Making a Northumbrian Smallpipe Chanter

Preparing the blank

The wood should be cut to length being sure to keep the ends as square as possible. The centre point of each end is then found, center punched and centre drilled using a No. 2 'Slocombe' centre drill. The blank is mounted between centres in the lathe, and turned to the largest cylinder possible. This should be at least 3mm larger than the final diameter and more if possible. If you have a four jaw chuck the blank can be mounted in its square condition and the bore drilled before the outside is turned but I have found that this is not necessary if the centre drilled hole is well centred and the wood of sufficient size to turn to an outside diameter of 22/25mm. The larger the diameter the more the bore of the chanter can be allowed to drift out of alignment during the drilling before the blank is ruined.

Drilling the bore


The blank is gripped in a three jaw chuck. The free end is checked to ensure that the center drilled hole is running centrally. If it is more than a tiny amount off center adjust the mounting in the chuck until any visible excentricity is corrected. When the blank is running centrally drill a pilot hole EXACTLY on the centre the same diameter as the bore of the chanter (Ø4.0mm). This pilot hole is drilled about 12mm/15mm deep. It is VITAL that this hole is as accurate as possible as any errors here will be amplified during the drilling of the rest of the bore. A techneque thatI use to ensure a central hole is to follow the centre drill with a Ø3.5mm drill and then open it out to size using a good Ø4.0mmslot drill gripped in the tailstock chuck. A further trick is to place a piece of paper under one of the jaws of the tailstock chuck. This will push the Ø4mm slot drill enough off centre to ensure that only one of it's cutting edges is active, thus acting as a very stiff single point boring tool and reducing any chance of the pilot hole wandering off centre.
The 'D' bit drill is held in a tap wrench and guided into the prepared hole by hand. This does does take some care to ensure that the initial accuracy is not compromised. If the lathe used is one of the older types of lathe with a 'through hole' tailstock, eg:- the early Myford® ML7, a bush can be put in this hole and the drill guided through this into the wood. This will make the first 50mm to 100mm easier after which the tailstock can be removed and the remaining drilling completed freehand. If the lathe used does not have a through hole a guide can be made and fitted to the lathe bed however care must be taken to ensure that it can be fitted and dismounted whilst maintaining its accuracy.
The lathe should be run at about 600 R.P.M. and the drill fed gently into the wood using only a light hand pressure. The cutting should procede in steps of about 2 or 3mm. After each step the drill must be removed from the hole and the plug of swarf flicked off the end. The swarf should fill only about 3/4 of the space on the flat of the 'D' If the space is filled completely the amount that the drill is advanced each step should be reduced as there is a danger of the the hole either being forced off centre or a chamber being created.As the drilling proceeds the drill may start to bind in the hole. This can be eased by rubbing the drill on a block of beeswax.
If the friction becomes too great it is an indication that the hole being drilled is slightly smalled than the shank of the drill. I have had some success in relieving this by rubbing the shank of the drill with emery paper thus slightly reducing its diameter.
Another common problem is difficulty in extracting the plug of swarf. This is caused, either by the swarf holding feature on the drill being too shallow to hold the plug of swarf securely, or the hole is not being advanced sufficiently at each step to create a plug packed down into the holding feature. This problem can also be caused by the drill cutting undersize causing the plug to be pulled off the drill by friction. The solution to this is to run a 'D' bit reamer the same nominal size as the drill into the hole thus increasing the bore diameter very slightly and allowing the plug easy passage out of the bore.
I aim to have a runout of less than 1mm in the length of the chanter and have often achieved half of this. I cannot stress strongly enough that the straightness of the final bore is established in the first 12mm of the drilling and time spent getting this right will be rewarded with a good bore that will make the chanter easier to tune and play. I would recommend starting the drilling with the shortest drone and progressing up through the lengths. This will allow enough practice to enable the chanter bore to be drilled with a greater degree of confidence.

Turning the chanter


The drilled blank is mounted between centres and turned to a diameter of 19mm (3/4"). It will save time later if you take care to get as good a finish as possible. Mark the ring positions on the blank from the drawings taking care to identify clearly those areas to be turned away.
Turned Blank dimensions

I turn the chanter with a base diameter taper from 13mm dia at the bottom end to 11mm diameter at the top (see above). This is not just a stylistic device (although I think that it makes a chanter look better balanced) but also allows more room for the larger pad seats of the lower notes and leaves more meat available for undercutting a hole to sharpen a note when tuning (lower notes require more undercutting to achieve the same pitch change as a high note). There is the fact that a thinner wall can give a "brighter sound" to the tone to be weighed against the increased weakness of a thin walled chanter when deciding on the thickness to be used and, if you don't have the facilities to produce the taper, aim at a constant 11mm diameter throughout. I have made chanters as thin as Ø10mm (my first chanter taken from the Cocks and Bryant book) with success.
To turn a taper I use the top slide set over to give a taper of 1mm in 200mm for a 7,11,or 14 keyed chanter or 1mm in 250mm for 16 or 17 key chanters. This is setup using either a dial gauge or a feeler gauge. If you are using a lathe with a headstock bore large enough to pass the chante blank through, the blank should be gripped in the chuck with only about a third of its length sticking out and the decorative rings, two at the bottom and one at the top machined to shape using form tools, these are plunged in gently until the correct depth is achieved. Next turn the straight sided rings using a parting tool with a blade width of 3mm and its leading and trailing corners rounded off (approx 0.5mm radius).
I turn the rings which have a large radius these take special care as, because of the wide cutting face, they are prone to "chattering". Try to grip the chanter in the chuck as close to the ring being turned as possible. If the work still chatters you may need to use a "travelling steady" to support the part being cut.
Lastly turn the tenon at the top to fit the chanter stock, the tenon at the bottom to fit the bottom cap and the diameter for the bottom tube. The chanter blank should now look like the top view of the drawing.

Machining the Key Mounts

The key mounts can be formed using only a sharp knife and a file but I prefer to machine them on the lathe. I use a vertical slide fitted to the cross slide of the lathe with a small vice fitted on this to grip the chanter. The machining is done with a milling cutter held in the lathe chuck. My procedure for a standard 7 key chanter is as follows:-
  • Using a 20mm slot drill machine off the top surface flat down to the small diameter. Start with the chanter gripped on the top c#,d# and b/a rings and with the reed socket end of the chanter pointing to the front of the lathe.
  • Set the centreline of the chanter at the centre height of the cutter by using the vertical slide.
  • Machine the rings away taking cuts of about 2mm depth, moving the chanter past the cutter with the cross slide.
  • When these are completed the chanter will need to be moved along and gripped by the bottom F# and D rings ensuring that the chanter hasn't been inadvertently rotated.
  • It is important to get this face right as it is used as a datum for most of the other machining.
    •  The chanter should now have a flat on all of the key mounts forming a flat face. I will refer to this face as the datum face
  • Rotate the chanter through 180° so that the datum face is at the back, and machine off the underside of the c# mount and the b/a mount.
  • Rotate the chanter through 90° so that the datum face is at the bottom and machine off the side of the d# mount.
  • Turn the chanter so that the reed end is at the back and the datum is at the bottom machine off the side of the d# key and the back of the c# key.
  • With the datum at the bottom and the reed end at the back machine of half of the bottom E key guide block.
  • Rotate the chanter through 90° and with the datum at the back, machine off the underside of the D mount.

    • Drilling the finger holes

    I always complete the drilling of the finger holes before starting the keyed holes as all of the holes, with the exception of the back 'g' hole, can be machined with one setting of the chanter in the vice.
    The chanter is gripped in the vice with the datum face at the front and the vertical slide is adjusted so that the centre of the chanter is at the centre height of the lathe. A template with all the hole positions scribed is held along the front of the chanter and located by the chanter shoulder. A steel pointer is held in the chuck and the position of the hole is adjusted by moving the cross slide until the pointer is lined up with the correct scribed line on the template. The pointer is then replaced with a centre drill or twist drill of appropriate size and the hole drilled first with the centre drill then with the twist drill. The chanter moved towards the headstock using the saddle of the lathe until the drill reaches the centre of the bore in the chanter. This can be checked by placing a light at the far end of the chanter and looking through the chanter bore until the drill is seen to emerge. I think it is important for achieving a good tone not to allow the drill to dimple the far side of the bore by drilling too deep. The holes from the b below middle c downwards are drilled Ø4.3mm and from middle c upwards Ø4.0mm.

    Cutting the keypad seats

    Once the finger holes have been completed the holes, pad seats, and key fitting slots can be machines. I always machine these in the same order. First drill the hole in the correct position then exchange the drill for a seat cutter and machine the pad seat as detailed below these are both completed without moving the cross slide thus ensuring that the pad seat is central on the hole. Once the hole and seat have been comppleted I replace the seat cutter with the appropriate slot drill (Ø2.5 for a single key or Ø5.0 for a double key) and machine the slot using the cross slide to move the chanter accross the bed of the lathe and the saddle to put on the cut.
    The seats for the keypads are cut using a modified slot drill which replaces the drill after a keyed hole has been drilled and before the position of the chanter is changed. The seat is cut by advancing the chanter towards the tool very gently, in the same way as when drilling the holes, until a fully formed seat is achieved. Care must be taken when advancing the chanter not to allow the cutting to progress too quickly or a damaged seat will result. The cutter for the upper holes is made from an Ø8.0mm slot drill reground so that a conical seat with a centre height about 0.5mm above the edge height. The cutter for the lower holes is made from a 9.5mm diameter slot drill reground as above with a centre height about 0.7mm above the edge height.

    Cutting the key Slots

    I cut the slots for the linings with the same lathe settings as for the key pad. This will ensure that the key is exactly in line with the seat and the hole. The slot is cut by moving the chanter towards the tool using the saddle applying a cut ofabout 0.5mm deep at each pass. The chanter is moved axialy using the cross slide to cut the slot. This continues until the slot is about 0.3mm below the smaller diameter.
    I use a Ø2.5mm slot drill to cut the slots for a single key slot and a Ø5.0mm slot drill to cut the slots for the double keys.
    Care must be taken when milling the slots not to hurry the cut or the edges will be chipped.

    Keyslot linings.

    Materials.

    The key slots in the chanter should be lined with either brass or nickel silver to ensure a long lasting, accurate fit with the key. My preferance is to use 0.25mm ( 0.010") thick shim stock this, when used in a 2.5mm wide slot machined in the wood, gives a 2mm wide finished slot width. If thicker material is used the slot machined in the chanter will need to be adjusted to ensure that the finished key slot is exactly 2mm wide.

    lining dimensions

    Making the Key slot Liner for a single Key

    The brass shim is cut into strips of the same width as the length of the longest slot then annealed by heating to cherry red and allowing to cool naturally. Take care not to over heat or the brass will melt. Cut into lengths of about 16mm. These strips should now be flattened by laying it on a flat surface, placing a piece of wood on top and tapping firmly with a hammer.
    The square of shim is placed centraly on the edge of the 2mm x 12mm strip and folded into a "U" arounf it. Squeeze the "U" with the fingers till it is as tight to the strip as possible.
    The 2mm x 12mm strip with the brass wrapped round it is press the into the 2.5mm slot in the Forming Block, place in a vice and the strip pressed into the slot until the brass is fully formed round it. Remove the strip and extract the lining from the block. If all is well the shim should have been formed into an accurate channel with good square corners ready to fit the chanter. (see the sketch above)

    Making the Key slot Liner for a Double Key

    To produce the double lined slots used on chanters with more than 7 keys, I use a slightly thicker brass shim 0.33mm (0.013") thick. This is prepared in the same way as the 0.25mm thick single linings except that it is cut to 20mm lengths, also an extra piece of the same material is cut 6mm wide and slightly longer than the chanter slot length. This piece is held in place using a twist of wire and silver soldered along the centre of the 20mm length to create a 'T' shape (see illustration). It is important that only a very fine fillet of solder is left along the join and if any blobs or over-generous fillets are left thay should be filled away at this stage. Don't be tempted to use SOFT solder as this will not work!
    The bending to produce a double channel is similar to the single channel except that two strips of 2mm x 12mm steel are used instead of one, these are placed one each side of the centre strip and formed using a vice as for the single key linings.
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