I just successfully made my first whistle out of PVC using Guido Gonzato’s guide, a low D, with complete determination. Boy it feels wonderful to make an instrument!!
I am putting the finishing touches on the whistle and was wondering how I could tidy up the inside of the holes of the whistle. Looks kind of choppy.
I do not have any power tools though my landlord might let me use his downstairs. Sandpaper isn’t really seeming to be doing the trick unless I just have to go at it like a madwoman. Any ideas?
Haha. No I haven’t. It’s a shame I didn’t pick one up at the hardware store when i was there picking everything else up. I didn’t really pre-think it out, thinking sandpaper would be good enough, and being intimidated by the different files and sizes. I’ll stop by there tomorrow. We don’t have Harbor freight around here but plenty of others. Thank you for narrowing down the file options for me!
I’d like to pass along a warning about working with PVC. I read it on one of the whistle making pages.
PVC doesn’t dissolve in the body. So, if you inhale PVC dust, it might stay there in your lungs. To be on the safe side, wear a dust mask when whistle making. I do.
the way I clean up the holes to make them round
is to tightly rool up some medium grade ‘wet & dry’ or sand paper
so it’s a tight fit in the hole and the turn the sand paper
so that it tightens further in the hole.
It will be quite tight but you’ll find if you turn it in both directions
it will round it off nicely and you can adjust the size too.
Use 400 grade wet & dry and ensure that you soak this for at least 5 minutes in luke warm water to which you have added a little amount of washing up liquid ( 5 drops per 4 pints). Keep the wet & dry moist but not running with water. This will get over the problem of PVC dust and with also smooth (old vehicle body finisher’s trick) the inside of the whistle, it will also stop the wet & dry paper from sticking to the inside to the whistle. When you are sure that the inside is smooth you can wash the whistle under running water. When the whistle is dry polish the inside with metal polish or tooth paste using a lint free cloth. Finish by washing the whistle in warm soapy water and let it dry without using any heat.
You may also wish to smooth the inside of the finger holes using this method.
any hardware store will have what we call ‘Wet & Dry’
they usually come in A4 size sheets.
I use 120 grit for getting the hole round and then
some 240 grit for finishing.
I’ll post a pic later.
The tubing I use is Polypropylene, not PVC, and boy, does it not like sandpaper! (No, it does not.) Any kind of abrading procedure on polypropylene results in ragged edges and strings of plastic.
I don’t drill the holes - I expect you have done. Instead, I start them off with a bradawl, and increase the size using the blade of a pair of scissors. I have a nice thin pair of scissors that I bought in Saudi Arabia, of all places, about twenty-five years ago. They are hairdressing scissors, and very sharp. They are just the kind of blade that is good for rounding out the insides of holes on a polypropylene tube.
So If you find sandpaper or wet-and-dry emery paper does not do the job, I recommend one blade of a long thin pair of scissors.
All good information above. I use wet-dry on a stick, the xacto knife, needle files, rifflers, jeweler’s files and some fine rat tail files. Whatever seems right at the time. I’ll add one more tool to the list but it is more for the outside finish of the holes. I use a variety of abrasive stones made for a dremel tool but held in a pin vise and merely rotated around the top of the hole by hand. Works well and does not have to be particularly aggressive with a fine stone. And the shape of the stones keeps the rough stuff away from the rest of the PVC’s finish, reducing scratches. Of course some folks just cover the PVC with masking tape before they drill and leave it on until they’ve finished everything else to protect against scratching.
And you might want to make the transition from the inner bore to the finger holes smoothish and not as angular as a straight drilled hole. That can have a desirable effect on response, etc. After drilling the holes I debur the hole on the inside of the bore using either sandpaper on a dowel or a half-round file with an appropriate diameter, easy does it. Then I work the inner edge of each hole through the hole itself with the Xacto knife is needed, followed by files and sand paper untill I get a nice smooth transition. I pay more attention to the upper edge of the hole, the one nearest the head than I do the lower edge. Only takes a minute or two for each hole.
I like Ian’s suggestion of tooth paste as a polishing compound. I used it for years on stringed instruments. Just make sure you use the plainest most generic tooth paste you can find. Unless you fear your whistle will have bad breath of be prone to cavities.
These are quiet, pretty cheap and work well. Clamp the whistle down before you drill. Try to keep the hole to just one side too.
An electrician’s deburring tool (Sears) works wells for getting rid of the nasty edges on metal tubes. I also recommend getting a small T-handle taper reamer (available @ most hardware stores) for rounding up tube holes and tweaking them to size.
You might try wrapping a wooden dowl (or even a round handle from a kitchen utensil) with sandpaper. Slide it in and out of the whistle to clean the holes.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I picked up a blade hobby knife set with numerous different blades and all kinds of other goodies, 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper, and a file set. I tweaked yp my Low D and I made another whistle but I failed. Was going for Bb but it’s more like an A but I am sure it is pretty much unplayable being so far off. It happens I suppose. I plan to make more, hopefully figuring out how to make them tuneable as well.
