# Teapot whistle



## Tim9 (Mar 7, 2020)

Well, the old Simplex Tea Kettle just had a sick sounding whistle. I could still hear it but I must admit, I had to pay attention plus my hearing is still pretty good. But, my mom’s hearing is bad. I noticed that the other day she put my great kettle on the side and was using her old crappie kettle which I will admit did still have a good whistle.
So I started thinking. Could I make a new whistle and top for the old Simplex.
here’s a pic of the starting point of the Simplex Kettle.


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## Tim9 (Mar 7, 2020)

I did try tweaking the old kettle’s whistle to no avail. And I even found out that I could purchase a replacement top for 40.00 
  But, after reading some forums I reached the conclusion that the whistle was just a bad design and probably would never reach a level of loudness required for my needs.
So I spent a LOT of time reading and learning the dynamics of a whistle. Wow, just wow. Such a simple thing as a whistle is complicated.
First step, the top body. Brass would have been my preference but I couldn’t justify the expense of a 2-3/4” diameter chunk of brass for this silly project. I say silly because it was still a usable tea kettle for me. But....it is what it is.
I started with a 3” round bar of aluminum.


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## Tim9 (Mar 7, 2020)

I measured the old top and put around  2 degree taper and used the compound to cut that. I did the try & fit method here.... no real high tech measuring here. Just moved the tailstock out of the way and then would use the kettle body to test the fit. I put the taper for a portion of the top and the other half of the fit was a snug straight fit for about 1/8” until it hits a raised ring.
Sorry, I really didn’t take a bunch of pictures.
After I got the fit right, I center drilled it to 5/8” -11. That size was a decent size for the whistle body I designed.
For what it’s worth, it took me three tries to design the whistle. First two were failures.... first one used a 1/4” brass body and it was too weak of a sound.
I ended up using a chunk of 5/8” brass round I had laying around.


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## Tim9 (Mar 7, 2020)

Here’s the semi finished top. I still need to either nickel plate it or anodize it. Still haven’t made decisions there yet. Once I’m done with the corrosion protection, I’ll fit a delrin top to the whistle. It’ll Act as the handle to lift the hot kettle top....insulating that hot whistle.
  I’ll tell you, this thing screams.


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## Tim9 (Mar 7, 2020)

Whistling video
View attachment trim.429CAC96-323A-4878-B03C-93E04D006A64.MOV


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## brino (Mar 7, 2020)

I am a big fan of the "fix rather than replace" mentality.

Great job here!

-brino


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## RJSakowski (Mar 7, 2020)

I have a similar problem.  A few years back, my wife dropped the top of her Denby teapot.  When we were in the UK, we stopped at the factory to get a replacement but were told that neither the teapot nor the replacement top is no longer available.  Similar Dernby teapots sell for  over $100 here.  I super glued the pieces together well enough ti make a SolidWorks model  with the thought that I could make a replacement top out of a plastic like Ultem.  The stock would have to be a block 3.6" x 3.6" x 2.5". A search online comes up with around $50 for the stock so I guess it will have to wait until I take a pottery class.


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## Tim9 (Mar 7, 2020)

Thanks guys.
Only  thing I’m worried about is the aluminum holding up against corrosion. We’re dealing with heat and moisture....especially on the inside bottom. I’ve been reading up on nickel plating aluminum. Anodized then nickel. Something about zincating first so that the nickel can be electroplated. The zinc is needed to give the anodized surface a conductive surface because once it gets anodized then it’s no longer conductive and can’t be electroplated.
   I’ve nickel electroplated some cheap CRS parallels I made.... and have been using them for about a month. They are holding up okay. But it’s going to be a challenge. Oh well.... only people who don’t fail are those who never try.
You can see below... the nickel is doing okay, but did peel in a couple of small spots on the sharp corners. But this was my first try and I didn’t do an acid etch.


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## ACHiPo (Mar 9, 2020)

Seems like you'd need to be careful picking up the handle.  Doesn't that whistle get hot?  Nicely done.


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## Ken from ontario (Mar 9, 2020)

Tim9 said:


> . Brass would have been my preference but I couldn’t justify the expense of a 2-3/4” diameter chunk of brass for this silly project. I say silly because it was still a usable tea kettle for me. But....it is what it is.
> I started with *a 3” round bar of aluminum*.


The whistle sounds great, good job machining it out of Brass, I only have one concern about the Aluminum lid, other than the corrosion you mentioned, I wonder whether a small amount of Aluminum would leach in the hot water every time you put the kettle on.


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## RJSakowski (Mar 9, 2020)

My mom used aluminum pots and pans for cooking her entire life and she lived to 85.   I would be more concerned about galvanic action.  

Zinc is not a good actor for food handling.  If it were me, I would nickel plate the brass and anodize the aluminum.  I believe that you can plate nickel directly over brass.


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## Tim9 (Mar 10, 2020)

Yeah Ken. I’m with you. Don’t want that white corrosion. Anodizing seems easy but even it will tarnish over time. The heat and moisture will surely take its toll. I’m going to try anodizing it.... then a zincate coating and then Watts bath electroplating. I think this will be the best solution.
Yes AChip.... it gets way too hot. I mentioned in an earlier post, I plan to make a delrin knob at the top of the whistle
  It’s all still in prototype stage so to speak.

and yes RJ...the brass whistle will be just a Watts nickel plating. I’ve read more damned electroplating crap than I want to admit. Tons of notes and saved pages. I’ve done some zinc electroplating too. And nickel. But, the stumbling point at present is nickel plating anodized aluminum. It’s a little tricky but from what I’ve read I think it’s doable for home shop stuff. No cyanide needed and no harsh acids. FWIW....tin is an excellent plating for the brass whistle too. And it can be heat plated. That’s how copper pans are done....just rosin flux and a torch.


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## brino (Mar 10, 2020)

Tim9 said:


> I’m going to try anodizing it.... then a zincate coating and then Watts bath electroplating. I think this will be the best solution.





Tim9 said:


> I’ve read more damned electroplating crap than I want to admit. Tons of notes and saved pages. I’ve done some zinc electroplating too. And nickel. But, the stumbling point at present is nickel plating anodized aluminum. It’s a little tricky but from what I’ve read I think it’s doable for home shop stuff. No cyanide needed and no harsh acids. FWIW....tin is an excellent plating for the brass whistle too. And it can be heat plated. That’s how copper pans are done....just rosin flux and a torch.



I would really appreciate you taking us along for that ride, too!
I have never really done electroplating but would like to understand some basics.

-brino


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## Tim9 (Mar 11, 2020)

brino said:


> I would really appreciate you taking us along for that ride, too!
> I have never really done electroplating but would like to understand some basics.
> 
> -brino


I’ll make sure to take some pictures and document the process when I get around to finishing this project. I still haven’t picked up my sulfuric acid drain cleaner and distilled water which I need for the anodizing step. I’ve got some zinc powder.... just not sure whether it’s zinc sulfate or zinc oxide.  Like I said.... I’ve been over taxing my brain reading up on all this stuff. And the problem with electroplating and finishing metals is that almost all of the processes are proprietary. These guys in this sector just rarely share their secrets. 
The Watts nickel is well documented and it’s easy to find those instructions. But, that’s about it. To add to the complications, many of the recommendations on nickel plating aluminum is the electroless nickel plating process. It supposedly works best. Another recommendation is a cyanide plating process on the aluminum. 
But... from what I’ve also read is that one can do a zinc coating and then the Watts nickel bath to electroplate the anodized aluminum. That’s the one I think I’m going to try. 
   Anyway.... when I give it a go, I’ll document and update this thread. It will get done, but I just don’t have a plan of execution fully worked out yet.
   FWIW.... Caswell does have everything to do many of the above mentioned processes. It’s just that I’m a bit cheap for this.


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