Making Resin Chanters
By Gérard Beau
As a beginner amateur pipe maker, I was intimidated by the prospect of drilling long conical bores, so I imagined a method of making resin and fiberglass chanters to avoid the question of conical boring. I don’t believe this is an original method: plenty of resin chanters are produced by pipe making factories and they certainly have some skills and tricks I lack. This is only what I discovered by myself, and any comments will be welcome.
Making resin chanters is not quicker than making wooden ones, but you need little equipment. You can even forget the lathe and you don’t need any wood turning skills. For a small investment in a 1-lb. jar of resin and a square yard of fiberglass cloth you can produce half a dozen or more chanters. Thus, you get cheap chanters with tone holes you can drill and re-fill with the same resin if the tuning is wrong, and you can try different models. I think it’s a good way of acquiring experience. One point to consider is that you can make a very accurate conical bore and if satisfied with one model you can reproduce it as many times as you want. When you turn your first chanter in a precious exotic wood you will know more. I believe nothing can equal the looks and the feeling of a good wooden chanter, not to speak of the tone, but plastic chanters are now common and making them is easily affordable for an amateur pipe maker.
Basic idea:
The idea is to make a cone that has the shape of the chanter’s bore and to build the chanter around that cone. When the inside cone is removed you find yourself with a very smooth and regular conical bore, and what else does an amateur pipe maker wish for his first chanter?
Equipment and materials needed:
• Resin: polyester resin as used in boat building or car repairs, (the basic quality is sufficient).
• A piece of fiberglass cloth (“Roving”) about 180g per square meter quality.
• Gel coat and dyes for paints.
• “Mould-removing” wax and/or light grease.
• A steel rod (piano wire or drill rod) some 150 mm longer than the planned chanter and having the same diameter as the throat of the chanter.
• Strong paper, and a few inches of thin brass wire -about 0.5mm diameter.
• Old metal files and glass paper (sandpaper) of various grades from the coarser to the 600 grade wet paper quality.
• An electric drill with a Jacobs chuck if you don’t have a lathe, and bits of timber from the scrap box.
Making the inside conical shape.
On your plan take the measurements of the throat “t”, length from throat to sole “L1”, total length “L2” and inside diameter “D” at the sole as shown:
Choose a steel rod having “t” as its diameter and cut it to approximately L2 + 150mm. Make two wood cylinders about 15mm long and t+3mm and D+3mm diameters, and drill center holes in both cylinders to fit “t”. Fit these cylinders on the steel rod as shown allowing a little extra length on the big cylinder’s side “d”. Wax the inside faces of the cylinders:
Now make a paper cone that will wrap around this assembly. Left over bits of wall paper (keeping the non-printed face on the inside) or any strong paper will do. Wax or grease the inside of the paper cone, remove the bigger cylinder and fix the paper cone to the smaller cylinder. Make a tight fit, as we want that end to be liquid proof. Two or three loops of brass wire will do.
Now prepare some resin to fill the cone. It’s a good idea to colour your resin with a bright colour different from the colour you intend to make your chanter. When the resin is ready, fix the rod in a vise with the wide end up and pour the resin into the cone. Once the resin level is about 5 mm from the top end, slide the big cylinder back into place and allow the resin to cure.
After the resin has cured and the two cylinders and paper cone have been removed you are left with a rough cone.
This we will machine until we obtain a cone which has exactly the same taper as the bore of the chanter from throat to sole end. We shall keep it a bit longer on the wide end (“d”).
If you don’t own a lathe with a Jacobs chuck you can make a simple tool with an electric drill fitted to a wooden bed with a block at the “tail end” drilled and lined with a bit of metal tubing to allow the rod to rotate:
With various grades of sandpaper you will achieve the final shape of the cone. Spread-sheet software (like Excel) is useful to determine the different diameters in relation to the length and to check the accuracy of the cone. This is the cone on which you will mould your chanter. The finish of this piece will determine the smoothness of the bore. The cone should be finished smooth. Aim for a shining surface, which can be obtained by using 600 wet grade sandpaper and finishing with polishing paste.
Once done, wax the rod and the resin cone. A thin coat of light grease is also a good idea. Tie a small bit of brass wire around the rod near the chuck and measure the distance between it and the beginning of the resin cone, which is the throat position. This will be a datum mark for further measurements, so keep a record of that distance. This is the way to know where the throat is once the chanter has been built around the resin cone.
Building the chanter:
Prepare one or two teaspoonfuls of gel coat, preferably coloured with the colour you want for your finished chanter and make the mixture quite pasty with talcum powder. Brush it onto the cone and onto the rod up to the brass wire mark. Due to the greasy surface, this is not easy. That’s why the mixture should be quite thick and quick hardening. A few spots may appear when the gel coat cures, and you will need to brush them again with the same mixture. You should end up with the cone and two or three inches of the rod at the small end covered with gel coat.
This coating will ensure a smooth finish inside the bore.
Cut three or four bands of fiberglass cloth about one inch wide and two feet long.
Now roll these bands around the cone starting at the brass wire mark. If the gel coat is still a bit tacky this helps to keep the bands in place. Roll two layers of fiberglass onto the whole length, one clockwise and the other anti-clockwise, and roll another layer of fiberglass from the brass wire mark to the first third or half of the length to reinforce that narrow part:
If it is a long chanter a fourth band may be necessary.
Now prepare some resin, preferably coloured (black or dark brown) and brush it on the layers of fiberglass. Press and rub your brush well to avoid bubbles.
When the resin is cured you have a very roughly shaped conical chanter, with a hairy jagged look due to some hardened loose fibers. Fit the cone in your lathe -or electric drill- and rough shape to a cone with coarse sandpaper.
We now go back to the paper cone and wooden cylinder process. The cylinder near the left end on the drawing will be slightly bigger than the intended tenon diameter, and the cylinder on the right will have a diameter bigger than the sole end. This will allow for a flared end:
Prepare enough resin to fill the paper cone, and add the colour dye you have chosen for your chanter. I have found that burnt sienna, yellow ochre and black are the only colours needed to achieve a realistic shade similar to that of the usual woods used in chanter making. Pour the resin into the paper cone exactly as you did for the conical shape.
Keep some of this coloured resin without hardener for later corrections.
Finishing the chanter:
The paper cone is removed as well as the two wooden cylinders. One end of the rod is squeezed in a vise and the resin cone is gently moved 1/8 or 1/4 of a turn to release it from the inside cone. When successful, remove the whole assembly from the vise and gently tap with a hammer on the reed seat side of the rod (left in the upper drawing). This should free the inside cone from the rough chanter form. If there is a problem in separating the two parts, dip the whole assembly in warm water. This will help to soften the wax. This operation is done before any finishing to ensure the two parts can be separated easily. Lightly grease again the inside cone and replace it in the chanter, making sure the two parts hold together. Put the assembly back on the lathe or the electric drill device to turn the chanter to its final shape using old files and various grades of sandpaper. You may remember then the brass wire mark. It is probably hidden under the resin somewhere near the reed seat end. A file or a small chisel applied to that end will cut into the resin until you reach the brass wire. Stop cutting in the resin then and remove the wire. This end will be the datum for all your measurements.
Machine the chanter to its final outside shape, polishing being done with wet 600 grade sand paper and polishing paste. The “scratch remover” paste used in auto body shops is adequate to achieve a high polish on the resin. Be careful not to cut too deep into the resin. If you reach the fiberglass, it will not take a good polish. Sometimes the surface of the resin shows traces of little bubbles that have dried: pinpoint holes appear on the surface. This can be corrected with one coat of resin applied like a varnish after the polishing process. Clean away the remains of polishing paste first, using a mild solvent which will not harm the resin.
Take note of the data concerning your chanter’s dimensions. Leave some extra length on both ends until you have checked the bell note. Any excess can be removed when tuning:
Tuning the chanter:
Tuning is done the same way as with a wooden chanter, bearing in mind that you can’t enlarge the bore with a reamer. Knowing where the throat is, enlarge gently the reed seat end with round files to provide a suitable reed socket. Keep a little extra length at both ends to allow tuning corrections. Aim for a bell note slightly lower than the expected one and then drill undersized tone holes, measuring distances from the sole end. Tune your chanter in sequence as explained to me by Kevin Scott: tonic then octave, then fifth, third, fourth, sixth, second and seventh, (plus lower seventh and tuning holes if featured). [Further details may be had at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amateurbagpipemakers ] Tone holes should be drilled first with a 2.5 or 3-mm metal drill. A well used drill bit is a good choice, as the resin has a bad tendency to crack if you use a very sharp tool at high speed. Don’t use wood drills or brand new metal drills. Preferably enlarge the holes with round files or Dremel type abrasive tools. Any mistake can be corrected by fitting the greased cone back into the chanter and filling the wrong or cracked hole with resin. This is when you will be glad to have kept some of the coloured resin used for the chanter body.
More:
Needless to say, this method can be used for straight bores just using a greased rod or even an aluminium tube that can be left in the finished chanter. In case of a SSP chanter a small resin cone can be fitted on the rod to form the bell:
Double tapered cones (as in Béchonnet chanters) can be easily made as well as flared bells. Corrections on a cone are simple: if you want to make a narrower taper it’s just a matter of sandpapering the cone. Enlarging the cone can be done by wrap- ping it in a wider paper cone and adding more resin (you will need to remove all traces of grease and wax before doing that) and some further sand papering.
Some personal experiments:
I tuned my first resin chanters in a very blunt way: drilling all the tone holes to their nominal size without any checks of the musical scale. As the inside bore was probably good enough this didn’t create too much of a problem. I don’t recommend that method: I was just lucky!
I have made several chanters and the tuning has never been a problem: French pipe chanters come out all right on the chromatic scale with the adequate cross fingering and UP chanters go into second octave with no trouble.
I don’t own a digital camera; these are scans of ordinary photos of my production:
Last thing:
Keep this for a summer job. You need about 20˚ C and a dry day to work with short curing times for the resin. Allow the resin to become very hard before using sandpa- per. Working outside will let you avoid irritating fumes and dust in the workshop. Use rubber gloves when working with liquid resin, and a paper dust mask and goggles when sand papering are recommended.
Gérard Beau, who lives near Lorient in Brittany, France, began piping in 1975 and is a self-taught GHB player. He began amateur pipe making five years ago. He began playing the uilleann pipes a year ago on a set of his own make. The chanter is a copy of a Coyne design. He also makes French pipes, Scottish small pipes, and border pipes.
Gérard can be contacted by e-mail at: beauG@wanadoo.fr or Gerard.beau@free.fr and will be pleased to answer any questions concerning resin chanters.
