Pipe bodies complete

I finished the pipe bodies this weekend, and got them all sealed tonight.  Pictures are courtesy my new iPhone 3GS which has a significantly better camera than my old iPhone 3G.  Also, I made the crank handle out of some purple heart wood I had laying around that was a gift from my father in law, that stuff is rock hard and contrasts well with the green paint on the enclosure (which shows up better in these pics as well.)

Pipes Galore

In just a couple hours tonight, I managed to get 6 more pipes complete for a new total of 8!  Only 12 more to go.    The six new pipes are on the right and are the smallest in the organ.  The next one (2nd from left) is the middle C, and the right one is the lowest note in the organ (Low F.)  The big pipes are mitered to fold into the cramped enclosure.

The bellows assembly and crank shaft are now mounted in the enclosure and the enclosure is painted a pretty green color that is not showing up in this photo because of the very orange light in the shop, will have to try and get daylight pictures taken!

Some Super Progress

I have been spending so much time in the shop, that I have not spent the time to post updates. I have done a little something almost every day, and the effort is paying off. I have seen progress in 4 key areas:

Pressure Box:  The pressure box is basically complete with the sides attached and a coat of primer.  I have not yet made the lid, but that will happen shortly.

Crank:  The crank is complete!  This is part of the project that I was most worried about because I have never done any metal work.  To be honest, this part could sufficiently be made out of a good hard wood, but I like the toughness that the metal adds.  As I did not have a welder, I was looking for an easy way to attache everything together.  My buddy Ken suggested I use Loctite 609, which is a great product and worked better than I could have imagined.  It is basically a metal glue that has a 3000 psi shear strength.  I tried my best to break it with my hands and could not, so I am sure it will work fine in the organ, as there are no significant forces there.

Pipes:  I built my first pipe today, and it sounds great!  I made the middle C (pictured here) and have started work on the biggest pipe (Low F.)  It is exciting to see progress on the pipes, as I feel the organ is coming to life!

Tracker Bar:  The tracker bar converts the holes in the music roll to actual music in the pipes.   Each of the connectors in the picture below will connect to a single pipe for the appropriate note.  The rest of the tracker bar still needs to be completed, but this is a first step!

Pressure Box

I have spent my time for today reviewing the drawings for the pressure box to be sure that I understand them and can build this correctly the first time. I hope the build can commence tomorrow.

Air Engine Complete

As I had hoped, I managed to complete the reservoir, and get it mounted to the bellows so as of this moment, the air engine is complete and operating above specifications! Not only that, it looks dangs sexy! Next step is to start on the pressure box.

Reservoir Started

I had a very productive morning today. I cut the wood for the reservoir frame and got the top and bottom glued up, cut the leather for the reservoir bellow, and finally cut the wood to connect the air bellows to the reservoir bellows. Stuff is in the garage waiting for the glue to cook. If all goes well, tomorrow I should be able to do the final glue up and have a completed air engine! Woot!

Bellows Complete!

I managed to get the leather glued to the bellows frames today, attach the valves, and I can say that the bellows are complete. They put out quite a bit of air when operated and appear to be very air tight. They also look very nice. The next step is to assemble the reservoir and attach the bellows to them. This is all very exciting! If I am lucky I can be done with this by labor day (Monday!)

More Bellows Leather

Today I glued up the leather and stiffeners for the bellows and glued the hinge material onto both bellows. They are taking shape nicely. I sanded everything smooth, and should be able to glue up the bellows tomorrow. I am creating as-built drawings in Google Sketch-Up, and hope to release plans for free once I am done. So far this has been a really fun project.

Bellows taking shape

Tonight I managed to finish the glue up on the bellows panels and glue a test bellows leather up. It appears to have worked perfectly, but the leather I selected was not as air tight as I had hoped, there are minor defects that I must not have found during the first test. The leather is 0.02" thick, which is about half of what is recommended by the pros. I contact cemented two pieces together, which brought it to the proper thickness AND eliminated the leaks.

Bellows Frames

I have cut the four basic bellows frame plates from 1/4" Baltic Birch ply and have cut 16 sticks of poplar to act as stiffening rods, to be glued to the outside edge. Hopefully I can get them glued up tomorrow and make some progress on getting the bellows leather ready for fitting. Also, I have been taking step-by-step pictures and will get them posted as soon as I download them from the camera.

Leather in hand

I was able two purchase two Tan Pig Split Glazed hides from Tandy leather this afternoon at $1.79 per square foot. It has a tight closed grain and is sufficiently thin (I believe) to work properly. It did take a while to find the perfect hides, as many of them had tiny pinholes that would leak air. I have done some blow testing with the hides I selected, and can not detect any appreciable leakage.

Some Progress

I have started working on the drawings for the organ, and have the air engine figured out. I am using a dual bellows design to feed a bellowed reservoir. In order to keep from blowing out the reservoir it will have a built in pressure relieve mechanism built in. Both the reservoir and the bellows will be covered in leather.

Plans Ordered

I stumbled across a community of DIY grinder organ builders and instantly fell in love with the concept. After doing some research, it turns out there is a gentleman from the UK called John Smith who has designed what appears to be the gold standard DIY organ for first time builders. I have decided to build an organ in style of a John Smith organ, though with some departures/customizations that I think will "kick it up a notch!"

I will be documenting the process of creating the organ on this site.