The Edrum kit is coming along. . .

[JLee]

And hopefully, I won't be too old to play it by the time I am finished.

Made some good progress yesterday - cut the rest of the bridges down to size and they fit inside the shells perfectly. Also, got some metal stock and cut five 2" x 2" piezo platforms. Not all that easy with a hacksaw, but I needed the exercise anyway.

Today, I am using the Mank method of Roland cone construction, seeing as Musiciansfriend raised the price to $7.99 a piece (that last three dollars per is just too rich for my blood- half joking).

Bought all the mounting hardware I will need, save for perhaps a few odds and ends, so i am getting close. . . .

Still no module yet, though. Well, if a tree fell in the forest. . . . .

[drummerdan]

And hopefully, I won't be too old to play it by the time I am finished.

Made some good progress yesterday - cut the rest of the bridges down to size and they fit inside the shells perfectly. Also, got some metal stock and cut five 2" x 2" piezo platforms. Not all that easy with a hacksaw, but I needed the exercise anyway.

Today, I am using the Mank method of Roland cone construction, seeing as Musiciansfriend raised the price to $7.99 a piece (that last three dollars per is just too rich for my blood- half joking).

Bought all the mounting hardware I will need, save for perhaps a few odds and ends, so i am getting close. . . .

Still no module yet, though. Well, if a tree fell in the forest. . . . .


I'm looking forward to your kit! I know it can get tough finding time but it's worth it. :)

[tcraw1010]

PICTURES

PICTURES

PICTURES


:)



TOM

[JLee]

Well, as I noted a post or two ago, I did end up finishing the shells on my edrum kit, though they are not currently set up for electronics. Made some progress today on the project, and after seeing how I did, no real obstacles came up. Since I am posting pictures as well, I have broken this up into a few posts, so sorry for the lengthy nature.


Here are a few shots of the kit as it now looks.

[JLee]

After buying quite a number of metal parts, including straps from which to make the bridges, I cut the bridges down to size to fit inside the drum. Considering I am using the spring-loaded adjustable bridges referred to elsewhere in this thread, I did not want the bridges to be so big they scraped the insides of the shell. So, after some measurement, I ended up cutting each of them 1.25" less than the OUTSIDE diameter of the shell (easier to measure). I am not saying this is the best way to do it, just the way I chose.

The first photo shows the shell I am working on, with the L brackets mounted inside. Just a word on this: I cut off about half of the portion that extended inwards in the shell (as opposed to the part that is mounted on the shell wall). This was done purely for aesthetics, as I could not find such a bracket that did not have equal size sides. Also, none of the existing brackets were a direct match for the lugs I am using, so I ended up having to extend the bottom hole of the brackets with a file.

The second photo shows the L bracket I started with.

The third photo shows one of the metal platforms I cut for the piezos, with the guide holes marked with an awl.

[JLee]

The first photo in this series shows the bridge and platform for the 10" shell I am working on, with the holes drilled. As you can see, the platform will fit diagonal on the bridge.

The next photo shows the platform mounted on the bridge.

[JLee]

From here, it was just a matter of enlarging the top of the L brackets to accomodate the bolts (1/4" by 2" long) that would actually suspend the bridge and house the springs that would allow me to adjust the tension and make the bridges somewhat velocity sensitive (in theory, anyway).

After doing that, I marked the position of the L bracket holes on the bridge itself, and drilled the holes for this.

The following photos show the completed bridge, minus the springs that will be necessary, as well as a number of rubber washers I still want to insert. The photo that has the rubber washer positioned on the center of the bridge denotes exactly where the piezo will be mounted.

[JLee]

In retrospect, just a couple of observations:

1) If you don't feel like doing the manual labor, I am sure you could skip the Robin Crusoe part and have a metal shop cut the parts for you pretty easily. As it was, I did all the cutting manually with a hacksaw, and while I didn't mind the exercise, it was not the much fulfilling part of the process.

2) You might consider aluminum parts. I am not sure if it is going to be a problem but when you add up the weight of the metal parts I used - bridge, L brackets and platform, the weight is not inconsiderable. On the other hand, as long as the mounting hardware can take it and the Gibraltar stand doesn't topple (not likely), I am not sure if this would present a problem.

On the horizon . . .

Need more rubber washers, springs, etc. from Home Depot

Mount the shelled piezos onto the platforms

Drill for jacks and wire the piezos

All in all a pretty enlightening time.

[drummerdan]

Jon,

Looking good. I know what you are talking about when you talk about the "enlightening time". I learned a ton of stuff from my edrum project and they turned out great. They look exactly as envisioned and perform great. I'm pulling for you!!!! Keep up the good work.

[JLee]

Jon,

Looking good. I know what you are talking about when you talk about the "enlightening time". I learned a ton of stuff from my edrum project and they turned out great. They look exactly as envisioned and perform great. I'm pulling for you!!!! Keep up the good work.


Thanks Drummerdan. Glad to hear things worked out with your kit. Hopefully I will get the same end result.

[tbone]

Those are looking great! Funny seeing an assembly without edges cut; but I'm sure there's no need. You're inspiring me to make a kit myself, although I already have a Roland kit I use in one of the groups I play out with. I could use a kit to keep set up in my drum room for practicing.
Do you mind telling how much that set of mesh heads cost?

[JLee]

Thanks TBone

The mesh heads were cheap - I think I paid about 8-9 dollars a piece. Bear in mind though, that these are Pearl Rhythm Traveller heads - not Rolands or Hart Dynamics.

That is, except for the snare, which IS Hart Dynamics. I just figured that the snare will receive more punishment, and is tuned tighter, so therefore needed a thicker mesh head on it.

As Tom pointed out a while back, regular white Vdrum heads would look better. He is right about this, and I am also aware that these heads do seem to lose tension a little bit over time. I just kind of wanted to get everything in place electronically before I worried about the heads.

[JLee]

Funny seeing an assembly without edges cut; but I'm sure there's no need.


Actually, that just must be a photographic illusion. All of the shells have 45 degree edges on both top and bottom. (Yeah, I know that a bottom edge on a single headed tom is unnecessary, but I got so jazzed about cutting my first edges that I just couldn't stop myself on the top edges only.

And while the edges don't impart any of the sound, I am told that they are necessary so as not to chew up the mesh heads prematurely.

[tbone]

Thanks for the info. And yeah, looking back I can see the edges were cut.

[JLee]

Just completed the purchase of an Alesis DMPro module on Ebay.

Got a pretty good price, with a seller that had a great feedback rating. Hopefully, this will end up a lot better than my experience with buying a classic car on Ebay.

Anyhow, now I guess it really is a edrum kit, as opposed to a fancy practice pad set.

[tcraw1010]

I assume we'll be getting some final pics and sound bytes soon, yes ?? :D


EDIT - My Bad, I hadn't seen those pics you posted 2 days ago . .

NICE !!!



Drummerdan ... What's the url addy to your Blog again ???


TOM

[JLee]

I will have final pictures and sound bytes up before too long, hopefully.

While we are at it, at the risk of sounding like the Amish, how does one go about
capturing and sending a sound byte?

No laughter, please.

[tcraw1010]

I would think you should be able to do it directly from your sound module to your computer . . . . similar to hooking up to an amplifier or something like that.

DON'T QUOTE ME, though. ;)


Might want to ask Dave Fender (DFender) . . . he has posted several sound clips before.




TOM

[drummerdan]

I assume we'll be getting some final pics and sound bytes soon, yes ?? :D


EDIT - My Bad, I hadn't seen those pics you posted 2 days ago . .

NICE !!!



Drummerdan ... What's the url addy to your Blog again ???


TOM


http://edrumbuild.blogspot.com/

I had a blast building it and want to do more. I guess I'll have to sell this one to make room for more. You know, the wife thinks we need money to pay bills or something. She just never considers MY feelings. ;)

[tcraw1010]

VERY nice looking, Dan !!!

Have you posted any sound bytes of your kit ?




TOM

[JLee]

Dan

That kit came out NICE. Very well done.

[drummerdan]

VERY nice looking, Dan !!!

Have you posted any sound bytes of your kit ?



TOM

Thanks, It really turned out as good or better than I hoped for.

No sound yet. Maybe I'll be able to get to it later this week or sometime next week.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!