges, don’t get carried away as you want to retain the 100mm diameter. Repeat for second AB set.
Mount part C on the lathe, and do some shaping on the disk, maintaining a 3mm ridge in the middle. This will be the part that strikes the pipes.
Glue a 6mm dowel into each C part (looks like a spinning top).
Taking AB, divide the A into quarters. On each quarter line, measure in 10mm from the edge, marking the spot.
Drill a 2mm hole through A at each marked spot, this will be for the line holding the pipes.
Take the clapper, once glue has set, and drill a 1mm hole right through the middle of the dowel, this is where the line will go through from AB to the wind-catcher.
Orbital Sander (mounted upside down in a vice jig) – sand all the parts till smooth.
The parts are ready for Danish oiling.
Time consuming, messy and another few beers.
While the oil is curing, time to look for the pipes.
Any aluminium and copper pipes. The thinner the wall of the pipe the better.
The lengths depended on what I could find, but not less than 200mm for the shortest one.
The longest one is double the length of the shortest and the other 2 sort of fit somewhere in between.
Drill a 2mm hole through each pipe.
The distance from the top of the pipe to the hole depends on how you are going to string up the pipes.
Individual hanging, like mine, the hole is 20mm from the top, and the line is then fed through this hole to the hole in A.
Where you are looping through the pipe, i.e. the pipe is suspended on the line between 2 A holes, then the 2mm pipe hole can be up to 80mm from the edge.
Polish the pipes using Brasso and 0000 steel wool.
Another few coats of Danish oiling.
Time consuming, messy and another few beers.
FINAL ASSEMBLY
I used 1mm fishing gut for the line.
1 Brass cup hook, 20mm screwed into the middle of A, into the dowel. This will be used to hook it onto something outside.
1 Brass cup hook, 10mm screwed into the middle of B (base), into the dowel. This is where the clapper hangs.
Using the gut, thread it through the pipe and the hole in A, so that the top of the pipe hangs about 80mm below the hole in A.
When all 4 pipes have been ‘hung’, the semi-complete unit can now be hung up for final ‘tuning’.
Take a length of gut, make a small loop which hooks onto the base cup hook. Feed this through the hole in the clapper, long enough so that the clapper connects on the bottom quarter mark of the shortest pipe. Tie a knot in the gut, move the clapper around and see if it sounds right against the pipes. Tune it by moving the clapper up or down.
When OK, double knot the gut.
Last thing needed is the wind catcher. Used a 6mm piece of ply, cut into a triangle of about 120mm x 100mm x ??.
Drill a 2mm hole near the top corner. This also treated with Danish oil. It is then attached to the clapper gut, so that it hangs about 100mm below the longest pipe.
Refer to the picture for more confusion.
(apologies to the Router for not featuring)
Total time – about 2 hours actual work, 24 hours for the oil curing.
Total cost – few scraps of wood, gut and maybe buying some pipe and half case of Windhoek.
Result – a very pleasant sounding wind chime, hung under the eaves of the outbuilding. Catches any breeze.
The second one, used longer pipes for a different sound, and is hung a few metres away from the first one.
Can hear them when working in the garage or workshop.
Cheers
Phil
Just to show that I have not been totally bone idle lazy ……….
(made 2 of them)
Stock
Mahogany – about 115mm x 22mm x 240mm
Bubinga – any scrap 70mm x 20mm x 150mm
It needs to be noted that this is an extremely machine intensive project!
(It’s the only way to get rid of the spiders and webs)
Thickness – set machine to 0.5mm less than the thickness of the Mahogany board. Do multiple passes, adjusting the gap, till board is about 20mm thick.
Planer – Set the planer top to just take off half a hair and smooth the board.
Table saw – rip the mahogany to a width of about 110mm
Not an important step, just to use the machine, can be skipped.
RAS – cut the Mahogany in the middle. You now have 2 pieces 120mm x 110mm
Lets call this part A
Cut the Bubinga in the middle. You now have 2 pieces 75mm x 70mm
Lets call this part B
Find the middle point on A and B, mark carefully, as this is where the drill bit of the hole saw will go.
Hole saw – need one with an ID of at least 100mm for part A and 60mm for part B
Pedestal drill – using the hole saws, cut out the 2 discs from the Mahogany and the 2 from the Bubinga.
You now need 2 x 6mm dowels to line up and join the discs, 1 A + 1 B.
Use a waterproof glue, and glue the Bubinga disc to the Mahogany disc, cross grain, for strength, with the dowel through the middle.
Repeat for second set. You now have 2 AB sets.
While this is curing, find 2 bits of scrap hardwood, 20mm thick, 70mm x 70mm
This will be for the clapper.
Using a hole saw, about 50 – 55mm ID, drill out 2 discs. Call this part C.
(at this point there is a 6 beer break waiting for the glue to dry)
Lathe – Mount an AB set on the lathe, and round over the edges, don’t get carried away as you want to retain the 100mm diameter. Repeat for second AB set.
Mount part C on the lathe, and do some shaping on the disk, maintaining a 3mm ridge in the middle. This will be the part that strikes the pipes.
Glue a 6mm dowel into each C part (looks like a spinning top).
Taking AB, divide the A into quarters. On each quarter line, measure in 10mm from the edge, marking the spot.
Drill a 2mm hole through A at each marked spot, this will be for the line holding the pipes.
Take the clapper, once glue has set, and drill a 1mm hole right through the middle of the dowel, this is where the line will go through from AB to the wind-catcher.
Orbital Sander (mounted upside down in a vice jig) – sand all the parts till smooth.
The parts are ready for Danish oiling.
Time consuming, messy and another few beers.
While the oil is curing, time to look for the pipes.
Any aluminium and copper pipes. The thinner the wall of the pipe the better.
The lengths depended on what I could find, but not less than 200mm for the shortest one.
The longest one is double the length of the shortest and the other 2 sort of fit somewhere in between.
Drill a 2mm hole through each pipe.
The distance from the top of the pipe to the hole depends on how you are going to string up the pipes.
Individual hanging, like mine, the hole is 20mm from the top, and the line is then fed through this hole to the hole in A.
Where you are looping through the pipe, i.e. the pipe is suspended on the line between 2 A holes, then the 2mm pipe hole can be up to 80mm from the edge.
Polish the pipes using Brasso and 0000 steel wool.
Another few coats of Danish oiling.
Time consuming, messy and another few beers.
FINAL ASSEMBLY
I used 1mm fishing gut for the line.
1 Brass cup hook, 20mm screwed into the middle of A, into the dowel. This will be used to hook it onto something outside.
1 Brass cup hook, 10mm screwed into the middle of B (base), into the dowel. This is where the clapper hangs.
Using the gut, thread it through the pipe and the hole in A, so that the top of the pipe hangs about 80mm below the hole in A.
When all 4 pipes have been ‘hung’, the semi-complete unit can now be hung up for final ‘tuning’.
Take a length of gut, make a small loop which hooks onto the base cup hook. Feed this through the hole in the clapper, long enough so that the clapper connects on the bottom quarter mark of the shortest pipe. Tie a knot in the gut, move the clapper around and see if it sounds right against the pipes. Tune it by moving the clapper up or down.
When OK, double knot the gut.
Last thing needed is the wind catcher. Used a 6mm piece of ply, cut into a triangle of about 120mm x 100mm x ??.
Drill a 2mm hole near the top corner. This also treated with Danish oil. It is then attached to the clapper gut, so that it hangs about 100mm below the longest pipe.
Refer to the picture for more confusion.
(apologies to the Router for not featuring)
Total time – about 2 hours actual work, 24 hours for the oil curing.
Total cost – few scraps of wood, gut and maybe buying some pipe and half case of Windhoek.
Result – a very pleasant sounding wind chime, hung under the eaves of the outbuilding. Catches any breeze.
The second one, used longer pipes for a different sound, and is hung a few metres away from the first one.
Can hear them when working in the garage or workshop.
Cheers
Phil
