building a 49 note pipe organ

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Build a 49 note Pipe Organ - INSTRUCTION GUIDE - I will update as I build ( 19th Feb 2009 ) ------------------ Double click on any picture to make it bigger !! ---- THIS ORGAN IS NOW ON E-BAY FOR £795.00 ----

I am using 37 "Rohr Flute" (chimney flute) Metal Organ Pipes,C5 to C8. Made by "CONACHER" of huddersfield, these were originally fitted in a pipe organ in "Sutton-In-Ashfield". Pipe organ number = 1797. this is not the year, but Conachers order number.

The bottom 12 pipes (C4 to B4) Are stopped wood.

Photo 1 shows the "Rohr Flute", a couple needed minor soldering to the "Ears".Otherwise, they were in very good condition.

37 ROHR FLUTE (above)- -LABEL (below)

Windchest length & width.

The wooden pipes will be fitted to the rear of the windchest, and face towards the rear, this will stop the next row of metal pipes interfering with the "Speaking" of the wooden pipes,and also give more room on the chest for the other pipes.

At this stage decide on the what position you think would look best for the pipes.

Measure the total width of the wooden pipes, in this case they were 22 inches.

Now add approximately 6 inches for the total pipe spacing, So, this = 28 inches.

Now add about another 4 inches, to give a little room at the end of the row of wooden pipes.

Therefore the total windchest length will be 32 inches.

Wood pipe Configuration. C4 on the left - C#4 on the right,etc-etc.

FITTING THE PIPES.

1 - Wooden Pipes.

Measure 16" from the left side of the windchest top, and draw a vertical line.(chest centre line).Draw another line 2 inches from the rear of the chest, this is the line of the pipes centres. (see picture). Below.

 

Mark a line on every pipe ,5 inches from the bottom of each foot.

Measure the diameter of the pipe foot where the mark is, these measurements are the size of the holes needed in the Rackboard.

Mark 5" from bottom of pipe & measure diameter

Drilling the toe holes in the Windchest.

Use Flat tipped Wood drills,Most sets have about 13 drills, but some of the sizes you need are not supplied, you will probably need 2 or 3 sets of these drills, you will have to grind some down to make them the correct size for some of the holes.

E.G.- A 9mm is not supplied, so grind down a 10mm, the same goes for many other of the sizes.

If you are using 15mm felt & leather pallets on the solenoids, the maximum hole size these can cover is 10mm, so if the toe hole diameter in the windchest is 20mm you need to drill a stepped hole. ( see Photo - on the next page )

Continued on the next page of this site.

12 Wooden "Bass" Pipes. (C4 to B4) taking C5 as middle C.

I am having another 2 rows of metal pipes.

All the metal pipes wil face Forwards, I will be leaving approximately 3 to 3.5 inches between each row, so I will have enough room to fit the pallet magnets underneath the chest. The Magnets I use ( and supply -new ) are 2.5 inches Long and 3/4 inch wide.

For the windchest top I use "Pine" Shelfboard from B & Q. You will need one board, it is about 12 inches wide x 40 inches long.

I always use B & Q , because they have a lot of cheap solid pine shelving, Choose boards with as few Knots in as possible. They are cheap and easy to machine ,assuming your tools and drills are sharp.

This organ will have ALL the electronics fitted inside the windchest, e.g. Decoder , power supplies etc.

The windchest sides / front / Back will be 3.25 inches high.

The Pallet magnets are 2.5 inches long.

This is the blower before it is fitted into a soundproofed box.It will be suspended with springs and the box soundproofed with thick carpet tiles.

Use 6mm "Spacer" between each pipe, then measure the distance between the pipe feet centres. Mark the windchest top to this size.

Measure about 6mm up from the bottom of the pipe foot, using a Vernier, to get the diameter of the hole required for the pipefoot to seat in.

Using Sharp screwdriver to give a small hole to guide the Flat bit drills

Cut a piece of 6mm plywood using the windchest top as a guide, this is the Rackboard.

Pin it to the underside of the windchest.

Drill ALL the marked holes on the windchest with a 3mm pilot hole.

This will ensure ALL the holes will be "in Line" when the rackboard is removed.

 

The Drilled Windchest top