Fabricating Bands - Ok, who is the cooper in the family?

[blango]

Anyone had any luck fabricating bands?

Ive got the template thing down, but cant find anyone to plasma, or laser cut them out of a sheet at a reasonable cost. It looks like i need to order 15 or so at a time to make it worth anyone’s while.

Ive even talked to several coopers in Napa who make wine barrels, they only work with galvanized steel.

Any ideas??

classic pic is of my friend and very talented dancer Alain Sauto, just for fun.

Tony

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... _Souto.jpg

[CongaTick]

Custom auto/chopper shops?

[bongosnotbombs]

Yo,
I bet if you swung by this place in Oakland you could find someone to help you.

http://www.thecrucible.org/

It's kind of a school for making metal art objects, lot of Burning Man type stuff. Anyways if its for a musical instrument someone could be willing to help you out.

For this small scale it's like you got to go through a school, a friend or another drum maker.

[blango]

Thanks the the leads !!!

You cats are cool...

Tony

[blango]

Bump de bump bump bump

[jmdriscoll]

Blango, I'm not a cooper, but I used to be a steel fabricator...

Look in the yellow pages under "Steel Fabricating". There will be a variety of steel shops that can do this. You might look under sheet metal fabricators also. Are you just looking for the bands to be cut? Or rolled and welded as well?

A steel fabrication shop will have big shears that can chop these bands out in the blink on an eye. And will produce a cleaner cut than plasma. They can roll them and TIG them up for you too, but that will cost you a good bit more. Generally, most steel shops will have a good selection of mild steel, and stainless what you want.

I have a shop that I deal with here locally, and they are a good group of people. They sell and fabricate commercially and to the public. I just fax them the dimensions of what I want, and the call me back with a price a couple of hours later. Reasonable prices too. It's just a matter of calling a few shops to see who is most friendly to "small jobs customers" and who has the fairest prices. Good Luck.

MD



Edited By jmdriscoll on 1197465224

[blango]

Thanks MD,

I guess its just a matter of finding the right shop to handle my small jobs as a good cost. Nice to know they dont need a plasma cutter.

I wonder, do the bands have to be rolled? if they are the shape of a smile when cut, they should come together with the right taper, right? I was planning on three rivets at the connection.

Thanks agian,

Tony

[bongosnotbombs]

I was talking to Ralph Flores of Resolution /' Valje drums about this topic..

A difficulty with the bands is that depending on where you are putting the band there needs to be a "cant" or angle to the band. Your right blango, they need to be cut in a "smile" or arc shape.

Because at the tops and mostly the bottoms of drums there is an angle to the drum...that is they decrease in radius as you move along the length of the shell towards end.

So the band would have to be smaller on one side and larger on the other. Unless there is someting about drums I don't know, but my profession is an architect so sometimes I encounter this problem.

but as I said, I was talking to Ralph about it, you know how Valjes have that band at the bottoms? and he told me he was still sourcing someone that could make it like that in the same material his father used. Now he uses a substitute aluminum, his father used steel. He can get the aluminum in the right "cant" but hasn't found the steel yet.

What material are you looking to use? I do know a metal worker for the city that does side jobs and one of my projects has a welder installing a lot of duct work..

you should pm me and maybe we can works something out if the timing is right...



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1197478787

[ozrivera]

Saludos Hermanos
im currently working on a project, and i also decided to put bands on a set of congas.
what i did was buy aluminum bands they are 1/16 inch thick 4 feet long and various width ranging from 1/2" to 2". of course the bands were straight but are fairly easy to bend into a circle since they are made of aluminum.
i got them at ACE hardware store. for $2-3 each.
im not sure that you want the bands cut with a plasma.
youll need something thats machine cut to ensure even surface on the edges.
good luck

oz

[jmdriscoll]

Yeah, I agree with Oz. If you want to go with aluminum, and can find at a hardware store for a decent price, I'd go that way. A lot easier to work with than steel if you don't have the proper tools. The way that I see it, like everything else in the world, you can approach this many ways. Correct me if I am wrong, but looking at the pictures of these mopercs, it looks like he cut a seat for the bands to sit in on a lathe.?

http://moperc.com/html_anglais/atelier_grand_an.php?limite=12

[blango]

What a trip, thats very cool!!!!

You dont have to cut smile shapes and can use very strong straight stock!!! yea!

just a knock into the wood to level it at the width of the band... man thats clean. I didnt notice that before... thanks!

I think this is an elegant solution. Ive seen it done on the bottom band of mexican congas from the 60's - ones made of Fir.

But, for this project, i need to replicate the old gon bops bands. fortunately they had bands at one time that didnt have the raised ridge in the middle, so when i figure it out, it will look original.

Yes, Aluminum will work for this project, but im looking for a stainless fabricator that can cut very clean edges on a smile shape out of a sheet of stainless. Im thinking matt smilth width, 2mm or so?

I dont think there is a way to get such clean edges by filing them etc. they have to be very accurately and cleanly cut. Flojet? Laser? Plasma? I dont know a thing about any of them, but i think these are the options. I dont see a custom die stamping out such a long piece, but who knows.

I dont think one could make one with a cutting torch or such. perhaps there is a diamond saw or something to cut the sheet like a jig or band saw??? ???

Any thoughts?

Tony



Edited By blango on 1197572941

[Tonio]

Tony, talk to Mario. He might give you some pointers.

T

[bongosnotbombs]

Don't some of the old Gon Bops guys work at Timba?
Maybe you can call them and ask them what they did?

Most torches won't have a clean enough edge, but some files are very fine.

Most stamping machines are straight, a saw? maybe.

Can you find another old Gon Bops and salvage the bands from that? For this project anyways.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1197578975

[ozrivera]

Yeah, I agree with Oz. If you want to go with aluminum, and can find at a hardware store for a decent price, I'd go that way. A lot easier to work with than steel if you don't have the proper tools. The way that I see it, like everything else in the world, you can approach this many ways. Correct me if I am wrong, but looking at the pictures of these mopercs, it looks like he cut a seat for the bands to sit in on a lathe.?

http://moperc.com/html_anglais/atelier_grand_an.php?limite=12

yes, i have moperc and the bands sit inside an inlay on the drum itself.
here is a better pic
http://moperc.com/html_anglais/atelier_grand_an.php?limite=8
any woodworking shop should be able to put those inlays on the drums.
suave

oz

[blango]

RE:moperc,

gotta have some beefy shells to cut that far into them. Down the road, it does make refinishing them hard.

Does anyone have experience with these tubs? Are they as solid as they look in the long run?

Tony