A good looking flute, made from a piece of electrical conduit. Read on...
You need to blow into the mouthpiece with your lips around the end of the whistle. Slide the piston in and out and hear the tone go from low to high. You can try to play a tune, but most of the fun is just experimenting with the sound! Your friends and family will be impressed, for a little while at least…
The materials you need to make a fine flute.
The materials you need are a piece of plastic tube, we get it at the electrical shop, ask for 3/4 inch inside diameter, it is the most common electircal conduit. The electrical tape is just for decoration of the flute. You need a cork from a whine bottle or other source that fits snug inside the tube. You also need a piece of wood that we round off a little, but you can use dowel wood. only that is a little more expensive. It should fit easily inside the tube. One roofing nail and a small piece of leather that you have to cut in a disc that fits snug inside the tube completes the list. We like to work with scraps and recycled materials where possible. The wooden piston rod and the pipe are about 30 centimeters long, just 12 inch if you talk with a tradesperson…
The cork for the mouthpiece and the gasket for the sliding piston.
The mouth piece insert is one half of a whine bottle cork, the gasket is a piece of leather cut to fit snugly into the plastic tube. A Canadian 5 cent coin can be used as a template to cut the gasket. We use a roofing nail to hammer the gasket on to the end of the wooden piston rod.
The ramp is cut into the plastic pipe, this is a little tricky!
Making the cut in the plastic pipe is a little tricky and you need help! We use a hacksaw for cutting metal, but you can use any fine saw. Make a cross cut about six to seven millimeter deep just over 20 mm back from the end of the pipe, then cut the slanted ramp, about 18 mm back from the cross cut and ending up at the bottom of the cross cut. If you do this right, a triangular piece will come out of the wall of the tube and you have a nice ramp! Clean the burr and any debris away with a very sharp knife, such as a box cutter, but make sure the ramp keeps a sharp edge. The edge needs to be sharp to make a great sound! Again you need adult supervision and skilled help. If stuck ask a plumber or carpenter friend of the family to do this for you, they will help you, for sure!
The flute's mouth piece. Note the cork is cut about one quarter from one side. When you blow with your lips around the mouthpiece, the air is directed towards the ramp. The ramp makes the air vibrate in the body of the flute and that makes the sound!
