Today was spent spraying on Behlen's stringed instrument lacquer. Love this stuff, though there is a gripe. My schedule today was 3 rounds of spraying (separated by an hour), two thin layers per round - one horizontal application, the other vertical. I intend at least two more sessions to build up the lacquer.
For spraying the large floor tom and big kick drum, I mixed 2 parts lacquer to 1 part thinner, and sprayed with a disposable Preval unit. The Preval was not intended for jobs this big, but I'm doing it anyway, lacking any real spray equipment.
The rattle can formulation (which I'm using on the small rack tom) is a drama queen, there is always something wrong. This time, the nozzle orifice seems to be slightly larger than previous cans, so the lacquer is coming out in bigger drops, which then coagulate like beading water on a freshly waxed car hood, and then tries really hard to drip. Given a cylinder shape slung on its side, of course it would.
And...I'm getting these random, round black bits sprayed onto the drum's surface, like grains of sand. Fortunately, there are very few, and they pop off with no harm done. Still....the other two drum shells don't have this problem, so I know it's coming from the rattle can.
So, it's easy enough to use the spray-only quart can formulation on the rack tom, and avoid any more drama.
This project is especially fun, because the kit's owner is a post-college, incredibly talented percussionist who will enjoy pulling every possible note from it. The intentions for it are jazz and bop - the 10" diameter tom is relatively small, and so is the 18" diameter kick. A rock 'n roll kit might have a kick drum of 22" diameter or larger - more spatial volume = more air to move around = mo' bigger, deeper boom. The 14" diameter floor tom is flexible for many types of musical genres, though a rock kit might like a 16" diameter floor tom.
Wow, has it really been two whole months since an update? Let's get updated.
Not photo documented, I've sanded and polished the shells, and used a 45 degree chamfer bit to form the bearing edges.
An old idea, rediscovered. A story stick. And if they look like Home Depot paint stirring sticks, you are right. Home Depot gives them away as free painting supplies, so I helped myself. Perfect for this project.
The problem is repetitive lay out, and getting the hole spacing dead on perfect, both the distance from the edge of the shell, and the spacing between the lug's feet. Now, I'll choose a slightly over-size bit when I drill (e.g. bore a 7 mm hole for a 1/4" hole specification), but I don't want to take a ruler to the shell 8 times. That's drudge work.
It took a couple of tries, but this template is a dead-on fit.
3 of the story sticks I've made so far, lug layout for the rack tom, floor tom and kick drum. There will be more story sticks, though not necessarily show-cased.
Time to drill and assemble the 10" dia x 8" tall rack tom.
Small brag - the joints are so tight, the wood flows from one stave to the next. This is actually a problem, because I can barely, barely pick out the joints. I know, the drum is a cylinder, it doesn't really matter where the lug holes are drilled, but this is a visual decision, not a construction decision. And I want the stave joints to be the drill location.
It look me a long time to get the edge of the blue tape dead-on the joint's line. I double checked using a drum-specific layout mat from a drum supply vendor, checking that the tape's edge landed every 60 degrees. A clever person with a CAD program can make one of these, but I have no CAD program, I'm not that clever, so I bought instead of made.
Close up. In this case, I'm shooting for the left edge of the blue tape, on the red line. To verify the other end of the shell, flip it, and align to the right edge of the blue tape.
This is my drum drilling station. Yes. It is a stick of 3/4" maple, clamped to my bench. That's it. Just a stick.
I've rounded over the sharp edges with a Microplane file (great tool!), and use a length of blue tape to cover the wood. That will keep the inside of the drum from getting scratched up.
Two spring clamps holds the work. Unseen, I used the story stick to layout the holes, and use a brad point drill bit to dimple the shell. I removed all the blue tape, gave the shell some hand rubbed polishing, and set to drill all the holes.
The last hole is 1/2" dia, this is the vent hole for the drum. Notice the drilling swarf is mostly bubinga, but the maple shows me that I've drilled all the way through.
This is an escutcheon for the vent hole. There is great debate on drum forums if a vent is actually needed. The inside of the shell doesn't really need to "breathe" per se. But a vent hole does make a small difference in the timbre of the shell. A couple more holes will make the shell appear to be louder, and the tone opens up. Too many vent holes, and the timbre is rough sounding.
This is the lug, with plastic washer, and the special lug screws. The screw is a factory made unit with mounted lock washer and fender washer; this one has a 7 mm hex head with a Phillips screwdriver pattern, so two options to drive it. Thread pitch is 4mm x .70 They come in various lengths, depending on the thickness of the shell. These are 14 mm.
Here is the story stick in action for the lug. The little square on the left lets me butt the story stick to it. I've "programmed" the distance from the shell's edge, and the lug's hole spacing. I use a 1/4" Forstner drill bit into the story stick's hole to dimple the shell at the right spot.
The drum layout mat is used to locate the 3 places for the floor tom's leg mounts. Not quite 120 degrees apart, because that would conflict with the lugs. So I picked the blue line (which is the pattern for 10 lugs) to off-set the leg mounts. You'll see.
This is the benefit of the drilling station, contoured to the inside diameter, combined with a brad point drill bit. Practically no blow-out on the back side. Yeah, the fender washer covers all sins, but some basic pride-in-craft rules the day. Take the time to drill a good hole.
After all holes are drilled, I twisted a counter sink bit using my fingers alone to clean up the tiny fuzz on the edges of the hole's entry and exit. Tiny detail that the owner won't care about, but I do.
Drums get hit, drums vibrate, vibration will shake things loose, especially mechanical connections. I wrap the threads of the escutcheon with plumber's teflon tape, which provides excellent interference. The nut is still removable, no accidental Loc-Tite drips on the wood or metal, and the tape doesn't mess up the plating the way Loc-Tite does.
9" long lugs, as the body of the shell is 12.5" tall. 14" diameter.
You can see the result of picking a different off-set for the leg mounts. They are in-board of a lug, and obviously not interfering with the lugs. Factory made drums have to make these same decisions, too.
Standing on its own. Yes, it's not level, but no big deal. The legs are adjustable, the drummer will noodle with height and angle to suit his preference.
I am on fire today. Other than noodling a couple more parts, I am done with the construction. I've called the owner to come pick it up tomorrow, Sat.
Let's get the 18" dia x 14.5" tall kick drum (aka, bass drum) done.
You've seen this before. Story stick programmed with the correct off-set from the edge, and lug spacing (9", center to center). I use a 1/4" Forstner bit to dimple the shell with the hole location.
Ah. It's an arm-thing, you say. This is actually a spur. The black rubber bulb is threaded over a sharpened point, and by rotating the bulb up the threading, the point is exposed through the bulb. The spur helps the kick drum find traction, because the action of the beater pedal hitting the head will drive the drum forward.
So the bulb provides friction on low pile rugs and flooring, and the sharp point is for good 'ol fashioned digging in to thicker carpeting. Or wrecking a wood floor.
And kick drum waits with its little brothers for tomorrow - Customer Pick Up Day, where I hope to post pictures of a very happy dude collecting his spoils.
He is buying a different snare drum from me, a 14 x 5 western curly maple (not in the videos), so I'm pleased to say he now has a full drum kit from me.
Thanks for looking!
Last edited by Seth Dolcourt; 11-27-2011 at 12:42 AM.
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