Not a commercial message, 'cause this one isn’t for sale.
Serpent bugged me about making a white Delrin whistle, and went so far as to send me the material. So, I started tinkering and came up with this:
I didn’t have the exotic glue required to stick this slippery plastic, so I made everything a pressure fit. The tuning slide is machined right into the body wall. The whole thing is white as the driven snow (and believe me, here in upstate NY, we know all about snow). It only looks gray because I took the pic backlit to show the translucency of the material. All dimensions are the same as my regular wooden whistles, and the sound is very similar. This was a fun and interesting exercise in lathemanship.
Maybe if they were a bit cheaper than their wooden couterparts, these could become the Busman gateway whistles. You could sell them for a reduced price and get people hooked, then they’d have no choice but to submit to WHOA and get a wooden one later on.
This is a very good idea, Paul. You could make them in white and black.
Seems to me, you don’t have to deal with the lacquering, making and assembling the metal fittings, waiting for the wood to stabilize, etc. If you can make them in batches and offer them at a significantly lower price point, you could sell a lot of them.
[quote="Seems to me, you don’t have to deal with the lacquering, making and assembling the metal fittings, waiting for the wood to stabilize, etc. If you can make them in batches and offer them at a significantly lower price point, you could sell a lot of them.
Best wishes,
Jerry[/quote]
Some parts of this whistle were easier, some tougher than working in wood. I didn’t have to use a set of metal fittings, but that meant that I had to individually make that head joint ferrule to a VERY close press-fit tolerance which took quite a bit of time. I actually wanted it a bit smaller in OD, since you can see it is somewhat thicker than the rest of the whistle. I was afraid of losing rigidity if I made it too thin. Not having to undercut and install the metal fittings is also a plus.
The lack of waiting time for wood stabilization is a definite plus. The cost of the Delrin is cheaper than some woods, higher than others. Most of the cost of a higher end whistle is in the labor, and this one took nearly as much as a wooden one. It would be nice if I could start with a stock tubing since a lot of the labor is involved in getting a solid piece turned into a thin walled tube. This is how Glenn Schultz can get away with selling his Water Weasels as reasonably as he does. I’m still experimenting (gotta find SOMETHING to do while the current batch stabilizes for a month or so…)
If a metal tuning slide is easier, then there’s no reason not to make a Delrin whistle with metal tuning slide. Possibly, you could make it so only one side of the slide is metal.
Trisha pointed me to K-Mac](http://k-mac-plastics.net/acetal-delrin-celcon-acetron-tubes.htm%22%3EK-Mac) Plastics a few months ago when I mentioned that I didn’t know of any supplier of Delrin tubes, only solid rod and sheets.
Their stock is only available in 5’ lengths, and there’s a $100 minimum order, but the stuff would be great for making whistles if they do a decent job of keeping their specifications consistent.
I’m having good luck with machining PVC, but Delrin is a much better choice… I use it for my fipple plugs.
My shop isn’t set up for large boring operations, so I depend upon the bore of my chosen stock already being good enough without the need for additional machining.
I’d hate to buy $100 worth of Delrin tube only to have it arrive and find out that it has a rough and/or inconsistent bore that needs further machining.
Hopefully you’ll check into it and see how good the stuff is, since you have the necessary tooling to refinish the bore if it’s necessary.
Another source is http://www.mcmaster.com/ Put Delrin in the Find Products box. The specs list inner diameter, outer diameter and tolerances for each.
There doesn’t seem to be a minimum order. At least, I got up to the last stage of ordering 8627K57, which is: White Delrin Hollow Rod 5/8" OD X 1/2" ID, 5’ length, $9.24 each.
This looks fun! Any makers out there have diamond tools?
High-Alumina Ceramic: Use diamond tools to machine this nonporous ceramic. Temperature range is no rated minimum to 3100°F. Flexural strength is 52,000 psi. Dielectric strength is 220 volts/mil for all except substrate squares, which have a dielectric strength of 600 volts/mil. Density is .10 lbs./cu.in. Compressive strength is 300,000 psi.
I am not only waiting with open arms for the white Delrin baby, I am also ordering some ceramic tubing… got diamond? Durn tootin’ I do!
Paul, Jerry, Gary – the proper adhesive for Delrin is a cyanoacrylate - specifically Cyberbond’s Apollo 2240, using the pretreat Boost 6010. The stuff is wondrous good, and, Gary, it will overcome slight variations in your tube diameter to +/- about -.008" - so you needn’t be quite so worried about perfection in fit. http://www.glueguru.com/Cyanoacrylates.htm#Cyberbond
I can hardly wait to see this ghostly white wonder, Paul! It goes with me (I hope) to the very next John McHaffie - hosted hoolie!
Black Delrin is available, but it’s … welllll… kinda gauche. Trying to look like wood… you know what I mean…
Bill Whedon, Owner
Serpent Music
US Plastics http://www.usplastics.com has Delrin as well a number of other Polymers and their minimum order is only $25. They also have Delrin bushing stock which already has your pilot hole in it.
There is also a gray PVC and it turns so nice and smooth in the lathe.
Hi, Brett, and thanks for the pointer to the site! I’m an old potter from way back (Laughing Dragon Pottery in Woodstock NY back in the 80s) so I’m pretty familiar with the sort of tubing McM. offers. I tried for a 4-foot length, but the only thing they had in 5/8OD x 1/2ID was 12-inchers, so I ordered a few. Blurdy hell, that stuff is expensive! holding tolerance will be an adventure, but I do have diamond cutters, so machining is a done deal - though I’ll have to run a coolant, which I haven’t bothered with on brass or aluminum. High-alumina tubing should ring like a bell! Contact me offline if you think you might be actually interested in one. I doubt they’ll become something I do regularly.
Thanks again!
Bill Whedon, Owner
Serpent Music
