I, too, saw that posting about PVC tubing and must I agree with Craig.
Our company manufactures plastic products so we know a bit about
plastics (some good, some bad).

Unplasticised PVC, such as used for water pipes, is okay but it can
also have chemicals called plasticisers added to it to make it soft
and flexible, as in plasticised PVC.  Unfortunately, these chemicals
leach out over time and the plastic becomes hard and brittle.

Those plasticisers will coat everything in an enclosed space with
greasy, sticky goop.  They can also react with other substances in the
vicinity, e.g., rubber, plastic, etc., and cause them to deteriorate
too.

Does anyone remember the vinyl upholstery in motor vehicles (cars) when
it was first used?  It made your eyes sting and gave you a sore throat,
particularly when the seats became hot, and it coated the windscreen
with a greasy film.  That was plasticised vinyl, similar to PVC.

Now, don't use ordinary rubber tubing either!  We happen to manufacture
synthetic rubber tubing that is used for medical tubing and many
critical applications, instead of rubber.  It lasts a lot longer than
rubber and does not have the problems of rubber, e.g., hardening over
time.

As a result of our interest in Michael Woolf's Decap restoration, we
have supplied a few hundred meters of this tube to him in New Zealand
and to Len Stenerson, also in NZ, for his restoration of another organ.
I believe some of Michael's tube stock has been "liberated" to retube
his partner's street organ.

Michael would be able to comment on our tubing's usability in
mechanical devices.

The dimensions of our tubing are 10 mm OD by 6 mm ID, and available
in lengths up to 600 metres.  We can also, within reason, produce
different diameters but there could be a minimum order quantity
required.

If anyone is interested we can work out prices.  It is reasonably heavy
(similar to rubber) so we normally ship by sea freight or post.  With
the Australian dollar (laughingly called the "Pacific Peso") about 1/2
the U.S. dollar, our prices are competitive.

End of shameless plug!

Regards,

Colin MacKinnon
Sydney, Australia