HELP! MEINL TUMBA WITH GREAT BREAK

[traumtyp]

Friends conga,

With great sadness I must comment that my Meinl Marathon Tumba exclusive suffered a fall with a great break, unfortunately it was not only separate table, if not ripping. And tried to paste Resistol "no more nails" but I could not align the wood pieces. The truth that makes me very sad because it all happened by an oversight.

Anyone can help me with a tip in order to repair it as best as possible?

For the shock of what happened I did not take pictures.

I hope I can help.

[vinnieL]

I am sorry to hear that I know how much these drums mean to us and how hard we work to acquire them. The only thing i can tell you is that in order to effectively repair the drum you must align the the broken edges. If that is possible then use good wood glue like titebond and clamp the drum by either using a rope aroud the drum with a stick through it that you can turn to really tighten the drum. Or two or three very large hose clamps to tighten the drum.

[traumtyp]

Thanks Vinnie,
I seem to hit the forward and align the wood parts, pieced leather and pressed but more misaligned, the truth I am very frustrated

[Chupacabra]

If you can find any heavy duty inner tire tubes around anywhere with the inner diameter the closest to the outside diameter of your tumba, you might need more than one depending on how long the break is. You be the judge as to how many or what size tube(s) to use. Wrap the deflated tubes around the drum and then apply any type of restraining mechanism you have on hand to hold the tubes in place as you inflate them with as much pressure as it takes to make the Titebond 3 wood glue that you should have in the crack start to seep out. I'm assuming the shell is made of wood? You should also use a large syringe (woodworker's supply store) to inject the Titebond 3 glue into the crack. Perform the repair somewhere where once complete, it will not touched or moved for 24 hours but do keep a watch on it to make sure that your pressure clamp hasn't shifted.
A hand powered bicycle pump will not do it, you'll need to use a compressor so you can at least inflate to the pressure rating of the tire tube, or more. For good measure I suggest taking the head off the drum during this process. It might be a good opportunity to inspect the bearing edge for damage or imperfections at that point.

BUT BE CAREFUL. The following things could go wrong:
- The tube could blow up.
- You could do more damage to the shell.
- The tube could shift (see if you can find a non-slip mat at a woodworker's supply to wrap around the shell before you put the tube around it)

Only use as much pressure as it takes to close the crack. No more, and no less. Also, you should first try the clamp without any glue to make sure the surfaces go back even and straight. Try a few different positions and shims until you are satisfied with the fit and then glue and clamp. You might have to accept the fact that it doesn't go together perfectly, or you might be lucky and the repair will be hard to see.

Hope this helps!

[Chupacabra]

If the roundness of the shell prevents the tubes from applying enough compression around the shell without sliding you will have to use another technique that I have found successful in doing repairs like this.
Get two pieces of very sturdy plywood or similar strong material with holes in the centre of each. The size of the material should be at least 16 or 17 cm larger than the diameter of the top and bottom diameters of your shell. You will use these two pieces on the top and bottom of the shell and the hole in the middle will be large enough to either use a loop of really strong rope (nylon filament like the stuff used for rope tuned drums would work), or a piece of 12 mm threaded rod with 2 nuts at each end.

If it's rope, tie a loop long just enough to extend through each hole about 2.5 cm. Use a rod of some sort (wood, metal, whatever) at each end to put through the loop that comes out of the hole. You don't want too much length or too big of a hole. Just enough. Now rotate the rods so that the rope in between twists and tightens up the two pieces of plywood enough to restrain the tire tubes and keep them in position when you apply pressure.

If you use threaded rod and nuts, cut a length that will give you about 10 or 11 cm on each end at least. You will need to use a lot of washers and spacers to spread the area of contact out so the nut doesn't dig into the wood.

[OLSONGO]

Traumtyp, it seems that at this moment the most important thing is to save the shell and close that crack as tight as possible. I recommend a couple of solutions. 1st get some clamping straps, about 3 of them ...put some kind of fabric or an old t-shirt in between the strap and the shell, clamp as tight as you can first WITHOUT glue, to make sure the wood staves will go back to their original place. Let sit for about 12 hours. Repeat ..but this time apply the glue. 2nd choice... get a couple of thick, strong steel hoops, cover them with fabric, place the hoops over the shell and hammer down with a rubber mallet til the crack closes nice and tight, do the same as the 1st step, wait 12 hours apply glue and wait 24 hrs til glue is totally dry.

This 2 steps have worked for me in the past.

Paz
Olsongo

[congalou]

Hello guys !!!

Traumtyp, I understand it's sad to see your drum crack but don't worry so much, a crack on a conga is comon.

Pics of some repair for a Delaporte conga : 3 or 4 cracks (don't remenber) very interesting !!!

I used clamping strap and clamp tool.

As guys says, use these tools for join as best as you can without glue, and repeat the opération with glue. Low setting glue is good, you have more time to do this.

Be carefull to the shell, I use cardboard, sometime old towel to protect.

Do this carefully, because it's possible to cause more damage, as Chupacabra said.

If the crack is very big, it could be more easy and clean to crack it completly bottom to edge and glue. very hard to kick your drum with a rubber mallet but effective !!!

Sincerely, reglue is not so difficult, but a very clean result will be hard to have. If you know a carpenter, ask him to help you, it's the best solution if a pro can help you.

Galou.

[traumtyp]

Guys, many thanks for your suggestions and support.

I tell them that in trying to repair tried to unite the parties and match but it was a difference of 2-3 mm because it suffered the blow lug hardware and pressed wood.

I kept pressure on the head with leather, but failed to align at all. Let dry 24 hours and amount of new leather.
There are some overtones that did not exist ... this is bad.

Perhaps at some point think about it in a repair of the entire set, while I think I can live with a tumbadora repaired.

Part of this problem is by not having the bags that protect both postponed buying, everything has a cause. The bag would have protected very well.

I hope my experience will serve as the forum for colleagues who do not have bags for their congas.

Thank again for your support and I promise pictures of my tumbadora scarface!

[traumtyp]

Here my Tumba Scarface!!

[Mike]

You should not worry too much, that can be fixed.
Just follow the very useful instructions in the posts prior to this.
The only thing is you have got to remove the kind of glue you
have already applied.
With the help of tight clamping (rope or ratchet band) and a good wood glue
you should be able to mend the scar!

Good luck anyway!

[Chupacabra]

Yep, that's fixable. It will take a bit of doing to get it as good as new but the crack looks worse than it is.

[OLSONGO]

This is the kind of repairs that I love, just follow the directions with the clamp straps about 3 of them, get someone to help you so you can get that crack as close as possible, then locate an artist who has some sculpture and painting background...he will pack the crack with an epoxy material, and then match the color and grain of the wood , to the point that you will not see the damage.

Paz
Olsongo

[Chupacabra]

Looking at the shape of the crack and the position in relation to the side bracket it looks like the shell could be caved in somewhat around that area. When you have the outside of the shell compressed you will probably have to have a block of wood or two handy that you can wedge in place to carefully push the caved in area back out.
It also looks like there is a lot of glue in the crack from your previous attempt at repair. You will have to find a way of getting all that glue out and starting out clean. I'm not familiar with the type of glue you mentioned so I don't know what it will take to dissolve or soften it. Anyone else out there?