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New Organ Build Topsy 3

My glockenspiel is removable for transport. Kids are fascinated looking at the hammers moving, make sure you cover them kids are quick and it just too tempting not to touch. I also wired led lights inside the glockenspiel to come on with the notes, It looks great at night but no effect in daylight.

All in all I like the glockenspiel but it does not add to the music only to the looks
 
Im not quite here yet but i have a question about installing the leather. I understand the leather that surrounds the moveable board B which covers up the top and bottom hinge seams, but on the edges where the leather is folded over, how do you transition between this leather and the side wall bellow leather? is a little bit of the bellow leather glue (where the red lines show) enough to create a good enough seal to prevent air from escaping? Its mainly the back, the gap that the hinge barrel creates where there is no board to seal to that I am questioning. I know I probably over thinking something.
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David Georgeson said:
Im not quite here yet but i have a question about installing the leather. I understand the leather that surrounds the moveable board B which covers up the top and bottom hinge seams, but on the edges where the leather is folded over, how do you transition between this leather and the side wall bellow leather? is a little bit of the bellow leather glue (where the red lines show) enough to create a good enough seal to prevent air from escaping? Its mainly the back, the gap that the hinge barrel creates where there is no board to seal to that I am questioning. I know I probably over thinking something.
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You are right. Just put your glue on the red lines BUT make sure you tuck you leather into the bellows enough that you dont glue bind it DAMHIKT. I hope you are using Hide Glue as if you do happen to get it to tight you can redo it with an iron, Make sure you use enough glue to get a good seal I made my flat area (red area) wider than just doubled up so I had a larger glue area. Hope that makes sense
 
Jay Caughron said:
You are right. Just put your glue on the red lines BUT make sure you tuck you leather into the bellows enough that you dont glue bind it DAMHIKT. I hope you are using Hide Glue as if you do happen to get it to tight you can redo it with an iron, Make sure you use enough glue to get a good seal I made my flat area (red area) wider than just doubled up so I had a larger glue area. Hope that makes sense
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I got a couple bottles of fish glue from columbia organ. I have never worked with it before but Ive seen people say it works pretty good.
 
What are some good options to order leather from online? I actually ordered some cpl leather from Columbia Organ Leathers and didnt even realize they only come in 4 sq. feet skins. I know you can probably seam them together but I would like to see if I can get one larger to fit a full bellows pattern on.

From what I have been reading so far it looks like the bellows leather should be around .020 thickness where as the valves should be something like .05~.06 thick. Correct me If I am wrong.
 
David Georgeson said:
What are some good options to order leather from online? I actually ordered some cpl leather from Columbia Organ Leathers and didnt even realize they only come in 4 sq. feet skins. I know you can probably seam them together but I would like to see if I can get one larger to fit a full bellows pattern on.

From what I have been reading so far it looks like the bellows leather should be around .020 thickness where as the valves should be something like .05~.06 thick. Correct me If I am wrong.
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I have made over 20 sets of bellows leathers for Topsy and the best way is to seam them I overlap them by about 1/2" and skive them then use hot hide glue to make the seams.

You can skive them with a sharp razor blade or use a sanding drum on a Dermal

I have been able to buy big enough leathers from Springfield Leather In Springfield Mo to make one piece leathers you will need to call them and take to someone there and they can help you. But it is a lot of waste and cost is much more. I splice almost all of mine and have never heard of any problems

The Flap Valves I make by using 2 strips of heaver leather glued together with Tack glue (you can find it at Walmart's in the craft area} glue with fuzzy side to smooth side and install fuzzy side down. This was taught to me by an old organ repair man and has work very well I have sold a lot of them for the Senior 20s and it helps to get rid of the rude noise they would make when just using one layer and you wont need to do any more that lay them on and staple down
 
Is there any particular reason cardboard is used as the material for the bellows leather stiffeners? maybe cost or readily available? Seams cardboard would delaminate and bend easy. Is there any reason why you couldn't use a more substantial stiffener like thin balsa or bass wood or even built up epoxied fiberglass around the same thickness? I am just trying to think where I can find regular cardboard as big of a piece as I will need in the correct thickness that doesn't have any bends in it.
 
I used 1/32 baltic birch PlyI bought from a hobby shop I have also used laminate but make sure you sand all sharp edges. Heavy cardboard will also work but DONT use corrugated. I was going to use stiffener board that they use in leather work that looked like it would work Great.
I think balsa or bass wood will be to soft and break up to easy
 
I only have a Tandy leather local to me for leather shopping. They have mostly thicker cow hides but I happened to find some thin pig skins that I think will work ok. I cut one bellows out and glued it in place to see how well it moves air. So far it works pretty well, but does leak a very tiny bit which is I guess to be expected. I will finish this up and move on but I may come back and redo the bellows again later now that I have learned quite a bit about it from trial and error.
 

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Thanks Guys. I’m slowly making headway. Just mounted my new Drill Press And Router Table to a rebuilt workbench. Lowered it to make better and easier to use power tools. Now that it’s getting warmer, work will be starting again. Thinking of going to Lake Winnie last of May.
 
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