More About Wind Chimes
Wind
chimes or Aeolian chimes are often hollow or solid metal or wooden tubes
which are usually hung outside of a building and are intended to be played by
the wind, which causes the chimes to strike each other or a metal, wood, or
rubber ball which may be hung in the center.
Wind chimes
produce inharmonic (as opposed to harmonic) spectra, although if they are hung
at about 1/5th of their length (22.4%), the higher partials are dampened and
the fundamental is brought out. This is common practice in high-quality outdoor wind chimes,
which are also usually hung so the center ball strikes the center of the wind chime's
length. Frequency is determined by the length, width, thickness, and material.
There are formulas that help predict the proper length to achieve a particular
note, though a bit of fine tuning is often needed. Outdoor wind chimes
are thought to be good luck in Africa and are
used in Feng Shui.
Wind chimes are
also made of materials other than metal or wood and in shapes other than tubes
or rods. Many people accept bamboo, stones, horseshoes, mechanics tools, PVC
pipe, glass, seashells, old silverware, etc., as chimes. The sounds these make
are not tunable to specific notes and range from pleasant tinkling to dull
thuds. The idea seems to be that if it is moved by the wind and makes a noise,
it is a wind chime.
The tone will depend on the material (steel, aluminum, brass, the exact alloy,
heat treatment and so on), whether you are using a solid cylinder or a tube,
and if a tube, the wall thickness. It may also depend on the hanging method.
The tone quality will depend on how you strike a tube (with a hard object or a
soft one, for example).
Note that with a whistle, such as an organ pipe, the pitch is determined
primarily by the length of the air column. It is the air that vibrates. The
pipe material helps determine the "timbre" or "voice" of
the pipe, but the air column determines the pitch. In a wind chime, the pipe
itself is being struck and the air column has little to do with things
(especially if the pipe is a solid cylinder!).
Wind chimes may
be used to observe changes in wind directions. For instance, if a wind chime is
positioned on the north side of the house only a north wind will move it. It
may alert the inhabitants to a weather change. Conversely, for a south wind a
chime is mounted on the south side.
Source: Wikipedia.com
How to Make Wind Chimes
Wind chimes allow us to snatch music from the air, and it
takes only a few minutes to craft together a set of wind chimes that
reflect your home decor or the whimsy of
your garden decor imagination.
Choose a Material
1. Think about scrap materials you may have around the
house.
2. Consider your decorating motif. A wind chime made
of bamboo in an Oriental style might not look appropriate hanging outside a
Victorian style house.
3. Check out nearly any object that generates a tone
when struck.
4. Consider buying your material. Most popular
presently is some form of hollow metal tubing.
5. Think about hollow copper tubing. It will age with
a beautiful patina.
6. Think about a traditional material, perhaps hollow
bamboo sections.
7. Consider something offbeat. Tour flea markets and
pick up old metal tools, kitchenware or small bottles.
Tips: You can decorate tubing as you please - anything from colors matching
your patio furniture to barber-pole candy stripes.
Design and Assemble
1. Strive for the ideal weight and balance. You want
the wind chime light
enough to be moved by a gentle breeze and arranged to hang level.
2. Choose metal tubes and trim them to lengths that
will provide a sequence of pleasing tones.
3. Test different lengths of tubing - or the various
materials you plan to use - by suspending each with a string and striking it
with the dangler you plan to use.
4. Be as exact about the musical notes you want to
generate as you want. A musical ear helps, but it can be determined
scientifically as well.
5. Select the type of line you'll use to suspend the wind chimes.
Monofilament fishing line and dental tape are options.
6. Select the material by which you'll hang the wind chime
assembly. Light link chain available from any hardware store is a good choice.
7. Choose the material for the plate from which the wind chimes will
hang as well as the striker and the dangler.
8. Weatherproof wood plates, strikers and danglers if
the wind chime is to
be exposed to the weather.
9. Cut out the plate from which the wind chime is to
hang. Here's a chance to find something in a flea market that might be adapted.
10. Drill holes around the edges of the plate.
11. Feed light pieces of chain or a similar material
at an angle and connect it together with a metal loop from which to hang the wind chime.
12. Hang wind chime
elements from the opposite side of the plate.
13. Hang wind chime
elements at different lengths.
Source: eHow.com
