Hi,
I have been toying with the idea of making a true conical PVC flute, finely got around to the “prototype”. It is even in tune!
Here is how I did it…
Turned a old mop handle on the lathe to the proper taper using my new Dixon flute as a model.
Heated up a piece of 1/2 PVC until it was like silly puddy, using my PVC oven.
Wearing heavy leather gloves I forced the “mandrel” into the pipe and streched it out so it would be tight on the mandrel.
Then, ran cold water over it to cool.
It was a little hard getting the dowel out of the pipe… The PVC shrinks when it cools.
I made another Mandrel for the head joint, and molded that too.
Due to the shrinkage the bore is reduced from .7540in to .6950, I think I will have to oversize the mandrel to allow for shrinkage. Also I think I will make the mandrel out of steel next time, and grease it up.
But all in all it made a nice sounding flute! Jon
Edited because of stupidity!
[ This Message was edited by: Jon C. on 2003-01-12 02:37 ]
Jon, Great Idea…
I’ve heat formed plastic hobby parts (usually vacuumform) and noticed stretched areas work well and compressed (swedged?) areas often winkle.
About a year ago I put some time into a plastic reed project and stopped for lack of time and interest. There is some relevence to your project so I uploaded some images for conversation and have a few questions:
When you shaped the PVC around the mandrel did you get a distorted surface like this? http://www.angar.net/reeds/PIC00009.jpg
I was able to resolve the wrinkles by using a 2 part mould instead of pressing the heated plastic over a one part mould. http://www.angar.net/reeds/PIC00002.jpg
The result was a more uniform bend http://www.angar.net/reeds/PIC00005.jpg http://www.angar.net/reeds/PIC00006.jpg
If you want to repeat the process with more accuracy would you be able to make a 2 part mould?
Hi Ya’ll,
Thanks for your response.
I will try to make a mp3 to post. I was surprised how well the flute sounds.
I will make a whistle next, it should be pretty easy, if I buy a ready made fipple for it. It should make a nice playing whistle.
Tony, to answer your questions:
I didn’t have any problems with the wrinkle factor, on the conical section, as I was expanding the pipe, the foot stretched out nicely over the mandrel. I did think about making a two piece mold, but I don’t think it would be nessasary for this section.
Making the head joint was the most difficult.
I streched the pipe over the headjoint mandrel. When I got to the socket I had to push the pipe on the mandrel and it wrinkled a little. I ended up reheating it and melting it on the mandrel again. It might be best to have a outer mold to fit it into, this could be made by cutting a pipe length wise and “clam shelling” it over the outside of the pipe.
All and all it was success and joy.
I will post a picture of the flute when I get a chance. Jon
Thats a good looking flute. I’ll post pictures of my Susato Whistle later tonight. It’s kinda wierd, it is conical on the INSIDE, and straight on the outside.
I have a conical and a straight, I’ll put them side by side in the pictures.
Congradulations again on the flute, it looks good.
Thanks for the comments.
The next step is to make a mandrel out of steel. A flute-low whistle combo would be nice… I have to work on the fipple, maybe a delrin insert would be cool and some copper rings and…
Eric, do you go trudging through the tundra of Alaska in Birkinstocks? jon
On 2003-01-14 23:20, Jon C. wrote:
Eric, do you go trudging through the tundra of Alaska in Birkinstocks? > > jon
Absolutely! I’ve never been out in 30 below, but regularly in the -10 range. I just wear thick socks. I love my Lands End super thick socks. It isn’t so much temp dependent, but snow depth dependent
When my children are grown they will hear stories about how I carried them on my shoulders through the wilds of Alaska, knee deep in snow, 40 below, up hill there and back wearing my Birks
Hi Eric,
To answer your question on the stopper, I usually use a wine cork, but on this flute I used a dowel, since I did’nt have my corks with me, at the time. Jon
I can see you know slogging through the slush with birks!
Jon
