I've made some progress on the birdbox project. As I'm sure you remember, I'm working on a paper version of the old Victorian singing bird automata. There are limits to what I'll be able to acheive in card but already I think I'll be able to do more than I had originally planned. As I progress through the design process I am releasing various prototypes as downloadable models for you to try at home. This stage looks like a likely candidate for the next downloadable project.

The pipe is at the left hand side connected to the top plate of the bellows. The bellows are my new non-rotating design with their other end connected to a sort of sliding cradle. Turn the crank and the cradle is pumped back and forth blowing the whistle making a fantastic clean tone!

I envisage the final layout being something like this. I'll be releasing the crank/bellows mechanism for your own experimentation shortly.

Next steps:
Vary the pitch of the whistle, probably via a cam.
Connect up the birds wings and beak.
Fit everything together!