Making first whistle, can I get just a little hand holding?

[rosehebrew]

Well, I got together my materials which are,
A decent dremel tool
polymer clay
a few shower curtain rods for alto whistles,
My old c generation I plan on using for a tube for a new C.

I want to make my own head for a tune-able whistle design. I have a few resources saved on my computer that says how long the spaces need to be between the fipple shelf and the holes. I am not sure how you tell how big the holes should be though. I have a calculator by one maker but one I could not get to work on my computer at all. I want to start and am kind of paralyzed for some reason. I have plenty of pvc clay to make the head so it is not like I am stuck if the first one doesn't work out. I plan on making it in a style similar to susatos but hopefully more chiffy in nature.
I want to make a few whistles because besides being a very do it yourself person I have a need for a whistle with different uncommon scales and I do need some more keys and I just do not have unlimited money to keep buying whistles. I play a lot of different music that requires softer and louder voices of whistles plus some middle eastern music. I also want to make a few whistles with just the pentatonic scale so my friends that are convinced they can't make music will have fun. Maybe they will get sucked into whistles like I did.
Please don't yell at me for being stupid because I will usually tinker till I prevail whatever the obstacle. If I was a super whistle maker I would not have the questions.
Thanks for any help,
Rosemary

[heyjude]

This might be the best route to take to learn whistle making-

http://www.ggwhistles.com/howto/LowTechWhistle.pdf

Then after you have some experience you can try different materials and design to your hearts content. Enjoy the ride!

Jude

[rosehebrew]

This might be the best route to take to learn whistle making-

http://www.ggwhistles.com/howto/LowTechWhistle.pdf

Then after you have some experience you can try different materials and design to your hearts content. Enjoy the ride!

Jude

Thanks for the link. It is the one I have to work with that I have looked at a lot and been "pondering" in my spare brain-time. The only different thing I am doing is making the fipple head out of Pvc myself instead of relying on commercial pvc pipe. I am convinced that I can easily make it thinner and better, more like a commercial whistle. It really just consists of making my own plastic tube before I go on. Not hard at all if you make it around a pipe the same diameter that your whistle body is. Shoot in the the case of the C whistle I will just bake it on that body so not big deal there. I am really excited about making the windway slanted though. I am also considering ways of making a conical bore out of the polymer clay. I could make my own form but that is the future after I learn a bunch.

[brewerpaul]

Good luck Rose-- you're in for an exciting experience. Keep us posted.
If you're not used to it, be very careful with the Dremel. At top speed it runs at something like 27,000RPM and can do a lot of damage. The key is using light pressure, letting the speed of the tool do the work, not brute force.

[rosehebrew]

Good luck Rose-- you're in for an exciting experience. Keep us posted.
If you're not used to it, be very careful with the Dremel. At top speed it runs at something like 27,000RPM and can do a lot of damage. The key is using light pressure, letting the speed of the tool do the work, not brute force.

Thank you for the warning, that was sweet.
Yes I am relatively new to using the Dremel. I thought I could use some practice working with plastics such as cutting and sanding so I made a few things I needed around the house from recyclables. I am a little nervous about using it to cut off the metal tubing. I am not sure what cutoff head I need. I have used the cut-off red ring things, and already broke one so not sure but maybe I should get one of the fiberglass reinforced ones for that. Just a thought but they are pricey. I wear glassed with plastic lenses so I have some eye protection, I wouldn't want to use it without them on.

[Thomas-Hastay]

Here is a "safe" site to download a good whistle calculator program...
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/ ... ator.shtml

I can vouch for this one (Phill van Leersum is a long time respected member of C&F) but there are several others out there to try as well (Google "Whistle Calculator Program")

[brewerpaul]

Those fibreglass discs are quite good and long lasting. They're what I use to cut my windways. I don't have much experience using them on metal though.
Get yourself a good dust mask too. Grinding at high speeds will generate a lot of particles and/or smoke depending on what material you're grinding. You don't want that stuff in your lungs.

[AvienMael]

X2 on the fiberglass reinforced cutting wheels - they make the Dremel worth owning all by themselves - and metal is all that I use them on. Those other ones that usually come with the tool will do in a pinch, but they usually end up all over the place, and they're dangerous IMO. Good advice to wear a dust mask when using the cutting attachments too, lest you end up with a nose and mouth full of grit. Go very slow when cutting plastic and wood with shaping bits - sometimes you almost have to hold the tool back from biting into the material and botching the job.


Patience, patience, patience... more than anything else. Sometimes patience can be worth more to you than experience and skill combined.

As for hole size... start small, even when using a calculator. I always start with 1/16" holes and slowly step them up. Check tuning and intonation as you go. Often I have found that I am happy with the tuning without going to the full diameter that I intended on every hole. This technique can also prevent you from botching the whole thing if your hole centers aren't perfect to start with. As for choosing hole sizes... start with the sizes on a whistle you already have. Plug them into the calculator and see if the spacing works for you based on your wall thickness. Spend some time playing with the program and laying them out on a length of tubing. If you haven't been playing very long, or if you don't use a lot of half-holing in your playing, then size may not be that important to you. Head design and quality will have some impact on tuning and hole sizing. It may be better to start with a head from an existing whistle and try to mate a body of your own making to it, in order to get a feel for things, but remember, heads and bodies aren't necessarily interchangeable just because they are capable of being physically coupled together.

Take notes on everything you do, on every whistle you make - what your original design is to start, any changes you make along the way (even if accidental), any further changes you make make after spending some time with the whistle. Also keep notes on the results, good and bad.

[DrPhill]

Here is a "safe" site to download a good whistle calculator program...
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/ ... ator.shtml

I can vouch for this one (Phill van Leersum is a long time respected member of C&F) but there are several others out there to try as well (Google "Whistle Calculator Program")

Thanks for the recommendation, Thomas-Hastay.
It might be better to go direct to the real host at SourceForge (see link in my signature line). That way you get to see all the other free software on the site. When I am looking for software I always go first to SourceForge - it is all free and all (I think) open-source.

TWCalc by Daniel Bingamon (a longer serving and highly respected member of this forum and maker of whistles) works well, as does Flutomat. I do not have their links to hand but Google will.

@Rosemary: you are going to make mistakes. Mistakes are just free lessons in how not to do something. As long as you do not harm yourself then fill the bin and carry on. I have made a whistle, and it is a great feeling being able to play a tune on it. I and it are just about good enough to get away with playing in public, which is quite a buzz.

[rosehebrew]

Wow, thanks to you all for the advise. It is so great to learn from knowledgeable people when embarking on a new adventure. I do have a question though about drilling the holes in metal with the dremal. I don't have a drill press which I am sure would be ideal. The question is I guess is "How would you do it"? I have the stone like attachments and a small reg drill bit. The first material I will be using is aluminum. I am pretty sure that the diamond bits would not be good because I would think that it would clog them up. I guess I've got the newbie dremal blues.

Oh another thing I wondered. When you enlarge your holes how do you know when it is right? And do you enlarge it so that the edge is getting bigger toward the "bell note" so that it will not change the pitch of the hole? Maybe that is a dumb question from a super newbie so sorry about that. I am going to be making some later in different scales so I won't have a whistle to compare it to at all.
Thanks, you guys and you too Judy are some of the very nice people on Chiff.

[DrPhill]

I am far from expert, and I work in relatively cheap, relatively soft plastics but here is my take.......

Wow, thanks to you all for the advise. It is so great to learn from knowledgeable people when embarking on a new adventure. I do have a question though about drilling the holes in metal with the dremal. I don't have a drill press which I am sure would be ideal. The question is I guess is "How would you do it"?

When I started I drilled holes with a hand drill, putting the whistle in a vice. Alright for a single-cut hole, but enlarging it got a bit tricky. I used a 'countersink' to enlarge the hole, which made it bigger all round. I think this is what you really want. The problem with a countersink is that at large hole diameters (relative to tube bore) it starts making ovals, with the long axis along the axis of the whistle tube. I now use a drill press, and the results are far better. My drill press was just a bottom-of-the-range one, but it was worth it.

I have the stone like attachments and a small reg drill bit. The first material I will be using is aluminum. I am pretty sure that the diamond bits would not be good because I would think that it would clog them up. I guess I've got the newbie dremal blues.

Oh another thing I wondered. When you enlarge your holes how do you know when it is right?

.
You can use a tuner. There are plenty out there, and the downloaded version of TWJCalc has its own built in tuner (sorry, blowing own trumpet there).

And do you enlarge it so that the edge is getting bigger toward the "bell note" so that it will not change the pitch of the hole? Maybe that is a dumb question from a super newbie so sorry about that. I am going to be making some later in different scales so I won't have a whistle to compare it to at all.
Thanks, you guys and you too Judy are some of the very nice people on Chiff.

OK, here is what I do. (Bear in mind that my whistles are two-piece so I dont waste a head every time I blox up a body).

• 1: Use TWJCalc to calculate the hole sizes/positions. It is easiest to have a set of drill bits to work to rather than trying for arbitrary sizes.
  2: cut the tube to slightly longer than calculated, and reduce the size slowly until the bell note is in tune.
  3: Drill the lowest hole at the right size in the right place. Check the tuning. Make a note of whether it is sharp, flat, or acceptable. If it is sharp, mask a bit of the hole with masking tape until it is in tune. If it is flat, enlarge the hole in all directions bit by bit until it is in tune.
  4: Drill the next hole. Repeat tuning procedure.

You now have a prototype. Any hole that was too sharp need to be moved a tad down the whistle or reduce the hole size.
Any hole that was too flat needs moving up the whistle or enlarging. So choose your new hole sizes/positions and start again.....

After a while you get a pile of waste and a good idea of where the holes need to be. Then you can make the real whistle body, with all holes drilled once, so that they are circular with nice clean edges.

There are plenty of other ways of doing this.

HTH

[rosehebrew]

When I started I drilled holes with a hand drill, putting the whistle in a vice. Alright for a single-cut hole, but enlarging it got a bit tricky. I used a 'countersink' to enlarge the hole, which made it bigger all round. I think this is what you really want. The problem with a countersink is that at large hole diameters (relative to tube bore) it starts making ovals, with the long axis along the axis of the whistle tube.

HTH

Could someone please tell me what a "countersink" is. Surely it is not that stupid thing I end up standing in front of everyday, at least I hope not.

[hans]

http://www.screwfix.com/p/countersink-h ... haft/11311

[DrPhill]

http://www.screwfix.com/p/countersink-h ... haft/11311

Thanks Hans, I had signed off the net when that query came in. I have an 18mm diameter countersink - but then I am making some huge holes.

[hans]

I recommend use of a drill press, or drill stand with a power drill, and some device to hold the pipe, and using standard HSS drill bits for drilling alu pipe, increasing the diameter gradually till you get the desired tuning.

I don't use a dremel much, my most used tool is a half-round fine needle file!