Background
I have been learning to play the bagpipes on a practise chanter for some time now. This is basiaclly just the chanter on which you play the melody without the bag and the drones. Since I have to wait some months to get my real bagpipes I tried to build one myself using freezer bags and ducktape. This is the result:
So instead of blowing the chanter directly with the mouth, the air is saved in the bag. To play a tune I use my left arm to apply pressure on the bag to force the air through the chanter which then produces a sound.
The problem
To stop the air from going out to where it came in, a bag gets blown through a non-return valve. So the air can only exit the bag through the chanter. My first attempt of crafting such a valve looked like this:
This is just a straw with some ducktape. It kinda works but there is still a bit of air going back out. Also it doesn't last long since the moisture in my breath removes the stickyness of the ducktape. Which brings me to my question: How can I craft such a non-return valve? It has to meet the following requirement:
- Resistant against moisture from my breath.
- Doesn't let any air go out of the bag.
- Has to have diameter around 0.5 mm. If it's too thin it gets too hard to blow.
- Withstands a reasonable pressure from the air trying to get out.
- Doesn't use too unusual material. I should be able to get it in a supermarket.
Hoping for some interesting ideas!