Valentine Wind Chime

Designed and built for the Printable's Valentine's Day competition - and for my lovely partner too of course!

I designed this around 25mm EMT conduit tube purchased from Screwfix in the UK. Its very economical at around £13 for 3m! OD 25mm ID approx 20.5. The nuts and bolts can also be found at Screwfix. I cut to length with pipe cutters and drilled out for fittings.

Here is the Bill Of Materials for the project:

• 1 x length of tube or pipe. The amount will depend on many factors, but for my build 1 x 3m 25mm conduit from Screwfix was adequate;
• 5 x 30mm M5 pan head (or similar) bolts;
• 5 x M5 dome nuts;
• some cord or cable - I used black 6mm paracord;
• spray paint if you want to paint the tubes;
• some superglue or thread locker.

For the printed parts:

• 5 of the tube inserts - these help the tube to hang centrally to the cable;
• 5 of the tube top inserts - optional - cosmetic as not functional;
• the main hanger/support deck;
• the main hanger disc to cover unsightly knots;
• the clanger;
• the sail (polygon design heart);
• the concentric hearts for added decoration.

The Tubes make the Chimes

Cut your tubes to length, there is an incredible information source of information about design of wind chimes here http://leehite.org/Chimes.htm 

I couldn't get the information in the link above to work out perfectly, but it got me a working solution. I have no musical knowledge but these sound nice to me! These are the dimensions I cut and drilled my tube to:

C note tube 866 mm long - support hole at  194 mm
D note tube 817 mm long - support hole at  183 mm
E note tube 771 mm long - support hole at  173 mm
G note tube 707 mm long - support hole at  158 mm
A note tube 668 mm long - support hole at  149 mm

A pillar drill and 5 mm or 5.5 mm bit is best to drill the holes in the tubes. Deburr the ends and the drill holes. Tread the cord through the tube inserts and tie off. Push the insert and cord down the tube and align with the drilled hole. Pass the bolt through - sounds easy, but is actually a bit fiddly.  The M5 bold needs to pass through the tube and the insert and out the other side secure with the nut. Don't tighten the nut and bolt too much, use some glue or thread locker to keep the nut in place. I sprayed my tubes black, but I'm not sure how long that will last, they look good left just with the galvanised finish.

Assemble

Threat the cord through the pipe inserts and knot below, push into the pipe and align with the drilled hole. Secure with the but and bolt - a long handled screwdriver makes moving them into position easy. You can add the decorative pipe inserts now.

Thread up through the under cover and through the support deck then back down and knot between the top and the under cover. Its a bit fiddly and you want your pipes to be close to the deck. See the photos for a clearer explanation. The under cover is supposed to be a loose fit, it is a cosmetic addition and allows any water or dampness in the cords to drain and evaporate.

Do the same with the top 3 support cords. Knot together and use an extra length to add the concentric hearts if desired. 

Lastly add a central cord and thread on the clanger and the extra cone (this is to create a short axle to help keep the clanger horizontal. It should be low down on the tubes. Knot below and add the sail to the end. 

And in Use..

As I've made this design in a rush to enter the competition it may need further tweaks. I live in a very windy area in Scotland and I designed the sail to be small to keep the chimes a bit quieter. I'm not sure of the longevity of PLA in such conditions but that is what I had available. The chimes sound really nice.