# DING-DONG



## Rick Berk (Feb 18, 2017)

I saw this piece of scrap brass at the scrap yard 6 months ago and instantly saw a finished part in it, must have come from a steam plant as it is cast brass and painted Kentucky chrome.





I then turned the neck true, bored and threaded the inside. Rigged a setup for turning a nice radius for transition to facing the flange.,


All done,  Sorry for the blur,
	

		
			
		

		
	



Turned it over and faced the the bottom.
	

		
			
		

		
	



Drilled and pipe tapped an intersection hole, band sawed the extra off and sanded smooth on both edges with my 30" master sander.,
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
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I bought these SPAX lag bolts at Menards, trued up the flange and threaded 32 TPI bastard OD. Made 4 custom acorn nuts and polished the brass including the hex flats on a hard felt wheel.
	

		
			
		

		
	



Cut the other two sides off on the band saw and then milled all 4 sides with a 14 degree patternmaker end mill and polished, drilled 4 mounting holes to the minor diameter of the SPAX lag bolts and then threaded the holes with an extra SPAX bolt and a Milwaukee electric impact wrench.,
	

		
			
		

		
	



Cleaned up the steam dinger, painted the gong.,
	

		
			
		

		
	



Mounted all up with hydraulic thread sealant to a 15 inch cast steel locomotive switched bell.,
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
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Don't comment about safety procedures, it all worked, the plastic pipe and a few boards held the weight of the bell while getting the 4 lag bolts started in the pre tapped holes.,
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
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All done, Acorn nuts look great, note the 3/8 brass tubing supply line to the bell. Several jigs were made to drill and tap the mounting holes good and square, another jig to drill the 3/8 supply line thru the shingles-3/4 plywood and 6 inch red oak post holding up the ridge pole, I then knurled a 3/8 SS rod and reamed the hole out to .381 so the tubing would slip in easily with no clearance. I now have a door bell that can be heard anywhere on the property when someone comes to visit.


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## tertiaryjim (Feb 18, 2017)

Really nice work but I might mistake that for a dinner bell.


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## Firestopper (Feb 18, 2017)

Nicely done Rick.


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## FOMOGO (Feb 18, 2017)

Ring-a-ding-dingy. Very nice. Mike


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## brino (Feb 18, 2017)

Great use of materials and beautiful finish.
Well done all around!

-brino


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## Monk (Feb 18, 2017)

That is one finely engineered bell mount Rick. Looks great! Nice work!


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## Terrywerm (Feb 19, 2017)

Nice work, Rick!  Playing ding-dong-ditch at your place would be a blast!


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## Rick Berk (Feb 20, 2017)

I've lived to long, had no idea what ding dong ditch was till I googled it. The Bast***s would not stand a chance here, between the rottweilers, motion detectors and Sam colt. 

Thanks to all for the great comments sent out.


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## 12bolts (Feb 27, 2017)

Any chance we can hear it in a little video?

Cheers Phil


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## Rick Berk (Feb 27, 2017)

Sorry, I do not have a camera or a phone line that can download it or I would be glad to. Population density does not justify running fiberoptics where I live, we are still on 1936 "C" wire. The bell has a high pitch and resonates a long time do to the material being cast steel, not the dull sound of a cast iron bell. I have it set on a pneumatic relay so once the button is pushed an electric solenoid open the 1/4" tubing line and rings the bell about 8 times before the pneumatic relay releases. the dinger only hits one side on the bell. I have installed a Watts oiler in the line to keep the ringer lubricated since I'm using 125 PSI compressed air rather than steam. 

                  Regards


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## Randall Marx (Mar 21, 2017)

Love it! Very well done. Thanks for sharing this bit of beauty with us!


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## Hal H (Mar 21, 2017)

Rick
 Your bell looks great, nice job.

Hal


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