A few weeks ago, while visiting my sisters-in-law, I helped one of them build a set of wind chimes for their home. It turned into one the most joyful and rewarding things we’d done together, and I...
A few weeks ago, while visiting my sisters-in-law, I helped one of them build a set of wind chimes for their home. It turned into one the most joyful and rewarding things we’d done together, and I decided to write about the experience! Has anyone else ever made their own wind chimes? I ended up being pretty surprised by how subtle and complex they can be to construct!
In science olympiad in high school we had to make "a musical instrument" and we made chimes. I don't remember how we calculated it, but I do remember we did some actual physics equations to figure...
In science olympiad in high school we had to make "a musical instrument" and we made chimes. I don't remember how we calculated it, but I do remember we did some actual physics equations to figure out what lengths we needed to cut, and we got metal tubing from the shop class and used a saw and a drill press to cut and then hang the chimes. I think we were able to play twinkle twinkle little star and have it sound correct in the end, it was pretty cool.
Oh, that’s super fun, what a cool project. Yeah, the website I talk about in the post, Lee Hite’s Chime Design and Build, does get into the weeds of the physics involved, too. It's pretty great —...
Oh, that’s super fun, what a cool project. Yeah, the website I talk about in the post, Lee Hite’s Chime Design and Build, does get into the weeds of the physics involved, too. It's pretty great — here’s a link to the specific calculations you need to do. The whole section above that, “The Science,” is also fascinating! We experienced the “missing fundamental” issue in our build, for example, with the low G chime. You could only hear the actual G3 note if you were less than a yard away from the chime, and only prominently if you were within 6 inches. Otherwise, that longer chime actually sounded higher in pitch than the rest of the set!
A drill press was the one tool that we didn't have that would have made this whole build quite a lot easier haha. I’d never used a pipe cutter before this, though — about 30x easier than making the equivalent cut with a saw. Would recommend!
This sounds like such a fun project! I got a ~1 foot long set of wind chimes years ago tuned to the same key as “Edilweiss”, they sounded so pretty. The former owners of my house left several sets...
This sounds like such a fun project!
I got a ~1 foot long set of wind chimes years ago tuned to the same key as “Edilweiss”, they sounded so pretty.
The former owners of my house left several sets of wind chimes behind which had been chosen for their looks. One was made of bent forks, another of plastic triangles. The plastic triangle one was high out of reach and quite loud, it had what I uncharitably described as the tones of a car accident. We eventually took that one down and replaced it with the most beautifully tuned set I’ve ever heard, they bring me joy every time the wind picks up enough to let them make sound.
We had a mole (the animal) issue a few years ago. I don’t care about my lawn, but I didn’t want them digging up my garden. I read somewhere that moles are sensitive to sound, you can buy “ultrasonic” devices to keep them away. I got a standing hanger and hung the smaller set of wind chimes, which are much more sensitive to wind than the bigger ones, in the area we were finding molehills. As far as I can tell, it/they did not come back while the chimes were there. Now I lay down chicken wire when I’m building a raised bed and the moles can carry on aerating my yard.
I’m cackling about the car accident chimes. We also have a set of chimes in our backyard that are just beautifully tuned, and I know exactly what you mean. In the summer I’ll happily sit out in...
I’m cackling about the car accident chimes. We also have a set of chimes in our backyard that are just beautifully tuned, and I know exactly what you mean. In the summer I’ll happily sit out in the backyard when it’s breezy just to listen to the chimes.
Something I learned during the project is that you can fine tune how responsive any set of chimes is to the wind by changing the size and mass of the wind sail! If you make a sufficiently large and light wind sail (you may need to adjust the mass of the striker, as well), you can make even fairly large, heavy chimes go off in much milder winds. Not that you want to do that, necessarily — as you well know, there is such a thing as too much chime!
I like the way they are now. Instead of an everyday thing, it feels like a special a treat to hear them! The smaller set does get annoying when it’s very windy out, I’ve never been annoyed by the...
I like the way they are now. Instead of an everyday thing, it feels like a special a treat to hear them! The smaller set does get annoying when it’s very windy out, I’ve never been annoyed by the bigger ones, which I’ve now had for two years.
It was truly a blast! If you end up giving it a shot, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions! Although, that said, I’d be surprised if you had trouble finding answers to just about...
It was truly a blast! If you end up giving it a shot, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions! Although, that said, I’d be surprised if you had trouble finding answers to just about every possible question on Lee’s website haha. It’s pretty wonderful!
A few weeks ago, while visiting my sisters-in-law, I helped one of them build a set of wind chimes for their home. It turned into one the most joyful and rewarding things we’d done together, and I decided to write about the experience! Has anyone else ever made their own wind chimes? I ended up being pretty surprised by how subtle and complex they can be to construct!
In science olympiad in high school we had to make "a musical instrument" and we made chimes. I don't remember how we calculated it, but I do remember we did some actual physics equations to figure out what lengths we needed to cut, and we got metal tubing from the shop class and used a saw and a drill press to cut and then hang the chimes. I think we were able to play twinkle twinkle little star and have it sound correct in the end, it was pretty cool.
Oh, that’s super fun, what a cool project. Yeah, the website I talk about in the post, Lee Hite’s Chime Design and Build, does get into the weeds of the physics involved, too. It's pretty great — here’s a link to the specific calculations you need to do. The whole section above that, “The Science,” is also fascinating! We experienced the “missing fundamental” issue in our build, for example, with the low G chime. You could only hear the actual G3 note if you were less than a yard away from the chime, and only prominently if you were within 6 inches. Otherwise, that longer chime actually sounded higher in pitch than the rest of the set!
A drill press was the one tool that we didn't have that would have made this whole build quite a lot easier haha. I’d never used a pipe cutter before this, though — about 30x easier than making the equivalent cut with a saw. Would recommend!
This sounds like such a fun project!
I got a ~1 foot long set of wind chimes years ago tuned to the same key as “Edilweiss”, they sounded so pretty.
The former owners of my house left several sets of wind chimes behind which had been chosen for their looks. One was made of bent forks, another of plastic triangles. The plastic triangle one was high out of reach and quite loud, it had what I uncharitably described as the tones of a car accident. We eventually took that one down and replaced it with the most beautifully tuned set I’ve ever heard, they bring me joy every time the wind picks up enough to let them make sound.
We had a mole (the animal) issue a few years ago. I don’t care about my lawn, but I didn’t want them digging up my garden. I read somewhere that moles are sensitive to sound, you can buy “ultrasonic” devices to keep them away. I got a standing hanger and hung the smaller set of wind chimes, which are much more sensitive to wind than the bigger ones, in the area we were finding molehills. As far as I can tell, it/they did not come back while the chimes were there. Now I lay down chicken wire when I’m building a raised bed and the moles can carry on aerating my yard.
I’m cackling about the car accident chimes. We also have a set of chimes in our backyard that are just beautifully tuned, and I know exactly what you mean. In the summer I’ll happily sit out in the backyard when it’s breezy just to listen to the chimes.
Something I learned during the project is that you can fine tune how responsive any set of chimes is to the wind by changing the size and mass of the wind sail! If you make a sufficiently large and light wind sail (you may need to adjust the mass of the striker, as well), you can make even fairly large, heavy chimes go off in much milder winds. Not that you want to do that, necessarily — as you well know, there is such a thing as too much chime!
I like the way they are now. Instead of an everyday thing, it feels like a special a treat to hear them! The smaller set does get annoying when it’s very windy out, I’ve never been annoyed by the bigger ones, which I’ve now had for two years.
This is really cool - thanks for sharing! My wife and I were just talking about wind chimes the other day. This could be a fun project for us…
It was truly a blast! If you end up giving it a shot, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions! Although, that said, I’d be surprised if you had trouble finding answers to just about every possible question on Lee’s website haha. It’s pretty wonderful!