Tom, I used a screw chuck to turn all my wheels.

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Tom, I should splain a little better. My shaft is i/4” so I took a 1/4” bolt, about 1 ½ to 2” long. I threaded a nut down to the top of the bolt to give the jaws of the lathe something more to grip. I drilled the hole a little tight and threaded the wheel, rough cut on a band saw, onto the bolt down to the two top nuts. I then threaded two more nuts on the outside of the wheel, one acting as a lock nut. I turned it at about 500 rpm.
 
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Hi folks,
I'm going to quote myself from another site re: making wheels. Hope this makes sense, and helps.

Bob

9. For making the several disk shaped pieces, it's hard to beat a simple fixture on a disk sander. I'll try to describe mine. A square of scrap wood about 10" square by 3/4" with a groove across it 3/4" wide by 3/8" deep. Clamp the board on the sander table with the groove pointing toward the disk. Then cut a piece of wood 3/4" by 3/8" by about 18" long. A nice sliding fit in the groove. Drill a hole near one end of the stick for a small pin. It can be a wood dowel, but I use brass so I can turn the diameter to the exact size I need. Rough out the disk to just over size. Put it on the pin and slide the stick into the groove. Clamp a stop block on the stick to control the size. Just slowly turn the disk against the sander until it hits the stop. I added a screw in the end of the stop block for fine adjustments. I've seen similar ideas in several woodworking magazines.
 
OK, I think I have my wheels figured out. Now I moved onto the actual crankshaft. I have Jay's crankshaft but I cannot find what to use for the "friction" wheel. It will need to have a 5/16 hole for the shaft to go through it. Did you all just make your own wooden wheel then wrap it with Emory cloth? I guess that's what I'm thinking of doing now unless someone has a better idea. John's plans say 24mm including the cloth. Is this dimension real critical?

Tom
 
I have been in email contact with Ed Gaida about the organ tracker bar. With help from Jay and Tom -- thanks

Placed my order and it is on its way!

Ed has other parts available (see the Classified Ads) for list and prices.

Paul
 
Well, progress is slow but still moving forward. Getting all the mechanics and other details set up in the pressure box has taken longer than I thought. There is a lot of little details to get everything lined up just right. Getting the idler and spring assembly together took some thought. :huh: I disassembled my pressure box and finished all the parts a couple nights ago and tonight I got it all back together. I also glued in the window. My next item is the crank handle. I have decided on a design that I like and think it will look nice when on the organ. The plans call for the holes in the handle to be drilled at an angle. Is this necessary? I assume it is to make sure the handle clears the side of the box???? I'm thinking that as long as there is a spacer behind the handle then it can be and should be drilled straight. There have been several problems along the way that I only realized after the fact and THEN remembered Jay and Chuck mentioning them. Such as.....I put a real nice coat of poly on the outside of my pressure box........Chuck mentioned not to do the back and top if you want to stain it as they are part of the outside of the box. oops :dunno: Oh well...it still looks nice.

Enough for tonight.

Tom
 
Nineteen pipes tuned, voiced glued and trimmed. On the 20th, the small D, I popped a seam wiggling the stopper to tune it. The glue is now drying. Tomorrow I’ll work on attaching the pipe mounting boards to the side walls of the case. Getting close!
 
Nineteen pipes tuned, voiced glued and trimmed. On the 20th, the small D, I popped a seam wiggling the stopper to tune it. The glue is now drying. Tomorrow I’ll work on attaching the pipe mounting boards to the side walls of the case. Getting close!

That must be a great feeling chuck! Tuning must be pretty darn tedious...
 
Actually, no, Brent. I crank a few turns, the pressure builds up and it gives about ten seconds of good pressure to make adjustments. Then I give it abut five cranks to see if it maintains the proper note through a number of turns. When I first made the pipes (months ago), I “pre-tuned” the pipes by blowing into them to get the stopper close to where it is supposed to be, so each pipe took only a few minutes to tune and voice. It takes longer to glue the top lip in place, and mount the pipes to the mounting board.
 
There is a stopper in the bottom of the pipe that you move up and down to “tune” the proper note on the meter. Once tuned, you move the upper lip up and down to increase or decrease the size of the mouth, or hole, that the air comes out of. You do this to get the best, most mellow sound from the pipe. If the mouth is too small, you can get a shrill note, not on key. Just a little too small or too large you get the note with a whooshing sound. You can’t use the meter for this. You have to have a good ear.
 
Ok, I give, after reading the entire post, not once but twice, I have taken the hook, line and boat. Ordered the tracker bar from Ed tonight. Next move is to order the plans from across the pond. I must say thanks to all who have posted on the organ build as this will be a big help for me once I start. Retirement could be as soon as Oct, so at the speed I move, should have things in place by then. I live in Independence Mo, just a short 3 hour drive south to Jay's place so if I run into serious problems someone close to help would be nice. Jay's been one that has really gotten my interest up in this project and I can see in the future that a Topsy 3 will be right behind the Senior. One other guy that has sparked my interest is Chuck as he and I are from the area of Missourim, within 4 miles east a town called Emma. The other folks building this orgain have also sparked the interest for me and many thanks to all of you. Looking forward to getting started. Once again thanks to all. When I figure out how to post a my ugly mug I will do so.

Kenny Heermann in Indep., Mo
 
Information Please

Ok…I have a bit of a problem. Through a misunderstanding the pre made bellows/reservoir assembly that I obtained is for the JS 20 Senior. I have been making the JS 20 Junior (?) or I guess the original JS 20 before improvements were made. It would seem that this is not a great problem as long as I increase the overall length of spool/pressure box from 14 ¾ to 16 1/8 or so. It would seem that the height of the sides would increase to about 14 ¾ inches. So not a big deal but my question is are there any other changes between the 20 and the Senior? I assume that I would be adding to the length of the pressure box to the part where the crank assembly is and the actual pressure/spool box would stay the same. This all make sense? I’m not sure of the terminology. The attached photos are of where I’m at to date.

Thanks,

Roger

PS Happy Father’s Day – The 100th anniversary of Father’s Day
 

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