Chimes are decorative items that can brighten up your home and can be made of various materials such as pieces of terracotta or metal pipes. If you want a natural style and a soft color, bamboo is great. You can create a bamboo chime easily!
Steps
Step 1. Obtain some bamboo
If you are lucky, there may already be bamboo growing in the wild around your home. It will then simply be a matter of getting permission and cutting bamboo stems to the correct size. If there is no natural spring nearby, you may be able to purchase basic bamboo rods used for fishing. Bamboo sticks of different sizes are often found in garden centers.
Make sure the bamboo is well aged and is not cracked or rotten
Step 2. Cut the bamboo into six sections
Each section should be made up of two of the “segments” of the bamboo with one end cut off above the separation between the segments and the other cut below, so that you have an open tube to work with.
Step 3. Split the hollow end of each section
You can do this with a very sharp knife, but be careful because bamboo shards and the knife can get into your flesh or cut you. If you have a vise, it might be easier (and less dangerous) to secure the bamboo in the vise and cut it with a saw, especially if the wood is tough enough. Cut off the end of each section at an angle about 2.5cm.
Step 4. Drill holes
Make 3mm holes just above the divider at the closed end of each section, parallel to the notches you made at the other end. This way, the concave hollow part you created by cutting the end of each tube will be facing outward when you assemble the chime.
Step 5. Cut a round of plywood or other material
It should be about seven times the diameter of your bamboo pieces. In this example, each bamboo tube has a diameter of about 2.5cm so the plywood disc has a diameter of about 1.5cm.
Step 6. Make marks
These marks will be used to divide the disc into six equal sections all around its circumference. Then drill a 3mm hole about 2cm from each mark on each side, near the edge of the disc.
Step 7. Pass a thread through one of the holes and tie it at one end
The wire should measure about 1, 20 m at the start. Any excess can be cut once all tubes are attached. You can use thick fishing line to tie the tubes together, but a more flexible line will work better.
Step 8. Pass the thread through the holes at the end of one of the bamboo sections
Iron it through the hole in the plywood on the other side of the mark you made. Continue in this way until you have suspended all the bamboo tubes under the disc and then tie the end of the thread.
Step 9. Adjust the tubes
Proceed so that each is higher or lower than the adjacent tubes. This is what changes the note produced by each tube, so experiment until you get a pleasant sound with a melodic variation that you like.
Step 10. Drill three holes
They should be evenly spaced from each other about 4 cm from the center of the plywood disc. Measure and cut three wires of equal length of about 30 cm and tie them together at one end forming a small loop.
Step 11. Pass a wire through each hole near the center of the plywood
Pull on it lightly and secure each wire with a little hot glue while holding the disc horizontally.
Step 12. Cut a smaller plywood disk
Its diameter is roughly equivalent to that of the larger disc minus one and a half times the diameter of the bamboo tubes. Drill three 3 mm holes evenly spaced between them 2 to 2.5 cm from the center of the disc. Pass the free ends of the three central wires through these holes so that the disc is suspended about a quarter of the length of the bamboo tubes from the top of them.
Step 13. Tie the wires to the plywood disc
Use a hot glue gun again and also hold the disc horizontally. This disc will be the "hammer" which will strike the tubes to produce the sound of the chime.
Step 14. Cut a shape out of plywood or other material
Hang it below the lower disc and tie it to the end of the three wires. This shape will move in the wind, allowing the hammer to hit the bamboo tubes as the wind swings it back and forth. A larger shape will sway more if the wind is light. Feel free to experiment with different materials of different sizes and weights.
Step 15. Secure any protruding end of the wire by gluing it
Use a little more hot glue so that nothing comes off when your chime swings in the wind. Sand the chime and varnish or paint it if you feel like it.
Step 16. Make contests with your friends
Who will make the prettiest or the biggest chime?
Advice
- You can follow similar steps with any hollow item like plastic pipe or metal tubing.
- If you cut tubes with different diameters and lengths, you will get different sounds. In general, the bigger the tube, the lower the note.
Warnings
- Bamboo shards can injure you or get stuck in your skin. Be careful when cutting bamboo, and if necessary protect your eyes and hands with safety glasses and gloves.
- Some neighbors really don't like the sound of the chimes. Be respectful when choosing the location for your chime.
- This project requires the use of a sharp knife which can injure you. Be sure to use it very carefully.