Coming up with a project idea

Eagle projects take so much time and effort! We learned so much through the process and wanted to share everything we learned in case any other young men are interested in a similar project.

It started with the construction of a butterfly garden behind our local elementary school, Castle Hills Elementary. They constructed some gardens, benches, a checkerboard, an outdoor loom, and 2 professional-grade musical instruments.

Jackson is a very musical kid. He plays the piano and the trombone and has been singing in school, community and church choirs for 5 years. Immediately after hearing about the outdoor musical instruments, he starting thinking about what he could create. Here are a few pictures that served as inspiration for the project:

The final decision was to 2 make 2 instruments. The first is a Tubulum, a drum instrument made from PVC pipes that is hit with a paddle to create different pitched tones. The 2nd instrument is a pipe instrument like a very large xylophone or chimes that would be hit with a mallet .

After some back-and-forth with PTA representatives, the principal and the school district, and idea was approved by the district and papers were signed. The red tape took about 4 weeks - even with a helpful principal. By the time he was ready for his official Eagle Service Project proposal, the local Eagle council was on summer break, so everything went into holding pattern for 3 months. Finally in August, the project was approved.

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Cutting the pipes - trouble shooting

The trickiest part of the build was cutting all the pipes to length. We decided on 8 notes, a c-major scale. There are formulas and estimates for pipe lengths online, but it turns out that the tuning is highly variable with humidity, altitude, and pipe construction. Using a tuner on your phone/ ipad is very helpful. Adding the u-bend to the pipes definitely changed the length of the pipe needed. We made sure to cement the u-bend on first so that there wouldn't be any change in the tone if the pipe wiggled/ moved. To cement the PVC pipe to the u-bend (curved portion), follow the directions on the Oatey cement bottle. It sets up really fast. The biggest hint here is to start long and cut more as needed. We used a machine saw that could cut through PVC and metal. It took 3 hours of trial and error to cut all the pipes and the PVC. The PVC pipe tuning was very easy to do. Remember, you need to bring a flip flop and hit...

Fundraising

After final approval, the fundraising efforts started. Jackson approached 2 Home Depots, 2 Lowes and 1 ACE store. He had a printed letter and came dressed in full scout gear. He always asked to see the manager and he had to return to stores several times to finally talk to a manager in charge of donations. Lowe's never called back or agreed to anything but a discount (no donated goods). He did put out a request for funds through NextDoor without any replies. He also contacted our local realty company (owning all of Castle Hills properties) without any replies. The Lewisville Home Depot kindly donated most of the lumber, pvc, and metal pipes, worth around $280. The Colony Home Depot gave more PVC, MEK, PVC cement and other misc. supplies valued around $70. The Westlake ACE hardware donated $50 of goods, mostly used for carriage bolts, MEK, screws and sandpaper. The rest was purchased by ourselves online and in stores fo...

Jackson Eagle Project - Large Outdoor Musical Instruments

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