Noisy (whistle) Outlaw car

[Go Bubba Go]

Understanding that I am after a bit of a "gimmick" car here, can any of you give me a little help with this?

I have been attempting to conjure up in my head a design for a car that would harness the air flowing past the car in such as way as to generate sound. It has occurred to me that I might drill a hole lengthwise through the center of the car and utilize "hood scoops" to capture and funnel additional airflow through the chamber, then attach a whistle to the end and "thar' she blows". Since this is an Outlaw car, I would have no problem adding weight to overcome the (intentionally) horrible aerodynamic drag.

Here's the trouble: All the "storebought" whistles I have stumbled across so far require too much airflow to be of much use in an application like this. I almost winded myself trying to get noise out of a couple of them, and I'm not that old (at least, I don't remember being that old...). I'm beginning to think I should change planes and start thinking about air blowing across a bottletop (think Hee Haw) or perhaps look into bird calls or some other such thing.

Anyone care to wander off the beaten path with me?

p.s. The geeky side of me is now wondering about the effect to spectators of the combination of the variable speed of the car on the actual sound being produced and the Doppler effect as the car passes by... Also, would I be able to regulate the sound by installing a variable louver across the "exit path" of the air...

[Mr. Slick]

I'm thinking recorder mouth piece - lower air volume needed -- holes to tune?

[scoutfrog]

Great minds must think alike. My first year building derby cars, three years ago I wanted to make a car that made everyone scratch their heads and say "how did he think of that?" I took a 1 in spade bit and drilled a hole thru the length of the block of wood. I then removed the wood to leave what looks like a papertowel tube stuck on two pieces of wood. The car was to be called "hole-lot-of-nothin' ".Every thing was fine until I tried to install the axles and the wood split. (I did not leave enough wood in the axle bars) Fast foward three years, and I started to think of cars for this year (2007) and i found the "hole " car and wanted to try it again. After thinking over a lot of designs, I went into my basement to look thru boxes of junk for insperation. And there it was, something from my days in the Air Force, a "crew chief whistle". What it is, is a mini air turbine about 3/4 in wide and 1 1/2 in long. When you blow thru it, it makes a buzzing,whistling whine. The harder you blow the higher the pitch if the whistle. My "new hole in a car' is still under design/construction, but the plan is to drill the same hole but open up the mouth on the front and narrow the rear to make the whistle fit snug, thus maybe getting a ramair-affect and more effecent use of the whistle. I got my original one while in the service, but have seen them at party supply stores. just my 2 cents worth, good luck with your car.

[gpraceman]

Though, if you do manage to get the car to whistle from the airflow, this is slowing the car down (drag). As long as you are not trying to do this and win for speed, you are fine.

[Mike Doyle]

I think you guys are going to run into laminar / boundry flow issues and disturbance that is going to cancel any ram air effect at PWD speeds.

Still, the turbine style whistle probably has the best chance at producing sound at lower speeds. Another option that doesn't require as much time to "spool up" would be a decoy type reed device.

In the end you might end up with something electronic if you really want to make noise but it will be a fun experiment nonetheless.

[Go Bubba Go]

Scoutfrog:

I think I know the type of whistle you are talking about. If I recall correctly one was featured in an old Three Stooges episode. They were attempting to capture a spooky character (a Mummy, I think) and the whistle was to be blown in case of Emergency. One of the characters accidentally inhaled the thing and it got lodged in his windpipe. Now wherever he went, you heard the whistle. Kinda hard to sneak up on the Mummy now! When he got scared, he would breathe faster and the whistle would get louder. Out came the Mummy! Anyway, I digress...

I'd forgotten about those. I'll have to try a party favor store, we have one in town.

[2kids10horses]

Bubba: It would be just TOO funny if you could get one of those party favor whistles that when blown shoot out about a foot with the feather on the end! It would act like a parachute!

2k10h

[sporty]

Well that makes me bring up a question that I was tossing around a few weeks back.

Has anyone ever tried, to have a whole. A reducing whole that actually would help push the car down the track ?

Using the air it would take in as it gained speed ?

or would it actually cause the car to slow ? as the air way (whole was reduced down to compact the air to give a pushing affect ?

Or are the speeds not fast enough to create any such action ?

It would have to exspell more enegry than what it was using or consuming to be a advantage.

Sporty

[Stan Pope]

The "funnel" on the front side effectively increases the frontal area of the car. So, it would eat up some energy. Having a big enough funnel to increase the air speed enough to blow the whistle is problemmatic ... but okay to evaluate.

[SpinDoctor]

I think you guys are going to run into laminar / boundry flow issues and disturbance that is going to cancel any ram air effect at PWD speeds.

Still, the turbine style whistle probably has the best chance at producing sound at lower speeds. Another option that doesn't require as much time to "spool up" would be a decoy type reed device.

In the end you might end up with something electronic if you really want to make noise but it will be a fun experiment nonetheless.

I have had plans in the works to use one of these to build a fire engine. I just may have to do it this year

[Go Bubba Go]

...Having a big enough funnel to increase the air speed enough to blow the whistle is problemmatic ... but okay to evaluate.

The wife thinks my behavior this time of year is problematic, and suggests I should be evaluated before declaring myself okay

[TinMan]

How about a wooden train whistle? Properly constructed, they sound like the real thing. Size and shape are even about right. To complete the look, dress the whistle up as a locomotive!

I'm sure there are others, but here's a link for plans.

http://www.binkyswoodworking.com/TrainWhistlePlan.html

[E-man]

Bear in mind that derbies are pretty noisy, so whatever device you use is going to have to be fairly loud to be heard. I once used the guts from a novelty keychain buzzer (it looked like a cicada). It worked, but not loud enough to be noticed. To get enough volume with a whistle, you'll probably need more air velocity than the car speed, so the turbine whistle would be worth looking into. If you go electronic, you'll need fairly large speakers to be loud enough to be heard. I'd check out the kid's toy department for those loud toy trucks. The electronics from those might work.

I've given up on sound and now go with lights. LEDs are bright and cheap so they can be pretty cool. My next gimmick is to make switch that activates when the car is moving. The idea is to hang a little piece of foil from one wire. As the car gets going. The air velocity presses the foil against another wire completing the circuit.

Hmmm - another idea would be to use a freon air horn and rig up a switch that triggered the horn as the car got going. That would certainly get the kids' attention! You'd probably have to clean up some spilled drinks though too!!

[Da Graphite Kid]

E-man, I guess that everyone’s derbies are a bit different. I built a car years ago and installed the noise maker that I received in a birthday card. It made a race car sound. Not big and it has to be manually switched on; but it is loud enough to be herd by all. Some of this may have to do with the boys who have raced a year or two knowing that it is that car that makes the race car sounds and hushing the others so they car hear it. The car was totally hollowed out underneath so this may contribute to the amount of sound produced.

You are right; LEDs are cool – I built a jet dragster that featured LEDs in the front and rear of the jet motor. Quite the visual effect but the car was way overweight due to how I had to power all of those (12?) LEDs.

Both of these cars had to be switched on manually, so I am interested in how your hanging foil – wire switch ends up working for you.

Go Bubba Go, Keep us all posted on how the whistle car turns out!


Da Graphite Kid

[Go Bubba Go]

So I took a quick detour by the party store on the way back from the big city this afternoon (gonna be another late night).

The 20 cent turbine whistles they had took a pretty good breath out before noise began, and it was less of a sharp noise and more of a whine. Bought a couple to try, but don't expect much.

The 20 cent horns also took a good breath out before noise began, but produced a distinct and moderately loud noise. Bought a couple to try, seems a better possibility than the turbine whistles (at least the ones at this store), but still not very promising.

However, right next to the 20 cent whistles was a 99 cent slide flute. It looks like a whistle on the end of a 1/2" diameter, 7" long piece of plastic tubing with a plunger inside that can be moved in and out to change the pitch of the noise produced.

When adjusted correctly, it is hard to breathe out at all without producing noise, and a very distinct (and relatively loud) noise is produced. Bought a couple to try, highest chances for success, I think.

Now I just have to figure out how to incorporate the slide flute into a design that is at least a little bit subtle, and at first glance doesn't just appear like a slide flute stuck in a block of wood.

I was thinking of maybe a mouse with mouth wide open (air funnel) on the front end and tail (flute plunger) coming out the back???

Of course, Mrs. Bubba can't stand mice and would probably pass out if she caught me giving the mouse "mouth to mouth" while adjusting the plunger setting

Thanks for the party store idea, it got me one step closer to a viable design.

p.s. DGK - had the same idea about a birthday card noise maker, just didn't take it anywhere (so many car ideas, so little time...). Probably won't do one unless we find a card with the theme music from Batman. The one boy would love that (see here).