Here’s my semi-occasional commercial post. This month has been busy chasing gear for and re-arraigning the shop to accommodate it, so this is really indirect whistle content.
The main roadblock to the development of Parks whistles in additional keys was the lack of equipment to make them on. That has been rectified with the arrival of a 1984 vintage Emco Maximat V10-P, which also has a nice mill attached to it.
My blog (link on top of my web sitehttp://www.parkswhistles.com) tells and shows more about the adventure of getting it out of the basement in Ohio and driving it home to Florida.
Something I added to my web site is a Tune Library, which is also a link at the top of the site. At the moment I have two tunes written by Greg Bacon which I have transcribed to ABC format and posted with his blessing and encouragement. Check them out, they are cool tunes. To have a listen to them played as a set, visit
If you run across other tunes that don’t have ABC for them (or you have run across other tunes and MTGuru has given you the ABC) let me know and I can post the ABC there. If I can figure it out that is.
Carey, you lucky boy! I have serious mill envy. Thanks for giving me the itch and tremours again. Looks like a nice set-up. And 100V, single phase to boot. What’s the first development planned to come off of the new machine?
Another revision of my hole drilling jig My current one only lets me do four templates, and I’m maxed out.
Since I’ve posted about it I’ve been reminded about the Bb I promised to work up. And some folks have suggested I make something in brass or wood. Or Delrin.
Oh, and I’m going to make a new head joint for my nach Meyer flute too.
Oh, and Feadoggie, if you think the photos are exciting, you should be standing next to it when I spin the lathe up to 2000 rpm. Pure music! I wonder if I could record it? hmm…
Sounds like a lot of fun stuff. I’ve got four lathes but have not “fallen” into a milling machine yet. Sounds like you had good fortune coming into this machine. I was amused by the blog about moving it. My lower back feels for you. I am assuming this a a larger lathe than you were using as well. You’ve got serious boring capacity with a 5" x 25" bed. What’s the spindle bore, 20mm or so?
Exactly 20. I would have liked 25. I know, never satisfied!
Yeah, that’s what the reality will be. I have to get used to the lathe for a while before I try too many new things. And folks have been waiting for A and Bb for a while now. Not to mention the low D’s.
My current one only lets me do four templates, and I’m maxed out.