Building a bellows

[JohnCT]

Hi all, I am new to repair of reed organs. I've owned a 1860 melodeon for about 8 years and it's been apart since. The reservoir blew up right after I bought it - the rubber cloth being very brittle couldn't hold the spring. This has an upper leather exhauster on the other side of the foundation (?) board. The leather exhauster is still intact but I don't know if it's airtight. I don't feel comfortable messing with something so carefully built so long ago, and not being able to locate anyone willing to do the work (I've tried), have decided I'd rather try to build a complete bellows system and not risking mucking up the original. If successful, I'll keep the original bellows system carefully stored for the next owner, be it one of my sons or someone else after I'm gone. If it doesn't work, nothing lost but time and a few bucks, but I won't have butchered an antique.

So, I have many many questions but will start with the first one I'll need answered. The foundation board (if that's the wrong term, I'd appreciate a correction!) is 5/8" hardwood put together in sections. Is plywood suitable for this application? If so, is there a certain type, like hardwood or furniture grade? Is the thickness critical? 5/8ths is hard to find.

The original bellows used thin wood strips that held down the bellows material into routed slots, so I'm wondering if plywood would work for this. Using plywood would certainly simplify the process as I'm not a woodworker, although I have a friend who is an expert carpenter and trim person who could replicate the piece if that is the only option.

Any insight and criticism greatly welcomed.

John

[JohnCT]

Is the thickness critical? 5/8ths is hard to find.

Okay, that was a dumb question. The foundation/bellows board is screwed into the cabinet and becomes the floor of the organ and is what the action is mounted to, so changing the thickness will change the keyboard height. I'm thinking about going to 3/4 plywood and relieving the two edges of 1/8" about an inch from each side edge to drop the board down a bit so the keyboard height will remain the same as it was before. The only visible change would be the lower bellows/reservoir being about 1/8 lower.

John

[nutmegct]

John - welcome to the Forum. I'm in eastern Connecticut.

Note that the forum has had some communication problems recently; members may not be getting notifications of new posts. I just got notified of your 5/21 and 5/22 posts just a few minutes ago (5/28 at 1pm EST). Patience is the word of the day!

Tom M.

[JohnCT]

John - welcome to the Forum. I'm in eastern Connecticut.

Note that the forum has had some communication problems recently; members may not be getting notifications of new posts. I just got notified of your 5/21 and 5/22 posts just a few minutes ago (5/28 at 1pm EST). Patience is the word of the day!

Tom M.

Thanks Tom. I prefer the flow of a dedicated forum, yet realize many members are gravitating to Facebook.

I'm in Wolcott, northeast of Waterbury - almost dead center CT.

John

[myorgan]

John,

Funny, I thought Hartford was in central CT rather than Waterbury. I think I got my directions messed up when I turned in Waterbury. ;-)

Michael

P.S. At least you don't have Pay-By-Plate like that country to the North!

[JohnCT]

When using new wood for the bellows platform, should the wood be sealed where the flap valves go? If so, with what? I wouldn't want a sealer to interact or cause sticking with the leather. I assume the wood should be sanded smooth, but it seems the original bellows may have been raw wood where the flap valves go.

I haven't decided whether to use one piece Baltic Birch plywood or build it in sections as the original bellows was but using Poplar instead of Pine.

John

[Valiant Farmer]

Hi John,
Personally I believe that the wood should simply be sanded smooth, as some different climate or humidity's may cause the sealer to stick to the leather.

I quote here - "BELLOWS RESTORATION
Making a new bellows and bellows platform is not as difficult a task at it might first appear. A bellows is made up of square and rectangular sheets of wood. In this restoration high quality 18mm birch plywood was used. The original was 15mm but that is not available so the next best thing is fine. That's ok for the bellows but for the bellows platform it is not. If thicker than 15mm is used it raises the entire upper action and has a serious knock on effect in many ways. The options were to have three 5mm sheets laminated together or to router out a track in the 18mm in which the reed pan would sit. I chose the latter. It has worked very well. The original pieces of the dilapidated bellows and platform were used as a template and general guide. The bellows was covered with genuine rubberised bellows cloth from Schaff Piano Supply Company, Lake Zurick, Illinois. The straps were replaced. Only genuine animal hide glue was used."
From Darragh Connelly's website, https://reedorgansireland.com/bell-organ.

I have a job ahead of me, building a set of feeders for a large-ish Joseph Wallis harmonium, from scratch, as it has all been removed!
I hope this helps.
Joshua

[JohnCT]

Interesting how he decided to rout out where the reed pan would sit to compensate for the wood thickeness. In my case (melodeon), the only problem I can see is that the action would be 1/8 higher if I used 3/4 wood. Since the bellows platform rests in the melodeon case by sitting on two strips of wood on either side, I though I'd mill down 1/8 so the new platform would sit the same height as it did before. I've looked at this a dozen ways and don't see any issues except the reservoir would stick 1/8" lower out of the bottom of the cabinet. Thanks for the link and info on the rubberized cloth. I remember reading about some fine builders running into defective cloth. Hopefully, all this defective material is long gone..

Good luck with your project!

John

[Valiant Farmer]

Glad it's helpful - Rodney used some defective cloth on his Doherty Victorian, it still works, just takes more work to wind it.
The other thing in your case is, will the mounting strips being lowered decrease the strength? You may run into screws if you go too low.
Joshua

[JohnCT]

I won't be lowering or otherwise modifying the original mounting strips which are screwed into the left and right sides of the cabinet. The plan is to mill down 1/8 of the new 3/4" foundation board right where it would make contact with the strips so the foundation will sit 1/8" lower and the top of the foundation will be at the original height of the 5/8" wood. The only difference is that anything below the foundation (the reservoir) will be 1/8" lower in cabinet, but the action and exhauster will be at the original height.

John

[Baseman norm]

What about running the new 3/4 material through a planner to make it 5/8like the original

[nutmegct]

No expert here, but planing 3/4 plywood 1/8" might be a bit dicey, depending on the thickness of the plywood layers..
Tom M.

[JohnCT]

What about running the new 3/4 material through a planner to make it 5/8like the original

I don't have a planer, but know someone who does. I've been looking at this from every angle I can think of, and the only thing I can see that will be different if I only plane the area where the board sits on the side supports is that the *bottom* of the foundation will be 1/8" lower, and therefore the reservoir will be 1/8 lower which is the only thing on the bottom side. 1/8th isn't a big deal anywhere except on top where the action would be 1/8" higher if I don't plane it or just plane the edges where it mounts to the cabinet. For all I know, the 1/8th might not even be a problem for keyboard height, but I don't want to build this bellows and find a problem later. Another alternative is that I can always lower the side supports in the cabinet 1/8th I suppose..

No expert here, but planing 3/4 plywood 1/8" might be a bit dicey, depending on the thickness of the plywood layers.
Tom M..

Yet something else to consider. The sealing surfaces are on one side only, so the planing won't have an effect on the performance. Still, it would be easier to just relieve 1/8th off the sides where it sits on the support rails.

Thanks for the advice guys - I really appreciate it.

Another question regarding forum etiquette: As I get along with this project, I'll have more questions. Should I ask them in a different thread or start a new one specific to the question?

John

[myorgan]

JohnCT,

Here is an example of a person who posted everything in one thread: https://organforum.com/forums/forum/...allen-adc-4900. It makes it much easier to find this many years down the road.

I would provide an example of a person who started a new thread in the Forum for every single issue with his organ. Unfortunately, I would need to search for no less than 5-6 threads just to provide them here.

What you choose to do is obviously up to you, but since all the issues relate to a pump/reed organ, it can all be placed in one thread under that Forum.

Hope this helps.

Michael

[Baseman norm]

My suggestion would be to run the material through a planner
That way it is the same as the original
Don't have to reengineer the wheel


Keep all your questions in the same place

[JohnCT]

Thanks guys: understood. Since my questions are going to be mostly related to fabricating the bellows, it should work out fine. Here's a quick question: is there a reliable source of rubber cloth for the reservoir? Also, are there different weights of cloth and if so, what weight of cloth should be used on a typical one pedal melodeon?

John