I took out the air flow adjustment set screw on my Tobeco KFL+ clone and my whistle went away - it opened up the draw a good bit (but not too much) for me too.
Getting rid of the whistle on KFL+ clone
- Thread starter ericbnc
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I drilled out my airhole to 3/32, then with the air screw about halfway in = nice draw with no whistle for me.
I drilled the air hole on my KFL lite clone (Tobeco) to 5/64". That's the size of the Russian 91% air hole, it got rid of the whistle. Now the Tobeco functions the same as my R91.
I took out the airscrew on MY Tobeco KFL+ clone, and it did NOT solve the whistle "problem". It really doesn't bother me, but thought I'd mention it. Must be slight differences in the manufacturing process.
I'd suggest start out by running a 1/16 bit through the air hole and very carefully through the center pin. That might remove any burs inside there. I went up from there because I didn't like the draw and still had a slight whistle. The 3/32 seemed like too much to create the right pressure and still had a slight whistle, but with the screw in part way, it's perfect (for me).
Whatever you do, don't go over 1/16 with the center pin. I drilled out my ehpro's pin to 5/64 and its working great, so I thought I could do the same with my tobeco version and when I screwed the pin back in, it cracked. I'm still working on a replacement pin...
Also, putting a small bevel on the air hole, with a 1/2 or 3/8 inch bit seems to help a little as well...
Whatever you do, don't go over 1/16 with the center pin. I drilled out my ehpro's pin to 5/64 and its working great, so I thought I could do the same with my tobeco version and when I screwed the pin back in, it cracked. I'm still working on a replacement pin...
Also, putting a small bevel on the air hole, with a 1/2 or 3/8 inch bit seems to help a little as well...
It didn't solve my issue either. It reduced it, and changed the pitch, but it still has an annoying whistle.
It is a difference in the manufacturing. On my real Russian the air hole comes into the base of the unit at an angle, and the adjustment screw comes in straight. On my clone the air hole comes in straight and the adjuster at an angle.
Bingo!! Good call bender. The small bevel is a very important part of losing the whistle. This changes the trajectory of the airflow and will go a long way towards getting rid of the whistle. You can test this by blowing across the top of the air hole like a beer bottle or flute and produce a whistle, but once you bevel the edge the whistle is almost impossible to produce. A strong enough draw might produce a small whistle (you would have to pull hard on the drip tip), but by playing with the size of the bevel... different size drill bits, I find you can get rid of the whistle for your draw. I use a much smaller drill bit to add my bevels, but that is completely dependent on how pointy the drill bit is, not the diameter of the bit because you're not going very deep. Besides, it looks much better finished like that.
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