ORGAN CONSTRUCTION

I started out with a pack of 2" x 2" x 8' pieces and cut them to size. I made 2 outside frames and then joined them together with more 2 x 2 across the front. Everything was glued and screwed together as I went along. Then as the shelves were made I covered them with 1/4" CDX plywood. You can make the organ any shape that you want, I wanted at least 2 keyboards and a shelf for the organ pipes. Since this would be placed next to the castle wall entrance I also wanted some kind of a stone back drop. Of course the whole thing had to be able to transport to the back of my garage so I had to keep the parts a managable size to move them This is the dimentions for the side frames that I did. I then ran 2 x 2 stock from the corners of the intersecting 2x2's so that I had a nailing surface for the shelves. The back shelves are for the sound system and flicker light can, the bottom shelf in back is for the fog system that goes to the organ pipes. This is the side view of one of the frames. As you can see I screwed the pieces together and then added the 1/4" plywood to make the shelves. The bottom one I left open for the keys and made the end pieces removable to get at the motor for the keyboard. The small skulls will go into the bottom row of pipes and their eyes blink as fog comes out the tops of the pipes.

Here is the motor that drives the keyboard keys. It's a timer moter that I started with but didn't have the right torque so I switched it out to a rotiserie motor for a grill that slides into a 5/16" x 6" carrage bolt in the pvc pipe cap that was squared up on one end to fit into the motor opening. The brackets where made from 1" allum. flat stock and were scewed to the side 2x2 frame. To make the keys work I put 1 1/2" sheet metal screws into the 1 1/4" pvc tube at random spots that move the keys up and down when it spins.

This is a shot of the back two shelves. The top one is for the sound system that has been upgraded to a computer speaker set with sub woofer and a CD player inside of a box with a light to keep it warm. The bottom shelf has the fog system on it that goes through a cooler and then the wood box that has a fan to push the fog up through the bottom set of pipes through 3/4" pvc pipe and out to the side pipe sets through 1 1/4" pvc pipe. The can with the black tape on it on the top shelf runs the blinking eyes in the skulls in the bottom row of pipes.

Here it is with the side wings on and the pipes, I used 1/2" pipe on the first row with 1"behind it with the skulls. On the top shelf I used 1 1/4" and 3" pipes and for the side wings I used 1 1/4" pipe. All the tops were cut at a 45 deg. angle and spray painted gold then top coated with clear. The insides were painted black, the notches half way down were cut on the band saw at like a scoop and then painted black inside. to mount them I used clear silicone around the bottoms and screwed the side pipes to the 1/2" plywood backs through the 1 1/2" foam that makes up the brick pattern.

This is a shot of the keyboards. I made all of the keys out of 3/4 inch pine scrap and mounted them to a piece of threaded rod so they could move up and down. The bottom keys work off of the spinning PVC pipe and the top keyboard was from a garage sale item that is a static piece (keys do not move). The arm that plays the top keyboard moves and is powered from the motor that runs the right hand. The light was also from a garage sale, it was a desk light and I spray painted the florescent bulb red and attached it to a hole in the shelf after I took the bottom off.

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