I'm currently enrolled in a welding program at my local community college and it is an understatement to say that it gets LOUD in there during classes. Recently my instructor was lamenting about how much yelling he needs to do to get everyone's attention for breaks and announcements. After surveying our scrap piles I decided to make him a steel bell so he can save his vocal chords.

Do you need to get peoples' attention? If so, follow along with me and make yourself a humdinger of a ringer!

Supplies

To get us started we'll need a few things-

Some sort of square pipe. I found this 8-incher in our scrap pile and got excited
Oxy-fuel torch set up. I'm using oxy-acetylene here
Small sledge hammer
Metal vise and clamps
A MIG welder (my preference but I'm sure this could be done with other welding processes)
An angle grinder equipped with grinding disc, cutting disc, and wire wheel
Soap stone or paint marker
Pen, paper, ruler, scissors and tape if you want to make a topper template
Safety equipment- welding hood, gloves, safety glasses, ear protection, etc. (all that sweet, sweet PPE)
Bravery

Step 1: Mapping Out the Main Shape

Note: The more material in a bell (bigger, longer, or thicker) the deeper the sound.

I knew I wanted a deep, rich tone from my bell so I went with the largest pipe I could find (8 inches, which just happened to be square) and wanted the body to be longer than it was wide. I ended up settling on a 10 inch long body, just because I like the look.

I wanted to keep the whole thing angular and I got it in my head that I could make the top and body out of once piece of pipe. With that in mind I made a couple different sized paper templates to find a pyramid shape that looked good with my predetermined body dimensions.

With the help of my template I used soapstone to mark out cut lines.

Step 2: Cutting and Prepping

Time to torch!

I used an oxy-acetylene setup to cut out my bell shape.

To prep for bending and shaping my pyramid top I used a cutting disc on a 4 inch angle grinder to score (cut a channel about half way through the thickness of the material) where the triangles need to bend. I then used a grinding disc to smooth out my torch cut lines, followed by a wire wheel to knock most of the rust off the outside.

Step 3: The Making of the Bonker

What's a bell without a bonker?... just an inconvenient bowl!

I love me some rebar. I got so excited when I found this 1 inch thick piece- I just knew it would make an excellent bonker handle! After cleaning it up with a wire wheel I cut a 10 inch section with the torch and smoothed the ends with a grinding disc. I also used the torch to cut a 3 inch circle out of 3/8 inch scrap for the hammer and then it was back to the grind to round over the edges and knock off the rust.

Note: I made my handle nice and long because I wanted it to sick out the bottom far enough to avoid bruised knuckles.

After everything was sparkly I welded the rebar handle to one side of my hammer disc and then welded a 2 1/2 foot long chain to the other side of the disc.

Bonker complete!

Step 4: Shaping and Making

We've all got our vises...

...and a metal one really comes in handy for work holding! After donning my PPE (Personal Protection Equipment including ear protection!) I used the torch to heat my score lines to cherry red before hammering away with a small sledge hammer. I didn't try to move each triangle all in one go, instead I moved each shape a little bit at a time going around in a circle, to ensure that I didn't over bend one side. In hindsight I should have threaded my chain through the top before my final round of bending, but since I didn't I had to use a few metal chisels to wedge my sides out to make room.

After getting my bonker where I wanted it (with the hammer disc 2-3 inches above the bottom lip) it was time to weld! My cut lines were far less than perfect and the chain splayed the top so I decided to use MIG welding because I find it pretty easy to fill larger gabs with that process.

I used a grinding discs to flatten my welds and then called it done!

Step 5: Make Some Noise

It'll certainly get people's attention!

There you have it- it's possible to make a decent sounding square bell. This monstrosity ended up being close to 30 pounds and is as loud as it is heavy. I'm pretty pleased with my end result, and my instructor is stoked about not having to yell anymore!