Heh, nearly did that last night polishing up that piece of redwood I was talking about earlier…knocked my finger into the 2500rpm chuck while sanding. Bruised me up nice and tore a big chunk of fingernail off, though thankfully not too far into the quick.
It was at that point that I decided that midnight was probably too late to be working with dangerous machinery. I’d just gotten so excited that I was making so many tubes in a row without breakage, I just didn’t wanna stop..hehe!
Appreciate the advice though It’s not like I’m a master craftsman or anything so I’m paranoid in the garage…you wouldn’t believe the amount of material I collected off the internet before I ever considered buying a lathe.
Arrrrggghh! Man verses machine - not a good balance dude!
The Elastoplast silver oxide thingies help kill the buggies, plus a generous helping of liquid bandage next day - plus, a well known maker recommends the fingers of latex gloves to allow whistle-playing while it all heals without too much ouch!
I have a reamer being made … I’ll say no more right now mmmm Gidgeee … (oops)
Do tabor-pipes count as recorders? .. But hmm and the funny stuff happening in there and then some rocket science happens!
I’m really interested in all the rocket science we lose from century to century - I would dearely love to be let loose in the Library at Alexendria before it was burned to the ground! Analog science has never been the same since. The renaisance had so little to work with. And digital has so many singularities - black holes of ignorance.
My tubes use to cut with that deformation till I tried a differant method.
The cutter I use is a pipe/tubing cutter. Brand name General. You can get differant cutter wheels for it. The pipe cutting wheel deforms brass tube. I use the cutting wheel that is for pvc pipe. It has a sharper edge and will cut brass if you don’t push it. Put the bottom of the cutting frame in a vise to hold it. Just bring the cutting wheel into where it touches the tube and turn the brass untill it scores a line than turn the adjustment in very little. By little if you look at it like the second hand on a clock only about two minutes. Than rotate the brass again till it turns very free. Just use enough pressure to let the wheel cut. After about three adjustments you should be able to hear it getting ready to go through. Just keep turnning and it will make a very nice cut . After you get use to it becomes easy.
Actually, I was going to say something about 2 minutes on a second
hand being all the way around twice, but I then I noticed the minuet
typo. Hee. Sorry, sometimes I can’t help myself.
I’d like a lathe. It seems if you don’t have one and you aren’t a very good craftsman you’re limited to PVC and basic copper whistles. What do they generally cost?
I think its better to ask here than to go into Home Depot all excited only to find out they cost $200.
I got a micro-mark machine lathe for the fine detail work…I saved my pennies (and sold all my high end whistles) for it…it was $529.00, but so heavy that it was closer to $700 after shipping
I use a lathe to cut all of my tubing as well. It is a lot faster and neater than using the bandsaw. More consistent, too.
I have a mini-lathe that I bought from Grizzly for about the same price as the Micro-mark. Unless I am mistaken, they are made by the same mfgr. I have already outgrown it, though. I had to bore the throat out to accept 1" tubing for the low instruments. Not pretty.
Greg, can you tell how you drill the inside of the tube? I have tried boring a wood tube, but with no success at all. You use a gun drill?
From what I’ve read on www.mini-lathe.com, most 10-14" mini-lathes are made by the same company in China, so I basically shopped around until I found the best deal that day
I’ve been considering reaming out the head as well, but I haven’t had a need yet, so I’m leaving it be. It’ll work for D and C whistles, and I imagine it’ll be long time before I need to make anytihng else.
Blind drilling any long hole is a pain in the ass. I am using a gun drill, because all of the internet searches I have done point that direction. I think I’ve run across some self-centering reamer information, too, but it was sparse, and I didn’t want to trust my dollars to it unless I knew more. I drill my pilot hole with a forstner bit, with a hand drill, and just kind of push the gun drill through using the tailstock of my cheap 40" Harbor Freight wood lathe. Considering how low-tech that solution is, I usually come out pretty close to center on the opposite end, and any amount I’m off doesn’t really matter because it’ll all even out when I mount the wood on a rod and turn it on the machine lathe.
It’s not like I’m a master craftsman or anything so I’m paranoid in the garage…you wouldn’t believe the amount of material I collected off the internet before I ever considered buying a lathe. 
