homemade steam whistle finished...sounds good!!!

[Mac Leod]

well here it is...other than a battery powered drill, it was done compleatly by hand. it sounds very nice...the hardest part was making the brass spreader plate...it started off as an inch thick piece of 1.75 Dia brass. it is now about a 1.125 dia. that was done all by files and the drill (8 hours)

hope you all like

Mac Leod

[Kevin O. Pulver]

It's beautiful Mac. Did your anscestors by any chance work on the pyramids? You seem to have some genetic predisposition to patience for formidable projects. Kevin

[Dick Welty]

It's just like all of your work very nice.

Thanks for sharing Mac.

Dick

[Mac Leod]

glad you like it... it was a fun project over the course of 3 months...I have made attemps at whistles before...before this, PVC was the most economical. most of them were just a wood block with a flat in it and a wedge cut out of the pipe...They sounded ok but I did not like it...I started looking at cut aways of whistles...and figured I could come up with a fair design...and I did... I would work on it for a few days and then put it down and start another project design (2 steam engines of interesting design since I started this project) then I would pick it up again...the soldering took about 2.5 hours because I needed to make sure that every part was placed just right or it would not work, the bell reducer with the cut outs was also diricul...I used a hacksaw and small drill to get a general knockout, then set in with files... I would say it took about 20 hours total (FUN to see ones work come together so nicely). I made many trial runs. it takes about 120 PSI...It hits a real high note though because it is getting too much pressure...a 1/4 inch hose does not flow enough air ...more air-less pressure-better sound. it is very neat... as to the pyrimids...not that I know of...

thankyou for the complements and thanks Harry for the site

Mac Leod

[Doug Brookens]

Hi Mac,

Now that's a great whistle!

I'm at the PVC stage right now, turning the plugs with my wood lathe, filing the flats, etc. I've been experimenting with larger, i.e., 1 1/2 and 2 inch PVC, but they sounds OK, but not like a real throatly train whistle.

Do you have any prints or cut-aways that you could share with us ?

I sure like the idea of using sweat cooper, but am curious about the valving and the exact measurements of the internal parts.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Doug

[Mac Leod]

I was there too, but I had no lathe...i cut out each plug... I was in the 3/4-2 inch range...I tried to make a copper and wood one...no lick, wast of time...requiered way to many CFMs...thr these links...lt of good info: http://www.copperas.com/titanic/whistle.htm
http://gottrains.com/steamwhistles/
http://www.the-spa.com/jim.cook/whistle%20plans.gif
http://www.whistleman.com/html/whistleman_.html

I used the plans as a rough idea for how a whistle could be built...I did not follow any instructions...just did it.

hope this helps


Mac Leod

[RickC]

Hope your neighbors aren't too close....
Rick

[Mac Leod]

well...the whistle was finished BUT...I had nothing to display is with...and when I used it I had to hold it...That has changed though. I had a peice of scrap maple...come copper fittings and time- the wood was lightly touched with a blow torch to darken the color to what you see on top- the sides and bottom were left alone. then the finish is a mixture of 10w-40 and paint thinner...I need to polish it still and find a whistle valve for 3/4 that is not too expensive but works well. well...fun project...on to somthing else

Mac Leod