Wind Tintinnabulator

by Brosiman in Craft > Reuse

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Wind Tintinnabulator

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I just found out about this Steampunk challenge and with only one day to make I had to come up with something simple and easy.This will also make it easier to make for people with not many technical skills.

Materials :
-metal heating pipe(or any other metal pipe)
-one or two pipe clamps
-(copper)wire
-screws

Tools:
-pipecutter(or saw but a pipecutter gives you cleaner cuts)
-drill (a drill press is optional but makes work much,much easier and less tiring)
-metal file

For the electroplating you need:
-glass vessel
-batteries(old batteries are great for this)
-piece of copper
-leads with clips
-vinegar(I used the kind meant for cleaning)

Pick That Pipe

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Step one:
Find your metal pipe,I found mine in a skip.But if you are not so lucky you can make a trip to the DIY store.
Cut your pipe to size,my wind chime has 6 pieces,but you can make it as big as you want of course.
Then it's time to drill some holes.Clamp the piece of pipe in a vice and use a drill or drill press to make a through a through hole.
I strongly recommend using a vice no matter if you use a drill press or not.It is not easy drilling holes in metal pipe and a slipping
drill can lead to holes in the wrong places.

Plate That Pipe

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Now comes the fun part,for me at least.
Fill your glass vessel with vinegar,then hook up some wires to the battery.The "+" goes to the piece of copper,the "-" to the pipe.
Make sure only the copper is in the vinegar,not the clip.For the pipe this doesn't matter.After a few seconds you'll already see 
bubbles escaping from the pipe.You can watch these if you like,or go do something else.......
I usually let the plating go on overnight.
For the longer pieces of pipe you might need to turn these around if your glass vessel is not tall enough.

Hang Those Pipes

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A great bonus from my salvaged heating pipe was that it had a nice bend in it,so I used a piece with the bend to hang the pieces from.
I drilled six holes through and through,once again using the drill press.
On my wind chime I used copper wire but of course any other type of wire or string works.
Your wind chime is almost finished !Now find a spot to hang it from,preferably where it catches some wind.Use the pipe clamp or clamps 
to attach it where you want it.

At this moment I don't how the pipes will hold up after they've been exposed to the weather for awhile(will they rust heavily or not?)
I might have to give them a coating of  linseed oil.