Crank Handle Pt. 3

I completed the crank handle and got it attached to the organ.

Since I'm using a mitre gear arrangement with a side-mounted handle (as opposed to the rear-mounted handle specified in the plans), I needed to take some care in getting everything lined up correctly.
To make sure the short crank handle shaft wouldn't get too wobbly, I wanted to come up with an arrangement that would have two separated bearings to keep the shaft in alignment. Since the side of the organ is less than a quarter inch thick, I knew I needed to beef it up a little, and fortunately I had the circular base of the wooden candlestick I used for the handle.

I cut out a brass circular backing plate, and drilled the pieces to accommodate the shaft, the bearing and the mounting bolts.

Here's what it looked like once I got the wood stained & shellacked, the brass polished, and the shaft ground down in one spot to accommodate a set screw in the handle:

To fix the handle to the shaft, I drilled a hole to fit a set screw in through the underside of the handle arm. I also used a drill with a small bit to gouge out a slot to hold a nut, so the screw would have something sturdy to grab onto. Here's what it looked like before I cut the screw to the proper length and tidied up the gouged and unstained drilled areas:

For the interior bearing, I made a mount out of hardwood, and once I got everything lined up correctly, I bolted it all together:

Crank Handle Pt. 2

I had a couple of wood pieces for options on the crank's handle - one was a wooden candlestick, the other was a handle from a wooden bead back massager.

I decided to go with the candlestick, but I wasn't sure how to attach it to the crank so that it would spin freely. I initially figured on drilling through the entire handle, but didn't feel confident (with the tools I have) that I could drill a straight line all the way through it.

So I came up with an alternative arrangement using a threaded wood insert nut and a 10-32 screw and some nuts and washers.

I cut the candlestick, drilled a hole in the end to accommodate the wood insert nut, then used a dremel tool grinder to grind down the bolt head so that it was just barely smaller than the minimal diameter of the insert nut. I also used the grinder to grind down the threads on the bolt just below the bolt head. This made it so I could thread the bolt into the wood insert nut and the bolt would eventually run out of threads and the insert nut would spin freely just below the bolt head. I screwed the insert/bolt combo into the candlestick head-first. I then used a nylon locknut on one side of the crank and a brass washer and cap nut on the other side:

Crank Handle Part 1

Ever since I started this build, I've been looking for a crank handle on various websites like ebay, hoping to find a vintage cast iron or brass handle perhaps from an old meat grinder or Victrola. Although I did come across many, they were never quite right in terms of price, size, condition, etc.

Figuring the crank handle was a fairly prominent part of the "crank organ", I didn't want to just settle for slapping on a simple functional device, so, not finding a ready-made one to my liking, I decided to make my own.


First I picked out a block of hardwood from my scrap pile, choosing a piece that had grain running in favorable directions. I also put together a template in Photoshop to help me with the initial cutting of the block.

For the first pass, I cut out the template shape on the bandsaw, and filed off some of the rough edges and blade marks.

Next I used the router, drill press and bandsaw to get it into a rough shape:

Then came the sanding and filing and sanding and filing…

Until I wound up with this:

Next I spent some time with the Dremel tool, more sandpaper and files until I got this:

Using some of the thin scrap brass that I had, I cut a piece on the scroll saw and drilled it in a few spots:

I stained the wood and attached the brass accent/reinforcement strip and here's what I've got so far:

I haven't drilled the hole for the handle shaft yet, as I'm still deciding on the shaft diameter and how to get it attached to a handle I'm going to make from a wooden candlestick.  I also need to install a set screw in the crank base in order to secure it to its shaft.

Fixing the con rod ends and pressure testing.

I got some more washers, nut, bolts and other stuff from McMaster-Carr, so I thought I'd finish up and fix the con rod ends before moving on to something else.

During cranking, the con rod ends (where they attach to the bellows) weren't quite smooth enough for my liking - if I tightened the end nut all the way, there wasn't enough play for the bellows arm to slightly swivel/rock between the leather washer, and if I left the nut a little loose, I could feel the clunking as the rod reached its end travel dead spot.

Turning the organ upside-down, I first dropped a 1/4" brass washer onto the rod. The rods are nested inside brass tubing, so the bigger diameter tubing keeps the washer in place. Next I dropped on a short spring, followed by another brass washer, then a leather washer. Next, I put the rod through the bellows arm, put on another leather washer, another brass washer, and finally a nylon locknut which I tightened down so that the spring was just less than fully compressed.

I put a fake brass coating on all of the steel parts.

Now the con rods are nice and snug, but still have a little bit of spring-loaded flexibility.



Even though I don't have the crank handle made and installed, I still wanted to do a preliminary pressure test on the bellows/reservoir assembly.


I think it's OK, but I find conflicting information about how much pressure I should have and how long the pressurized reservoir should stay up before fully collapsing.

I originally was getting about 8 and a half inches of pressure, but I adjusted the spring back a little to lower it somewhat.

Here's the test, using a manometer set at inches of water: