Introduction: Door Bell Wind Chime

About: I'm a dad who likes to make things out of stuff.

This is my first Instructable , I apologize for it being brief.

Door Bell Wind Chime.

The door bell in my house stop functioning after 80 something years. I was going to throw it out but as someone who likes to keep things longer than I should, I decided to find a new use instead of adding to the landfill.

List of items

Four bells 51 1/2 in, 43 3/8 in, 41 in, 38 3/4 in.

28 Gauge galvanized wire

11 inch Terracotta dish

3 inch eye bolt

2 x 5/8 inch nuts

block of wood ( I had some scrap maple)

Waxed string

Sheet copper

Assembly


The bells being used already had holes for hanging.So I moved onto the plate for hanging the bells and striker.

First I drilled a hole using a 7/16 bit, large enough to fit the eye bolt through. Then measured and marked out locations for the bells. Once I i knew where to put the holes, I used a 1/8 bit for them.

The plate was then hung and I began running my wire. I used about 10 feet of the 28 gauge, first wrapping it around the eye bolt then through one hole and the bell. Continuing back through the same hole into the back of the plate then through the next hole on the opposite side, wrapping the wire around the eye bolt each time, until I had all four bells hung. Once I had the bells hung I twisted each one so they hung at the same distance from the plate.

Moving onto the striker. I didn't have a saw adequate for cutting clean circles, so I used a power miter saw. The block started out about 10 inches square and I need to fit it in between the bells.I began by drilling a 1/8 inch hole in the center, then started cutting off the corners and continuing until I had a relatively round block.

Taking a roll of waxed string, (I'm using this because it move with more freedom than wire) I pulled off about 7ft worth. I tied one end to the eye bolt then ran it though the striker. I tied a knot so the striker was at the mid point of the longest bell.


I had some copper sheet from a long forgotten project so I cut a piece, 8 inches in length and 4 inches wide. I folded it in half and punched a hole just below the fold and tied the other end of the string to it. I then flared copper outward so it could catch more wind.

The finished product. It sounds marvelous, all though i bit loud to put outside in full exposed to the wind. So I keep it on my porch where it catch a breeze coming through the screen door. I tried my best to measure the notes of each bell and got in order of longest to shortest, D#4, C#3, A#4 and G#3.

Thank you for reading my intstructable. I hope you enjoyed it and again, please feel free to leave me some tips on how to improve.

Audio Contest 2018

Participated in the
Audio Contest 2018