Hi
does somebody know wo is making bellows with inside hinge?
like the one Tommy Keane uses in piper’s choice 1
Carel
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That’s a Geoff Wooff set Tommy is playing there very similar to my own. Seth Gallagher makes a similar bellows hinge. I have a Quinn bellows with a lovely hinge but it’s not his standard thing to do. I think a fair few makers offer it as an option these days?!!
Have a look in the “Pictures of your Pipes” section, there are bound to be some shown there.
Pat.
I feel honored to get to answer this first…
Geoff Wooff makes amd made that bellows. It’s a Wooff set BTW.
All the best,
blast you D’arcy!!! (Shaking fist in the air).
Mwa Ha HAAAAaaaaaaa 
I just went back about 20 or so pages in the “Pictures of Your Pipes” section and not a sign of a bellows hinge 
Here’s a photo of my K&Q bellows when it was but a baba… a thing of beauty!
Pat.
Hey Pat,
Do you know how Mr Quinn makes that intricate beehive looking air intake on the bellows? It looks like quite a time consuming piece of work.
How do you find hinged bellows? I’ve been told by a piper who used to own one that they can be squeaky!
Hi Andrew,
They look very nice don’t they?
To make an air intake like that you would use an indexing ring on your lathe, and an ornamental drilling spindle set up at a variable angle for each concehtric ring of holes. You work out how many divisions you need to drill to fit the circumference of the intake, based on the sixe of and space between the holes. Then you drill the hole and move the indexing ring round to the next position and so on.
When I get a bit of time I’ll knock one up on the lathe and take some photos.
He makes them using time and patience… and a drillpress and self made jig. Maybe Mr. Quinn would care to speak of such matters? 
I just saw Mike’s post. I think he covers it well. If I remember correctly David didn’t have access to a drilling spindle set so devised a method himself.
I like them. I’ve never had a problem with squeeking and I’ve been using a hinged bellows for almost 10 years now. I think your friend may have had a metal plate style hinge… I’ve never seen one of these that I thought was a good idea.
Pat.
Joe Kennedy also makes those metal hinges on bellows by request.
djm
I didn’t think that I would like the feel of a stiff bellows hinge, but they are really quite nice. However, I have found that the bellows with the external hinges (on the outside of the paddles) can scratch up the drones, or the common stock if one isn’t careful when strapping on the bellows, plugging in the blowpipe, moving around, etc.
My Benson bellows simply has a leather tie as a hinge. This as opposed to the more common piece of leather. While I was a little skeptical of this at first, it is really quite nice as if it does loosen, I can easily retire the leather. I’ve had the leather on the more traditional style bellows stretch and have had to go to the trouble of replacing it.
I know this is a thread about metal hinges, but I thought it might be interesting to talk about other hinge designs as well.
The one problem I have been having with this bellows is the air intake valve is a single hole which occasionally sucks my shirt in resulting in the very odd vacuum feeling when you are trying to pump. I’ve thought about just drilling four small holes on the sides to fix this as there is enough room there. Or I’ll steal D’Arcy’s next time I see him.
Oi!
Don’t knock it 'till you try it… it doesn’t feel stiff at all. It is smooth. Infact the reason I like it so much is that it is efficient. The hinge combined with good stiff leather sides (or layers of leather) can make for a very efficient bellows with no energy wasted. We need all the help we can get! Also, on the scratching thing… I haven’t found this to be the case. Although I am very careful with my pipes and pack them away in such a way that they won’t damage themselves when being transported. It amazes me sometimes to see how some people pack their pipes, practically jumping on the lid to close it! 
Pat.
jose scotte is referring to the external hinge system like the Marc van Daal bellows I have
But I never had problems like scrathing drones or stock
I think the internal hinge looks much nicer
anyway, thanks for the information
Right, I wasn’t knocking it, as I have tried them, and I rather like them for the efficiency you describe. I was simply stating that the metal edge had a tendency (when I use them) to scratch up the drones. This may be something particular to how I move when I am strapping on, plugging in, writhing when I play (referencing “oh the faces we make”), who knows. Just my little observation, from my very little part of the world. I have been thinking about pursuing some bellows with the internal metal hinge, which for me would seem to address this problem, for me.
Cheers
Jose’ Scotte’ Este’
“Hair Designer for the Stars”
Actually, no thread about bellows hinges (did you ever think you’d see the day!?) would ever be complete without mentioning the Taylor Brothers. They were many’s the bellows makers inspiration.
Pat.
Does anybody have any pics of Taylor-hinges?
You can catch a quick glimpse here:
David Quinn would be the man to take on this subject in earnest. He wrote a wonderful dissertation on bellows for Iris an bPiobaire The Pipers’ Review a few years back http://www.irishpipersclub.org/ and may be archived in the “other” forum. I’ll have a rummage around and see if I can find it there.
Here are the best photos I can find of a view of the actual hinge of a Taylor bellows:
Seán McKiernan playing Patsy Touhey’s Taylor set:
Close up:
Pat.
That’s a “Tayloresque” set, not actually Taylor construction, despite what that page says. See its owner’s thoughts on the matter here.
Good catch - I guess you can’t believe everything you see on the Internet