Quick and dirty regulator for testing wind chests and pipes?

[jogl]

I have a bunch of wooden pipes and three wind chests that I am trying to make work. One of the wind chests has, with the exception of one, working valves. Unfortunately it is the chest that has the big pipes (8 of them from 8' in length down to 5' 6"). So it takes a fair amount of flow.

I am using a vacuum motor for wind. I rigged it up to the chest along with a whim wham home made manometer.

With no pipes speaking the vacuum motor makes 28" of wind. With one pipe speaking the vacuum makes 8.5" of wind. With two pipes speaking the vacuum makes 4" of wind. Three, 3".

So, I'm thinking that if I could regulate the vacuum motor output to 4 or 5 inches I would have a little better chance of getting the rest working.

Is there a quick and dirty way to regulate the wind pressure, or something fairly simple that I can build to do the same? I have the equipment and experience to do half decent wood working and fabrication.

Thanks,
JP.

[myorgan]

JP,

Yes, there is a quick and dirty way to regulate the air. It's called a wind reservoir, or simply a reservoir. The air is supplied to the reservoir, and usually a combination of heavy-duty springs pull the top down toward the bottom to create basic wind pressure elasticity. If further pressure is needed, I've seen anything from bricks, to pavers, and other stones on top of the reservoir to help regulate the wind. More stones = more pressure. Less = less pressure. That's how the big boys do it!;-)

Hope that helps.

Michael

P.S. Search for pictures on the Internet, and you may get enough information to build a rudimentary reservoir.

[jogl]

I have been looking at the reservoirs on the internet. This fellow did an excellent job of documenting his build.
http://www.rwgiangiulio.com/construction/bellows3/

I was hoping to find an easier way that is maybe not quite so accurate and elegant, but, as usual, my efforts to find the elusive "easy way" have failed again.

I am going to check with a couple of the local organ guys to see if they might have something for sale. However, if my dreams of having pipes throughout the house work out I will be needing to build blowers and regulators anyway, so I might as well get started.

JP.

[myorgan]

Just insert the reservoir between the vacuum and the wind chest, and you should be in business.

Michael

[jogl]

I will plumb the reservoir in between the vacuum and wind chest, but first I need to acquire / build the reservoir.

[voet]

Some years ago, I was fortunate to be at a church that obtained a rebuilt organ through the Organ Clearing House. After it was completed, the organ builder asked me how I liked it. Everything sounded fine except the Great 8' Open Diapason. I told him that It sounded a bit dull to my ears. He then went outside and brought in some bricks that he had found and placed them on the reservoir. It probably raised the pressure about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. After that the Diapason sang beautifully.

Unless it has been documented before hand, the original wind pressure of an organ in storage is not known. Once we found the "sweet spot," the organ was happy.

[jogl]

It will be a great day when I find the "sweet spot" of these guys. I have a lot of learning and work to do.

Back in the late '80's, early '90's I did a bunch of work over in W MI, at the Herman Miller factory in Holland.

[AllenAnalog]

Even with a reservoir, your vacuum motor, typically with very small fan blades, may not deliver sufficient cubic air volume to play more than a couple of notes on that chest since it is an 8-foot rank. The springs/weights on a reservoir will cause it to collapse completely when multiple notes are played, negating the usefulness of the unit, if you do not have a sufficient wind supply. And then you are right back where you started.

[jogl]

Yes, as almost always (there has been the odd exception) I am finding that the "easy way" is a mirage.

[samibe]

I find that what looks like the "hard way" is usually the easiest way. A lot of things are done a particular way because it is the fastest, least expensive, and reliable way to do it. Sure you could go cheaper, easier, and/or faster but the ding in reliability will probably make it so that it costs more time, money, and effort to baby along, than would have been spent otherwise.

[VaPipeorgantuner]

AllenAnalog has pretty much spotted the trouble...it isn't always the wind pressure, but the >>>cubic footage capacity<<< of the source of wind. The reservoir (or more accurately the "regulator") can only supply even wind pressure if the INCOMING FLOW of raw wind (we call it 'fresh' wind in the biz) is sufficient to meed the demands of the chest/pipes it is to supply. That is why, on some of the older organs with one monster reservoir, there is pitch sag when a big chord is played...the blower cannot supply sufficient cubic footage to meet the demand.

Rick in VA