Reed Tuning Bellows

[Don Taylor]

If this doesn't work, get a thin piece of material, a worn sheet for example, dampen it (less is better) and put it between the concave side of the wood and the flat surface. It will flatten out within a day or so.

Keeping it under compression or just lay it on the cloth and the flat surface?

Edited December 15, 2015 by Don Taylor

[Chris Ghent]

Under compression...

[banjojohn]

What type of tires are those and where did you get them? I'm surprised that they'd be flexible enough to act as a bellows.

My sons were really keen on the sport of 'Mountain Boarding', or 'All Terrain Boarding' as it is also called. This sport was developed about 15 years ago by snowboarders, who wanted to continue to 'board' in the summer. A mountain board is similar to a skate board, though is larger and has air filled tyres. Typically these are 8 inch diameter and about 2 inch wide. These tyres are available from any ATB supplier. ATB riders will change their tyres when the tread is worn or to upgrade to a better tread pattern... If you get in touch with your local ATB club or web forum, then you may well be able to acquire a set of used tyres for free! I was racking my brain trying to think of an easy way to make bellows, then I suddenly had the idea of using these tyres. The three I used, were ones which my oldest son had 'rejected' as not being the right specification for the type of riding he was doing, thankfully for me he had never thrown them out!

 

As far as flexibility is concerned, the tyres that I am using are easy to compress, the rubber has a certain amount of 'elastic spring' or if you like 'memory', which means that once these bellows have been squeezed in, they will return to their previous extent on their own accord. Not ideal for fitting to your concertina, by very practicable for the intended purpose!

 

I have found that I only need to compress the bellows by a small fraction of it's capacity, in order to provide enough air flow for sounding these small concertina reeds, in other words, it may only be necessary to have 2 or maybe even just one tyre to provide the desired effect, especially if one moved to a slightly larger size of tyre, such as a 12" dia hand cart tyre for example...

Edited December 16, 2015 by banjojohn

[RWL]

Thanks for the information on the tires. It sounds like they worked for you but would be an expensive proposition if they had to be purchased for the project.

[Don Taylor]

Thanks for the information on the tires. It sounds like they worked for you but would be an expensive proposition if they had to be purchased for the project.

I bought a used, cheap red Chinese concertina off fleabay and plan to use its bellows for a tuning rig.

 

There are lots of old Scholers about.

 

I noticed that today somebody is selling a set of used Jeffries bellows on eBay.

[RWL]

I'm not sure you'd have to buy real bellows. After inquiring about the banjojohn's construction, I recalled that in my 20's I constructed a bellows for our fireplace. Basically it was two hinged pieces of wood in the usual pear shape with some rubberized cloth as the bellows and a short piece of 1/2" copper pipe to direct the air. I didn't fold the fabric in any particular way; I just let it crumple / fold as it wished when I closed the two pieces of wood together. It worked about as well as the commercial ones.

Edited December 16, 2015 by RWL