Chimes

The one part I got done over the summer was to get the chime action completely refurbished.  I purchased a used 25-note set of chimes with striker action built by Maas-Rowe.  As always, I began with a thorough cleaning.  This time, it was mostly with the Shop-Vac.  I didn't want to get any of the components wet with soapy water.  While cleaning, I noticed two electrical components with broken wires going into them.  I have a copy of the original schematic and spec sheet from Maas-Rowe, but I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for.  I searched online to try to identify them and find a replacement, but nothing was obvious.  I checked with the other builders on the DIYapason forum, but no one there was certain what they were.  One person directed me to justradios.com, a website specializing in new components for antique radios and televisions.  I emailed back and forth with the owner and he was able to decipher the color coded dots on my components.  It turns out that this thing is a resistor and a capacitor built into one unit.  Their purpose is to help reduce sparking in the under-key contacts and also reduce interference with PA systems in a church.  I purchased 30 new resistors and capacitors so I would be able to replace any that fail in the future and have a few extras, just in case.  I soldered the two components in place, in parallel, just like the diagram showed and it seemed to reduce sparking a little.  They don't spark any more than the other contacts.  I won't have a PA system of course, so that doesn't really matter.

Next was to replace the old or missing striker tips.  There is little leather pad on the end of each striker to cushion the blow and create a more mellow tone.  Several of these were missing so I contacted Maas-Rowe to purchase replacements.  I was able to easily remove the old ones with a utility knife and clean the metal surface with a firm scraping.  The new tips are glued on with Pli-o-bond adhesive.  I actually put two tips on each striker for an even more mellow sound.

I also ordered from Maas-Rowe a new chime volume switch.  The volume is controlled by the voltage delivered to each striker.  There is a dedicated transformer reducing typical 110v household current to about 24v direct current.  This transformer can produce voltages from 15v to 28v.  Lower voltage is softer sound and higher is louder.  I had a couple of switches that came with the chimes, but they were for other types of chimes and didn't have 7 power levels.  I ran into some trouble though when I went to install the switch in the console.  There is a wooden bracket very close to the hole where the knob goes through board.  I went to the hardware store expecting to find an extension shaft and a collar, but had no luck.  I opted for a little piece of copper pipe and matching brass shaft.  I used a tap and die set to thread a couple holes through which I put set screws to hold the two firmly together.  It worked perfectly and the switch is now in the console.

The last part of this phase was to build the decorative canopy that hides the chime action.  I built this out of oak and used the same trim and molding as I will use on the decorative panel covering all the windlines and wires.  I used the same finish schedule and it is a perfect match to the swell box and console.  And, I built, stained, and varnished a mounting bracket that will make it all much easier to install.  A note on the pictures-  some of these are really grainy.  Apparently I bumped the exposure compensation button on the camera and didn't realize it for a while.

Chimes Album