Where is a good place to buy delrin for making a whistle?

[waltsweet]

I just found the company below. Convenient, no minimum, and free shipping!

http://www.musicmedic.com/catalog/produ ... rs200.html

[scottie]

Right Walt-- I use a gundrill with a compressed air feed which both cools the drill and plastic, and blows the chips out.

For the original poster-- if you're just experimenting, you can make wooden fipples from dowel. Get the dowel just a bit oversize and chuck a short piece in a drill press. Spin it and sand it down right in the drill press. Shoot for a pressure fit in your PVC tubing.

Thanks for the information. I will probably do that since I am working away from home and have limited resources and tools. I do have a lath at home but I need to still get a motor to drive it. I know it has about four positions for a drive belt to run the unit at different speeds. I will also have to buy some late tools for cutting the wood or delrin etc. when I decide to do this at home. Until then I may do as you say with the wood dowel and sanding it to fit tightly in the pvc pipe. Do you have to coat the wooden dowel with anything to prevent moisture from getting into the wood and swelling it which I would think might decrease the airway?

Thanks,
Scottie

[Tommy]

Have you found a good source you would like to share?

Coating a wood plug with super glue prevents moisture from changing the surface.

A delrin/acetal plug costs more but is less work.

[retired]

Scottie - I've tried making wooden dowel fipple plugs and between the sanding and coating them, I much prefer casting my own out of polyester resin. Just take about 1 1/2" of the pipe you're using, coat the inside with chapstick, cover one end with masking tape and fill with catalysed resin. Stand it in a can of water about 3/4" deep to absorb heat, and you wind up with a perfect fit, very sandable fipple plug. After you cut to length and sand the ends, you can sand down the windway to size. I use neoprene cement to bond the plug to the pipe. You can even use pigment to make the resin any color you want.

[Feadoggie]

I much prefer casting my own out of polyester resin.

That's a good suggestion for a first whistle build.

I described my process here. And there is no need for a commercial release agent, as retired points out, you can coat the inside of the mold with auto wax, furniture wax or PAM for that matter. A thin coat is all that is needed, make sure it is smooth.

Another decent method for a first build is to use Sculpey or another polymer clay as the plug. It is basically a soft and malleable PVC. You bake it to make it hard. You can mold in patterns by rolling various colors together. Again use a length of your whistle pipe as a mold. I bake it in a toaster oven outside to prevent any problems from off-gassing but jewelry makers bake it in their kitchen ovens all the time apparently. YMMV

Until then I may do as you say with the wood dowel and sanding it to fit tightly in the pvc pipe.

Be careful, a tight fit is probably not what you want in PVC/CPVC. It can be stretched and will expand if the fit is too tight. That will mess with the geometry between the bottom of the blade and the floor of the windway. (Unless your design is different than most.) You are looking for a firm slip fit for the plug.

Feadoggie

[DrPhill]

Sorry if I cause a slight digression here, but.......

How stable is Delrin? Does it suffer from heat (ie back of the car in full sun)? Does it perish? Does it get brittle? Does it require any special care? Are there chemicals to avoid.

I did a quick web search and turned up very little info, so thanks in advance for any info.

[Feadoggie]

How stable is Delrin? Does it suffer from heat (ie back of the car in full sun)? Does it perish? Does it get brittle? Does it require any special care? Are there chemicals to avoid.

Well, how do I put this? Your car wouldn't work if delrin didn't hold up to the rigors of heat, cold and chemicals. It is a common self-lubricating bearing material (replacement for brass and other metals) and it is used all over the engine compartment of many cars. It is tough stuff.

One of my favorite uses of delrin was the Simplex bicycle rear derailleur back in the late sixities early seventies. Remember those?


Here's DuPont's website for it.

Feadoggie

[Denny]

I seem to have a vague recollection of a few miles with one...

[DrPhill]

How stable is Delrin? Does it suffer from heat (ie back of the car in full sun)? Does it perish? Does it get brittle? Does it require any special care? Are there chemicals to avoid.

Well, how do I put this? Your car wouldn't work if delrin didn't hold up to the rigors of heat, cold and chemicals. It is a common self-lubricating bearing material (replacement for brass and other metals) and it is used all over the engine compartment of many cars. It is tough stuff.

One of my favorite uses of delrin was the Simplex bicycle rear derailleur back in the late sixities early seventies. Remember those?


Here's DuPont's website for it.

Feadoggie

Thanks Feadoggie, so if I had a whistle made from Delrin I could largely ignore maintenance issues etc. I had an idea that was the case from various comments made on this forum, but wanted to make sure of my facts.

[Feadoggie]

Well you should still keep the windway and blade clean so that it performs optimally. But sure, delrin (or acetal) is one of those materials that doesn't require any real care and feeding.

Feadoggie

[UncleChuck]

I use interstate plastics here: http://www.interstateplastics.com/

They also have storefronts in many cities.

-=c=-

[kkrell]

Sorry if I cause a slight digression here, but.......

How stable is Delrin? Does it suffer from heat (ie back of the car in full sun)? Does it perish? Does it get brittle? Does it require any special care? Are there chemicals to avoid.

I did a quick web search and turned up very little info, so thanks in advance for any info.

Specs are here:

http://plastics.dupont.com/plastics/pdf ... _11_06.pdf

[JfW]

I just found the company below. Convenient, no minimum, and free shipping!

http://www.musicmedic.com/catalog/produ ... rs200.html

IIRC, the minimum is $5 and shipping is free only in the CONUS. I've ordered quite a few things from there and I'm sure they can get more than 1-foot lengths if you email them. They usually respond within two days on all requests. Music Medic is a very respected company within the woodwind repair community.

[nickthepiedpiper]

I second Walts suggestion of polycarbonate. It is available in thin walled tubes and the sizing is precise enough that a 1" od tube will slide snugly into a 1"id tube for example, and you can get rods for the fipple plugs. Really takes a lot of time out of the whistle making process, and the solvent welding is easy and super strong. Don't expect to move any of the welded parts later.

I order a lot of materials through amazon.com believe it or not. A prime membership pays for itself in a week for me, I get free 2 day shipping on most of my orders... Well worth it. I also have ordered from mcmasters as someone else mentioned, and if you need aluminum, a place called aircraft spruce has a great variety for great prices.

[Tommy]

Delrin makes an excellent whistle. It is dense, scratch dent resistant, with a matt finish it looks like black wood.
To make whistles it has to be machined vary close for a friction fit. It will not accept any adhesive.