:thumb:

Looking forward to hearing how well it works for bellows. I've used it for some weirder projects but none of them had to be air tight :)

If you've mostly used it up I wouldn't bother getting to excited about cleaning the jar to thoroughly especially as you're making a new batch right away. For general cleanup boiling or even just real hot water pretty much cleans it right off. It gets harder to clean the longer it sets but it will still clean off with a bit of patience.

The main risks with old glue are:

Glue degradation with repeated heating it starts to break down (or so I've been told - I've never kept any long enough to notice any difference).

Contamination, either stuff falling in or worse mold/bacterial growth. Usually if you start having the latter you'll usually know it by the smell :eek:

Having said that, if the glue completely dries on the jar it could break the jar - I can't find a primary reference to this, but I know it was used for making spalled glass back in the day (put a thin mix of glue on the glass and let it dry and it will pull the top layer of glass off... doesn't work with tempered glass :D).

Here's a W Patrick Edwards video that shows some of the glass part way through - and has a few more comments on usage.
http://woodtreks.com/animal-protein-hide-glues-how-to-make-select-history/1549/

Another thing I've been wanting to try but haven't gotten around tuit is making some up then freezing jell cubes - which on the face of it seems like it could be handy.. although it may well be just more steps for no gain... not sure... The idea of putting some stainless nuts in the jar to keep the temp up seems worth stealing though (I was looking for the article for freezing, had forgotten all about the nuts trick).
http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/content/simple-hot-hide-glue-setup
 
Finished gluing bellows and pressure box leather with hide glue. Things went well, bellows holding air, have yet to test pressure reserve box, Working with hide glue was a new deal for me. The process went well, up side faster drying time of the glue, down side time, spent waiting for crock pot to heat up set on high, then bringing temp down to 140f. If I were going to do a lot of glue ups using hide glue, I would invest in a hide glue pot. I'm thinking about using hide glue for the pipes. Here's pics of the pot setup
]IMG_1525.jpgIMG_1524.jpg
 
Last edited:
Thanks Ryan, keeps the tip about 3/8 to 1/2 inch off the bottom of the pot. Also, while trimming leather around the bellows and pressure reserve a utility knife left a cleaner cut instead of a x-acto knife.
 
Ran into a slow down in the universal build as to the Main Air Connector. The plans call for a 1 inch and 3/4 inch opening> I have a one inch copper pipe and a 3/4 inch copper pipe that fit the holes nice and tight. Now for the slow down, I can not find tubing to fit over the 1 inch and 3/4 inch pipe. Any suggestions?
 
Hi Kenny, You can review my photos on the CD I sent you to get an idea of how I adapted the copper detail on the 1 inch tube coming out of the reservoir. Using the 1 inch clear aquarium tubing,
I cut the copper fitting lengthwise and squeezed it to make a smaller diameter so the tubing would fit snugly into. I soldered a piece of copper along the length of the slit in the tubing. That detail doesn't show in the photo, but the assembly into the wood block shows the copper tube that the 1 inch tubing fits into.
I used 1/2 inch ID tubing for the supply from the reservoir to the pressure box, 3/4 inch ID tubing for the supply to the bass wind chest and 1inch ID tubing for the connection from the reservoir to the main wind chest. Note on some of the connections I just drilled holes in the wood that provided a snug fit for the tubing....hope this helps.
All the best, John
 
Hi Kenny, I measured both of my organs and they both measure 4 and 7/8ths inches from the top of the tracker bar to the floor of the pressure box.
 
Calling universal builders, I have a friend that thinks he can make a tracker bar so I would not have to mess with the card board honeycomb. I need some help with the tracker bar sizing Looks like the plans show the holes to be 2.8mm, but no measurement for the spacing across the bar to set the space between the holes. Any ideals? Also still have not found tubing to fit the one inch and 3/4 inch openings on the reserve pressure box. The tube at the local hardware stores is flat because of the way is was rolled onto the box.
 
Calling universal builders, I have a friend that thinks he can make a tracker bar so I would not have to mess with the card board honeycomb. I need some help with the tracker bar sizing Looks like the plans show the holes to be 2.8mm, but no measurement for the spacing across the bar to set the space between the holes. Any ideals? Also still have not found tubing to fit the one inch and 3/4 inch openings on the reserve pressure box. The tube at the local hardware stores is flat because of the way is was rolled onto the box.

Kenny John gives you the distance center to center between the two out side holes and you need to space the other 24 hole equally. I think it works out to 4mm but dont remember for sure. Read his instructions Drawing 7 (construction of tracker bar.) and maybe that will help. I had to scratch my head for awhile on that one too.

If I remember right their are some good tips on Melvyns site for making tracker bars
 
Hi Kenny, here are some tips on how I did my tracker bars:
I used the punched paper guide that came in the John Smith plans to determine the spacing, I drew a dot on a metal strip for each hole in the paper to indicate where to drill the pilot holes and used a center punch to make it easier to keep the drill bit from drifting in the metal. (the metal was slightly thinner than 1/16 inch) I drilled pilot holes with a metal bit (7/64 inch) then clamped the metal guide to the maple I was using for the bar. Then I used a 7/64th inch brad point bit to drill the holes in the wood using he metal guide to position the holes. Regular bits can tear out the wood between holes. After the holes were drilled I used a pipe cleaner dipped in varnish (I used polyurethane) in each hole to seal the wood pores.
I didn't find the cardboard honeycomb to be very difficult at all. Pretty straight forward.
In regard to the tubing, Mine was from a spool and slightly flat too, but you should be able to heat it in hot water or with a hair dryer then compress the oval portion to get it rounder until it cools. It doesn't have to be perfectly round except where it goes into the fittings and the fittings will shape the tubing with a little heat.
Hope this helps
 
Hi All, Thanks for the tips John and Jay. I followed Jays ideal above and came up 3.71mm between centers using a caliper that goes from inches to mm with a press of the button. I started with the 3.8 inch distance between the outside holes converted to mm then divided that by 26 which gave me the 3.71 mm. Moving on :wave:
 
Top