Which material or substance should I use to mold and make Panpipe?

[blue.traveller]

Greeting!

Sorry for my poor English...

I want to mold and make pan flute like this one:
http://www.nativewinds.com/Instruments/ ... te_big.htm

I’ve already made it from wood and molded it with silicon. Now, the problem is, since this pan flute has contact with lip and mouth, so it should be made of a hygienic material which is harmless for health.
This material should also have an acoustic mode, like wood or bamboo to some degree.
So please tell me which resin, epoxy or materials should I use?

Cheers

[Mark Swanson]

Welcome to the MIMForum. Sorry but we require the use of full names, first and last and don't accept the use of handles or knicknames. Please let one of the moderators know your name and we'll fix it for you. Thanks!

[Steve Senseney]

This is a nice looking pan flute.

If you have made it already with wood, is there a need to convert to another material?

[blue.traveller]

This is a nice looking pan flute.

If you have made it already with wood, is there a need to convert to another material?

Hi there

I want to make a lot of these pan flute, so I need to use casting and these materials. Using wood has a lot of working, labor and difficulties...

[blue.traveller]

Welcome to the MIMForum. Sorry but we require the use of full names, first and last and don't accept the use of handles or knicknames. Please let one of the moderators know your name and we'll fix it for you. Thanks!

Hi
I tries to correct my name and family, but I couldn't. I went to Profile page but there isnt any name and family... please guide me about this
Thanks

[Mark Swanson]

That's why I asked you to tell one of us your name, we need to change it for you, thanks.

[Paul Doubek]

If you use something other than wood, it won't sound like wood. That doesn't mean it will sound bad, but not like wood. The pan flutes I have are South American. They're made from something that looks like a thick reed, and lashed together with string.

Maybe you could use some sort of metal pipe or tubing that comes in different diameters. I could also envision laying up fiberglass or carbon fiber cloth with Epoxy resin... I think it's pretty inert once it's fully cured. Keep in mind that it can cause severe reactions if you become sensitized to it and will take some time after it's hard before it's really inert... work with appropriate gloves and get recommendations from the manufacturer to help decide its toxicity and how long it should cure. If you go that route, you could even laminate with some decorative cloth... I've done tie-dyed laminations that look pretty sharp.

Being quite fond of wood and wood work myself, I would be inclined to figure out a production process that would allow me to continue to work in wood. One possibility that comes to mind would be to route 2 halves of each diameter pipe in long sections, glue them together, then cut them to length and plug them. I know that's more labor intensive than casting, but it could be quite a bit less labor intensive than building individual tubes to length finished length.

The completed flute you posted is beautiful, by the way. Good work!
Paul