The concept behind making your own pipe chime set may actually be easier than you might think.  It may, however, take you longer than you had hoped to make sure they are done right. Cutting each pipe to the correct specified length isn’t necessarily very hard, but making sure there are no sharp edges or burrs to get cut on is much more time consuming and difficult.

Below are a set of simple instructions to make 23 pipes (#0-#22). You can easily get up to 23 pipe chimes out of the materials specified below with a little optimization on which pipes are cut on each 10′ stick of pipe. Plan on taking up to 5-10 hours to make your own set.

Tip:  Being as accurate as  you can while marking your measurements and cutting your pipe chimes will help keep your set sounding in tune.  Keep in mind this is not a professional set and even the wall thickness of the conduit varies slightly so you might hear a few notes that are slightly off.

Materials:

• 1/2” standard steel electrical conduit (outside diameter = 11/16”), you’ll need a quantity of two 10’ pipes to get pipes 0-22
• Something to hold chimes: string, ribbon, leather cord, boondoggle, etc.

Tools:

• Drill
• Drill bit (size depends on how you wish to hold the chimes)
• Pipe cutter ($10-$20)
• File/sandpaper for smoothing edges
• Tape measure or ruler
• Free printable pipe chime labels

Instructions:

1. Use the two 10′ pipes to cut out the pipes you’d like to make. Cutting errors of more than 1/16″ of an inch may effect the pitch of each pipe.
2. Using a 1/8″ drip bit, carefully drill a hole all the way through the pipe at the indicated distance from the top of the pipe.
3. With a metal file, clean up all burrs accessible on the outside and inside of the pipe.
4. Mark each pipe with the correct pipe number.
5. String each pipe with the material that you have choose to hold them with.

Be sure to check out our pipe chime playing tips and how to play handheld pipe chimes pages for more information on how to best use your set.

Making a pipe chime carrying or storage bag is simple and easy to do.  Only a small amount of fabric, ribbon and thread is required with no special or complicated stitches  and can easily be done on a basic sewing machine with basic sewing knowledge. You can even put your own twist on it and make it truly your own with colorful fabrics, thread, ribbons buttons, etc.

Having somewhere to store and transport all your pipe chimes is wonderful to have and now you can do it yourself with this custom carrying bag.

If you’d rather purchase a pre-made pipe chime bag, you can pick one up for only $5.

Download these free pipe chime carrying bag instructions.