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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 10:34 PM
Hi, Creekers,

Back for another drum project. This one's gonna be big. And, it will take a while.

Pterocarpus is the genus for the market name of padauk, and Pterocarpus Rex is a play on T Rex.

This is a collaboration with a guy who will finish, drill and deliver the drums to his own customer. I'm the supplier for the shell pack, which is a high falutin' term for a group of shells. In this case, the P Rex kit will comprise (diameter x height, inches) 14 x 7 snare. Rack toms - 8 x 7, 10 x 8, 12 x 9. Floor toms - 14 x 14 and 16 x 16. Kick drum - 22 x 16.



Obviously, this is not enough wood for a large shell pack. 8/4 on the left will make rack toms, 8/4 shorter on the right is for the 14 x 7, with enough left over to rough up a 13 x 6 snare.

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Close up of the plank designated for the snare drum.

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Setting up for neanderthal ripping. This is after a trip to my buddy's house, wot with the Powermatic everything, and the usual operations needed to re-sawed the 8/4, joint and plane.

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Halfway there.

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Stave pair is ripped.

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Setting up for neanderthal cross cutting.

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Little cross cut action.

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Stack of staves, edges are un-beveled.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 10:47 PM
After sitting for a few days, the staves get a little ride on the granite surface plate to true up any slight movement.

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I use a router table to bevel my staves (20 staves @ 2 bevels each = 9 degrees per bevel.) You can use a table saw or jointer, too. What ever method works best.

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Dry fit. Any inaccuracies of the bevel angle is fixed with shim stock between the router's base and the router table base plate. Final width of each stave is 2.24" Yes, I measure to the .01", and a Lee Valley fractional / .01" dial caliper is the diggety tool.

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Preparation for the glue up. Ganged up furnace clamp and Jorgensen fabric clamps.

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Staves are evened up with a 4 foot level as a straight (enough) edge.

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I check that the staves are plumb to the straight edge. Then I lay on 3 rows of making tape, to chain up the staves. Undocumented - corralling the staves, and flipping them onto their backs.

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The chain on its back. With access to the bevels, I can glue it up.

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Glued using T3. I noticed that T3 seems to stain the padauk, and that's not too big a deal, except the glue line seemed a very visible purple. I switched to T2 for all other glue ups, it seemed to reduce the purpleness.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 10:52 PM
Getting the snare set up in the outside turning lathe.

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All set up, ready to route.

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The first cuts.

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A serious color change as the wood exposed to the world is milled away.

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And done. Lots of chips everywhere.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 10:57 PM
The snare, mounted in the inside lathe.


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Staring the first cuts.

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Another pass. You can see the shell thinning out.

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Done.

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Straight out of the lathe.

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Sanded.

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Another view of the sanded shell. I packed it up, and shipped it to my customer, who will do more work before delivering to the final customer.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:01 PM
And these are the pictures sent to me, by my guy (so he owns these pix!) of the completed snare drum. An oil based finish (the name and recipe escapes me), and custom made brass lugs which were patina'd using his own recipe.

Most yummy. The padauk is richly claret red.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:06 PM
There is more. And more. With more. And a side of more.


The 8 x 7, staves chained up using tape.

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And in the clamps, glued up. Titebond 2 for all the rest of the drums.

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The staves of the 10 x 8.

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Chained up.

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The 12" tom's staves are laid out.

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Chained up.

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The 12" and 10", in the clamps.


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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:08 PM
The 22" diamter by 16" deep kick drum is set up for gluing.


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On its back, ready for glue.

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In the clamps. Hard to tell the scale of this big fellah, but you will soon.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:21 PM
Time to clean up the edges of these drums. Fix the snaggle tooth, and make the edges co-planer to each other.

My rig, which holds the router in a point in space. I use the square to see if the joinery is plumb. If not, then wedges held in place with hot-melt glue trues it up.

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My view, via a good sized opening so I can keep track of the bit.

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I simply move the shell from right to left, as to climb cut the outside face to avoid undue splintering. And padauk will splinter, given any chance. I leave just a smidge.

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And this is what it looks like, nearly done.

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I change the direction of the cut, as to climb cut the inside, to avoid splintering. I give this newly machined edge a few spins on the granite reference plate (covered in 60 grit sand paper) to true up any very minor differences in the cut.

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I check that the joinery is still plumb, with the machined face on the table. It's good!

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The shell needs to be trimmed to 7", it's currently 8"+. A white colored pencil marks some lines. The bottom is 7", the middle is 7.25", the top is 7.5". Just checkin' out some options. If you like neanderthal hand saws, you'll like what comes next.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:27 PM
The shell is slung over a thick stick of alder.


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Using a Japanese style pull saw (the same one I used to cross cut the staves!), I start the cut. I go about 5-7 strokes deep, then move the shell to the next uncut area. Just trying to establish a saw kerf all around the shell.

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Once the kerf is established, I put the spurs to it.

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The hand-cut edge is given its nip 'n tuck, and the shell is done. Both edges are flat, and co-planer to each other.

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The 10".

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A few shop-made wedges tip the shell to correct any non-plumb joinery.

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Done and done.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:31 PM
The 12" tom is edged.

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The big fellah (22" diameter x 16" tall) is done the same way. I have a capacity issue, my setup was nearly not tall enough. No worries, it all fit, and I have some extra space in a few places to make another inch or two of capacity.

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And the family of 4 shells. Now you can tell the relationship of the kick to the toms.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:41 PM
Are you still reading this? You must really love drums. :) Ok, more, then.


First, what is this? This is winter in the SF Bay Area, 12/23/12. We get rain. That's our winter. I mentally hear those in very snowy climates giving me the raspberry (e.g. "yeah, buddy, you don't know what cold is"), but hey, I don't make the weather in the Bay Area, I just live in it.

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The clamping system for the drum lathe. Two MDF disks, squeezed by all-thread, connected to a 1" solid steel ground rod with shaft mounting collars.

This is the 12" diameter tom.

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Hats off to Lee Valley for this dial indicator. I've had it for years. Love it. Anyway, I measure (N,S,E,W) the depth from the shell's edge to the edge of the disk. Some hammer taps help to coax the shell into being mostly centered.

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Washers, nuts, and a very firm twist to cinch it down.

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Shaft collar is tightened.

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Ready to load the shell.

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It's a trick to get the ground rod into one stand (clamped, so it doesn't move) then while holding the shell, grab for the other stand, pushing the bearing onto the axle.

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I eventually win. And this is with a relatively small, light weight drum shell.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:48 PM
Bearing set screws are tightened, locking the axle.
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Extruded aluminum channel is added. This is the router's ways.

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1/4" thick poly carb base plate. Tap Plastic is awesome, $1 off cuts are plentiful in their scrap bin. And for the Porter Cable owners out there, I drilled two new mounting holes. Better explanation for why, later.

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Router installed in the ways. The base plate fits in the grooves and any extra slack between the plate and the groove is shimmed with that UHMW adhesive tape.

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The hand crank is installed on the right hand side.

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The very first cut, I've just knocked off the peaks of the miters.

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Measuring left...

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..and right. Two purposes - check for taper, and measure circumference as to derive diameter. I will want to stop at such a measurement that I end up with 11 7/8" diameter, after sanding.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-25-2012, 11:57 PM
Lathing more.


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Here's a better shot, with the explanation. When I add a shim, there is less distortion to the base plate if the shim is where the screws are, when I tighten them down.

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really starting to make progress. Lots of checking for taper and circumference. Taper is corrected by either shimming the router ways, or adjusting the poplar plates onto which the bearings are mounted.

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If I write down my finishing circumferences in a place where I won't lose them...

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A drum blew up in here. Messy, messy.

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I remove one of the aluminum extrusions, and sand cross-grain with a sanding block...made from a scrap stave. It's padded with a cork bottom. I sand away the tool marks up, starting 80 or 100, then to 120 or 150, then use the RO sander to eliminate the cross grain scratches. I find it easy to dish the shell, so I like to use the RO sander sparingly.

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Checking for RO sander pig tails, with light from a raking direction.

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Done. Unbuckle the rig, and de-clamp the shell.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-26-2012, 12:07 AM
You didn't think we were done, did you? :)

Loaded up in my inside lathe.

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A view of the router ways, and the 3/4" axle directly inline with the router bit. The idea is the shell rolls on the axle, which supports the cut. The axle is covered in shrink tubing, providing a small amount of cushioning and grip for the shell

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Starting to cut. The arms with the skate board wheels just keep the shell from falling off the lathe.

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Lee Valley dial calipers in play again, checking wall thickness for taper, and tracking the dimension. Aiming for proud of 5/16" thick.

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Nearly there. Progress being made.

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And done, along with copius sanding, too. This shell is finished.

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NIOSH 95 mask is a must.

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Seth Dolcourt
12-26-2012, 12:09 AM
With the 12" done, I had the energy for the 10".

Since you know the drill, I'll just summarize.

Ready to lathe.

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Lathing done.

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Sanding done.

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Outside turning done. Diameter is actually 9 7/8".

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Thanks for looking! That's all for now. Maybe the New Year's long weekend will have more progress.

Cheers.

Pat Barry
01-04-2013, 12:49 PM
Thanks for the detailed study in drum making Seth. I find it fascinating. Especially like to see the tricks you've learned along the way and the creative fixturing and tooling ideas you've come up with, for example the inside lathe apparatus is fantastic. What do you do to turn the ID of the smaller diameter drums, though. The ones the router won't go through? Ahhh, nevermind - I found another of your posts - just switch to a smaller router. Excellent work Seth!

Ted Calver
01-04-2013, 6:47 PM
Seth, Your posts are always inspiring. I love the way you tackle creating these shells and look forward to seeing each set. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to document your process. As Pat said, it's fascinating:)

Seth Dolcourt
01-05-2013, 12:19 AM
Thanks for the detailed study in drum making Seth. I find it fascinating. Especially like to see the tricks you've learned along the way and the creative fixturing and tooling ideas you've come up with, for example the inside lathe apparatus is fantastic. What do you do to turn the ID of the smaller diameter drums, though. The ones the router won't go through? Ahhh, nevermind - I found another of your posts - just switch to a smaller router. Excellent work Seth!

Thanks, Pat. I've had to give the 8" diameter rack tom to another drum maker to turn for me. I just can't fit the Bosch Colt inside of it, the ID is too small.

I needed 2 hours to drive out to see him, but the adventure was worth it, I haven't been east of Sacramento, CA for a long time. He took me to a lumberyard one town over, and I found 2 planks of figured birch with great grain that I had to have. Passed on some figured sycamore, but I was tempted.


Seth, Your posts are always inspiring. I love the way you tackle creating these shells and look forward to seeing each set. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to document your process. As Pat said, it's fascinating:)

Thanks, Ted. I've been patrolling McMaster Carr the last few days, itching to buy some parts to upgrade the inside jig. I think I've found the winning pieces, which will be a benefit to have when the Big Fellah kick drum is turned. The goal is to connect a gear motor to the works, because hand-cranking the inside jig with a big shell on it is...a lot of effort.

I hope to have an update soon.

Seth Dolcourt
01-14-2013, 12:03 AM
Back to making dust.


Here the 10" is inside turned and sanded. Sorry, no pictures, but it's a repetition of the 12".

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There was enough of this beautiful quarter / rift padauk left over, and I offered the customer his choice for a snare drum. He brought me this kit, so a little give-back is warranted. He chose a 15" diameter snare drum, which is a rare size, but I'll make it for him. Plus, he's gonna do the turning, I'm just doing assembly and making the edges flat and co-planer.


These are 17" long, need to be cross cut.

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I have learned to hum the theme from "The Love Boat" when sawing. It's about the right cadence. Plus, with such narrow staves, I don't have to sing the whole song, just the easy parts.

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Like buttah.

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Flashing red lights and sirens, the woodworking drama police arrived on scene. While cross cutting, the stave broke away early, very unexpected. Investigation found this nasty little check/crack/defect hiding in the wood. Crud-ola. I was counting on using these staves, now I'm two short, and have to use some staves from a different plank.

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Lookit dat crack on the one stave that didn't have the chunk fall away. To attempt recovery, I attacked it with water thin CA glue, and gap filling CA glue. Learned a trick from a guy at Woodcraft, that if you can access the end of the crack, try fitting in un-waxed dental floss, and you can try to flow in CA glue into the crack.

More on this stave, later. I discarded the stave with the missing chunk.

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Anyway, found enough padauk to keep going. More on this, later.

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Seth Dolcourt
01-14-2013, 12:13 AM
Ok, so focus shifts to the 22" diameter x 16" tall kick drum. The Big Fellah.


This shot of my drum lathe shows the 24" long axle pushed to its limits. Between the stands, about 16" capacity. I have to reserve some space for the MDF disks and attaching the crank handle, so the max width I can turn on a 24" long axle is a 14" long drum.

But...standing at attention is a 36" long axle. Problem eliminated.

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Drum, MDF disks and axle, start position.

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Disks and axle in place.

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All-thread rods are inserted, and finger tightened.

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That axle will go through the opening in the router plate.

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Alley oop. Now I can center the shell, using the dial calipers and checking the distance from the edge of the shell to the edge of the disk.

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And some wrasslin' later, the kick is in the drum lathe.

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Seth Dolcourt
01-14-2013, 12:21 AM
Gave the shell a spin, and noticed the shell oscillating +/- 1/16". Not unexpected, but gotta solve the run-out, try to get it spinning more true. Left the shell in the jig, in the garage, for a cold week just to think about it, and when I came back to the project....

By cracky. Another crack, that think black vertical line, ending at the pen-scribed horizontal line. Padauk, why do you treat me so poorly?

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A run to Woodcraft. Gap filling on left, water thin on right.

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Clamp in the spreader position, I gently, gently applied pressure to open the crack just a wee amount.

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I own 5 Pfeil carving gouges, which would have done this next step much better, why did I pick a straight chisel? Maybe I like my Pfeils, not so much this Japanese chisel. Anyway, the goal was to pare away the surface wood a bit, cut in a channel. The channel will be lathed away, so no permanent harm.

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Soaked the crack with rounds of water thin CA and gap filling CA.

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Soaked so well, I got a large bead of excess on the bottom!

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A couple of furnace clamps, not too much squeezy-squeezy, just enough to draw the crack closed, a tiny bit.

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Seth Dolcourt
01-14-2013, 12:32 AM
Moving on.

So some work on the 15" snare, where I had found the first crack.

The staves for the 15" come from the kick's staves, which were 3.5" wide or so. I need a finished width of 2.40" Figured I'd spare my custom 9 degree router bit some abuse, and ripped away 3/4" or so of waste.

As happenstance would have it, I ripped away the area with that crack. How did the CA glue fix work?

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The black arrows tell the tale. Not bad at all, the CA filled the whole crack. There is nothing structural about the stave shell, so the sound is basically unaffected by the CA fill. It's still a spare stave, but if I had to use it, I'd feel comfortable.

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Laid out 20 staves

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Circled up.

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And clamped. Glue tomorrow, it's too cold in the garage now!

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Seth Dolcourt
01-15-2013, 8:03 PM
Little update. Glued the shell last night, just took it out of the clamps this evening.


These Jorgensen fabric clamps are great for stave glue ups. They cinch tightly, but a good glue-up does not have to be scream-o tight.

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4 staves had some transition from heart to sap wood, and usually, I don't mind that. The cosmetic issues I have is that 16 staves are from one plank, 4 are from another. There is no good way to tell a grain/color story, so with consent from the customer, I put the 4 "calico" staves NSEW.

Still left to do is flatten the edges and make them co-planer to each other. Weekend!

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Brian Kent
01-15-2013, 8:19 PM
Wonderful work. I love Padauk, except for the orange garage. Have you seen the color change over the years. Mostly brown with a touch of red, sort of like brazilian cherry. Keep the photos coming. I love watching.

Dan Hintz
01-15-2013, 8:34 PM
I'm curious, Seth... what kind of prices do those drums command after all is assembled?

Seth Dolcourt
01-16-2013, 2:38 AM
Wonderful work. I love Padauk, except for the orange garage. Have you seen the color change over the years. Mostly brown with a touch of red, sort of like brazilian cherry. Keep the photos coming. I love watching.

Thank you, sir. Yeah, I'm finding orange dust everywhere. I have my road bike hanging upside down from the rafters; the underside of the chain is orange...

I have a padauk mirror frame in the main bathroom, finished with Tried and True. Very dark claret red, but no brown. Then there is the carcass of a probably-never-to-be finished padauk spice box, and that has the brown hue.


I'm curious, Seth... what kind of prices do those drums command after all is assembled?

The absolute very top of the market could be 2 grand, asking, for just the snare drum. That's rare air, so the snare had better be something special. Figure $600-1200 as normal.

Search for Jon Cross custom drums in your favorite search engine, and you'll see some exemplary crafting. Nothing is veneered. He even routes in a 1/8" inlay into the bearing edge. You'd only see that adornment whe the drum head is removed.

Lucky me, he lives 90 minutes up the road, so once a year, I host a drum hang at my house, he brings all kinds of drum goodies.

Another fellow builder (Bellwether Drums) experiments with inlay and keys. He is the only one I know who takes a stock hardware piece (the strainer) and not only turns a wood knob and cap, but cuts, reshapes and polishes the aluminum body to make a lighter, sleeker design.

Were I to fully finish and dress out this 7 piece kit, asking range would be $3-6k, leaning higher than lower.

Dan Hintz
01-16-2013, 6:50 AM
That's about where I expected it to be... they look great.

Dave Laatz
02-08-2013, 10:03 AM
Seth, you'll post anywhere.... They still look good.

Seth Dolcourt
02-08-2013, 3:58 PM
Hey, ya Dave! Have you visited the knitting forums? I'm there, too. :)

SMC has been awesome for posting drum builds. Huge variety of projects going on, and there is some inspiration to be found. Carving, finishing, inlay, the works.

Seth Dolcourt
02-10-2013, 10:38 PM
Did some work on the outside of the 22" kick drum.

22" diameter x 16" deep shell, mounted up in the rig.
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First bites of the first pass. Serious color change!
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Fast forward to the end result. Measured 68 5/8" circumference with my flexible metal tape, and hit it for a bit with 80 and 100 grit, cross grain, to remove tool marks.
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Remember all that drama about the crack? Here is said crack, filled in with Hot Stuff CA glue. Pretty good.
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And another view of the shell out of the rig. Just a smidge larger than 21 13/16" diameter. A commercially made drum head for a kick drum requires a shell that is 3/16" smaller than nominal size, and final sanding will bring the outside diameter to spec.

Yep, inside turning to do, but that will be another day.

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Seth Dolcourt
02-17-2013, 1:51 PM
An update, finally motorized the rig.


The old 3/4" bearings.

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New 1/2" bearings
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A Dayton 9 RPM gear motor. Yes, I've actually bolted it down so it doesn't flop around, and fixed the belt tension, but for picture purposes....

A 1750 RPM 1/2 hp motor is behind the gear motor, I have other uses for that one.

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1/2" precision shafting, with these drive rollers. A shame that the drive rollers did not come in 3/4" bore, I would have preferred that.

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Video of the setup --->
http://youtu.be/d6EsbaeS9mc

Seth Dolcourt
02-17-2013, 9:58 PM
An update, then.

A picture of the motor, cinched down. The cradles are from basswood, and they have a 5" arc to kinda, sorta match the motor's body. Plumber's hanging strap keeps the motor firmly on the cradles. Pulley on the motor is 5", on the shaft is a 1.5". The shell now turns at 4 RPM, nominally, 270 inches a minute for the inside cutting, given an 21.5" diameter.



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The rough work has been done, time for some finishing passes.

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2 shots of the inside, complete with tool marks. The ridges are very small, and sanded out easily. Cutting quater sawn grain was great!

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The inside is sanded, and this 22" diameter x 16" tall shell is done, ready to be packaged and shipped to the customer.

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Seth Dolcourt
04-30-2013, 1:41 AM
Betcha I had forgotten all about this project. Took a breather from the shop, spent some good weekends on the bike, and with a fresh attitude, back to it!


The 14" floor tom is set up in the outside turning rig.

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The first pass or so with the outside.

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Done with the machining, pretty much hit the target, a tad fat to account for the thickness of the measuring tape, and some sanding.

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Closer view of the grain.

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Outside turning and most of the sanding, done.

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The 2nd pass or so with the shell mounted in the inside turning rig.

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The rig, in all its glory. 8" dia on the motor, 1" dia on the shafting, some Power Link belting, and after all the math is done including the 2.5" drive rollers that the 14" shell is actually sitting on....about 6-7 RPM. Which is fast enough.

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Not a shabby finish on the inside. Sanding, yes, but not a monstrous amount.

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Seth Dolcourt
04-30-2013, 1:49 AM
Time for the 16" floor tom.

This is when all the routing was done, padauk everywhere.

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Finished the cross-grain sanding. Switched method of work to remove the cross grain scratches, I use a cork block that is shaped to the outside diameter. I'm hand sanding, rather than using a RO sander, due to 1) pig tails and 2) it's really easy to sand a swale in the center of the shell.

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Removed the bulk of the cross grain scratches, the shell is ready to be un-mounted.

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A not-oft view of my inside rig. Very purpose-built lathe, for sure.

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Work, work, work.

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The last of the polygon is cut away. It's truly a drum, now.

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16" ready for inside sanding.

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Seth Dolcourt
04-30-2013, 1:53 AM
Both the 14" and 16" floor toms are sanded to 150, inside and out.

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A gander inside the 14"
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A shot of both shells, basking in the glow of a setting California sun.

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Grain detail of the 16" floor tom.

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22 kick, 16 and 14 floor tom, packed up and ready to head to the customer in Canada. Happy trails!

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Ted Calver
04-30-2013, 10:31 AM
Lovely work Seth. I enjoy every one of your posts and I like the way you are continually refining your equipment. We gotta figure out how to control that dust though:)

Seth Dolcourt
04-30-2013, 12:03 PM
Hi, Ted,

Too right about the dust, it gets flung everywhere. I wear a N95 dust mask whenever I'm working, but still...better to have the dust collected right from the tool for the sake of neatness.

The Porter Cable 690 router does not have dust collection, so imagination is needed to get dust collection on it.

The PC 7529 does have dust collection port, and it captures the very fine particles, but still spews the heavier chips to all points in the garage. I'd need some additional shrouding, like those flexible bristles that surround a CNC router, to contain the chips.

I have the big Ridgid shop vacuum, which is adequate, and I'm dreaming of a Dust Deputy, from the standpoint of filter maintenance. Still, either I need a more potent shop vac, or upgrade to a 1 HP dust collector.

Sal Kurban
04-30-2013, 5:51 PM
Beautiful drums, thanks for sharing. Exotic solid wood is the way to go. I guess my gypsy drum would be on the cheatin' side.
Sal.

Kevin Stanbary
05-07-2013, 10:27 AM
Good Stuff! How much of a problem is dimensional stability on stave drums like this? I would think with humidity/temp changes they would tend to go out of round...

Mark Crenshaw
05-21-2013, 11:10 AM
Wow Seth! Very tidy and creative work here. I always enjoy watching your work and processes. Just impressive on all counts!

Peace,
Mark

Seth Dolcourt
05-25-2013, 11:01 PM
Sorry for the tardy replies, folks.


Beautiful drums, thanks for sharing. Exotic solid wood is the way to go. I guess my gypsy drum would be on the cheatin' side.
Sal.

No such thing as cheating. The goal is a sound, and ifthe drum makes a sound, then goal achieved.


Good Stuff! How much of a problem is dimensional stability on stave drums like this? I would think with humidity/temp changes they would tend to go out of round...

Hi, Kevin,

Yes, they don't always keep a perfect figure. However, the differences are quite slight, and fortunately, not enough to cause issues for drum head fitment.

Ply constructed shells will naturally be more stable, but it's amazing how even the best of commercially made shells have their own out-of-roundness issues. Goes to show that wood is a tricky material.



Wow Seth! Very tidy and creative work here. I always enjoy watching your work and processes. Just impressive on all counts!

Peace,
Mark

Hey ya, Mark! Glad to see you back in these waters. Gonna check put your posts....something tasty, no doubt...