Where are the base pipes? I can hear them but not see them.

The base pipes curl up inside.

The C pipe is attached to the bottom of the presure box.

Making it look great.

I put bees wax on the base pipes to seel them and stop them from going out of tune. I will wait to do this to the other pipes closer to the show.

I mitred moulding round the outside box to make it look neater. This also meant that I could then slide the back in and out using the moulding as a runner.

Sand sand sand. Then varnish to give a good finish.

I covered the back of the peacock front with green felt to hide the fibre glass back.

A good wealth of imformation.

This is a blog which I'm following. Its full of great information check it out:

http://tracker-bar.blogspot.com/

He's also given many useful tips on this blog not to be over looked.

Drilling holes in your work.

I had to cut holes in my work so that I could screw into it. This was to attach wooden blocks to the back of it.

Test test test.

To test whistles for tuning and air pressure you can cover some holes with tape.

A little short.

I've found that it would be more helpful to have a slightly larger handle so that its easier to pump the organ quicker.

Get a handel on it

I really liked these gramophone handles. So I chose to use them as the handle for my street organ. I had to work out a way to make the chosen handle the right length and attach it to the Organs crank mechanism.
I used this oil to help the drill make a hole in the handle.


After drilling a hole into the handle I could then screw into the crank mechanism and handle so that it would stay in place.

The First Play

After spending some time trying to tune the whistles with a piano I went out and brought a tuner which I found much more accurate. This is the first play of the organ.

The Front Cover Shuffle

It is important to wait until this stage to place the front covers on. This is because they should be put in slightly different places if the bellow pressure is different. You must wind the handle and find the place that the pipe plays best. You should also remember to tune the whistle which I forgot to do!

You spin me right round,... (take up spool... right round)

The spool which takes the music. The take up spool. Came unstuck. Due to the difficult position of this spool it was impossible to put a screw in on the outside. So originally I just used Araldite but I've found it doesn't stick so well to brass. So at this stage as its all inside I had to drill a large hole into the spool then get a screw into the axis. Carnage! But it now works. I think it is important to take these risks to get the best results.

Connecting pipes to board

I decided to use a very dark wood dye to colour the board which the pipes go on. Its not completely black but very dark brown. This makes a really nice contrast.

All the holes had to be put in exactly the correct place. I placed the peacock visaed on top of the pipes and pipe board to get the pipes in the right place so that they followed the shape of the peacocks. I considered using metal inserts in the pipes to reduce kinks in the pipes when connecting them to the tracker bar.

In the end I decided to not use the metal inserts as I didn't find it hard to gently bend the pipes to the tracker bar. Its like a forest of pipes down there! It is now almost impossible to get to the pipes at the back so I hope its right.
This pipe kept knocking against the connection rod so I attached a screw and an elastic band to keep it out of the way.

Do the twist

These are the mitered pipes which fit into the organ casing. Its a bit of a shame really as they are so pretty.

The tone is very slightly different after they are mitered. I think they look great and would like to experiment making more shapes in the future.

All together now

These supports are to hold the pressure box at the top and the bellows at the bottom. The section which is cut out in the corner is there so that the pressure lid can open easily.

The pressure box should fit inside the side panels. The pipe board should then also fit into the side panels. I noticed that the pipe board was wider than the pressure box. I didn't want to sand down all the pipes to fit in so I chose to redesign the casing. Now instead of the pipe board fitting inside the side panels, the pipe board goes on the front of the side panels.



This baton supports the pipe board.

The pressure box is put in. As everything fits in tight I found that as I put things together things got harder and harder to fiddle with and fix. I learnt that it is important to test everything as you go.

You can see here that I tried to make a make shift handle just to test it. This came apart quite quickly. You can also see that there is very little space to play with.

Bellow pressure 4

I used talc powder inside the bellows to make them rub less against them selves. I was also recommended to paint shellac carefully down the creases of the bellows between the card stiffeners to minimize air gaps.

This is the wooded block which used to connect the bellows to the pressure box. You can see why I replaced it!

I used contact adhesive not PVA this was must better.

Bellow pressure 3

I received many recommendations from fellow organ builders. See the comment section on this blog post: http://tracker-bar.blogspot.com/2009/04/april-showers.html

I also was very kindly offered a 2 part DVD from a man in Australia on how he made his organ. So I wasn't alone with my problem.

I decided to remake the valves to make them more efficient. I also decided to put a strip of card beneath them to make sure that the area below them was as flat as possible.

In this design there is no restrictive strap. The flap is held at each end so there is no need for one.

This is the remake of the card stiffeners. I think the card will stick better and rub away at the fabric less.

I took away the wooden cube that connected the bellows to the pressure box and used a pipe instead. This looks allot neater and should be more effective.

My final touch was to add a strip of leather accross the part of the organ that folds. This should strengthen this delicate area.

Bellow pressure 2

I had to rip into the bellows. This really set me back. The bellow cloth was compleatly destroyed. I talked to many organ builders on the internet to get there advice and was told this was the best action to take after cheacking everything. I had to buy new bellow cloth. I couildn't order the stuff I did before as it would take to long. Luckily I was told I could find and use black out cloth from most fabric shops.

I found that one of the valves had been stuck under the reservior.

Some of the styrene stiffeners had come off. I didn't want to take any chances so I set about making all new card stiffeners which would stick better and be less likely to rub on the fabric. I also desided to re make all the valves using a new method I had learnt.

Bellow presure 1

By using the water presure gauge I made I realised that the bellows were below presure. I did everything I could think of to set them right. This was a big problem.


I rearranged the pressure spring to see if this was the problem.

I cheacked for air leaks by putting a tube in my ear and feeling round for any leaks I could hear. This aplifys the sound of air escaping.

I put patches on any areas I thought were trouble.

I put sillicon every where.

I modified the spill valve by using springs to keep the valve down. I also replaced the wire at the back with springy piano wire.

Water presure gauge

This home made water pressure gauge measures the air pressure. It took me a long way to work out how to make one. There is little information on them, I suppose this is because they are so simple. I was sure that there must be more too them. It is just a tube on a board with markings up the side. You put water in the U bend and mark the place that the water falls as "0" You then measure and mark out notches up the side every 1/2 inch. You label them 1,2,3 etc.


To start with I thought that the end of the tube needed to be blocked to get an accurate reading. This was incorrect. More research unveiled that it should be unblocked and the u bend should be slightly deeper.



This is taking a pressure reading.

Putting bellows inside.

I attached a metal bracket to the bottom of the bellows so that I could connect them to the connection rods that connected them to the crank shaft.



I used two leather washers and a metal washer to allow the connection rod better movement and less noise.

The reservoir box should only be allowed to open up to 40mm so a block must be placed at this distance to make the spill valve open when they inflate 40mm.