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

[jmdriscoll]

As far as your smiley shaped bands go... If you were to go with heavy Stainless or mild steel bands:

1) Water jet is the ticket for a clean cut that needs no dressing up. It would cost more $$, but it would be clean from the start. Only problem is that most are CNC controlled, which means that your design may have to be more elaborate.. maybe done in CAD. It would most likely be an overkill for such a simple project..

2) Plasma, a small hand-held angle grinder, and a bit of finesse would probably get you what you want. You could start with flat stock wide enough to cut the smiley out of. It will only be a half ass smile and not one with a lot of curvature.

3) Or you could do the same as above, but with a jigsaw or a band saw with a metal blade and a angle grinder. A LOT cheaper, and something that you could do at home.

Or if you were to go with aluminum bands then you can use what is called a "nibbler" in the sheet metal industry to do the same process as above:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=46061



In regards to Moperc... I don't own any, but based on the pics from their site, they cut the curve in their staves, which I would think would equate to less pressure in the wood. Maybe thats why they feel comfortable turning those grooves in theirs.

I just bought this uber cool "all in one" wood shop called a Shopsmith. Although the wifey thinks that it is to build furniture and cabinetry, it will also hopefully help me produce a nice shell or 3.. Hopefully one day, I will have to deal with such a dillemma as to how I am going to go about making bands, rims, and such..

M



Edited By jmdriscoll on 1197638698

[blango]

Brother Driscoll (last name??)

Somehow i knew i was in luck when i saw you respond to this post! Thank you!

That is some clean info,

I was talking to bongosnotbombs about this and he works with CAD daily. All he needs is the top and bottom diameter of the bands and CAD busts them out, emails them to the flowjet guy and there you go.

I have a feeling the labor in hand making these with said method 2,3, or 4 would be equivilant to the cost of the flojetted piece and shipping, would be my guess, but we'll see.

If i can get them at a reasonable price, i may need 20 - 50 a year. However, there is a conga maker i know who needs banding work in a bad way and may need many more done.

Anyone know an honest conga fan who happens to run a flojet??

Thanks again!

Tony

[bongosnotbombs]

That "nibbler" looks like a good tool. It says 16 guage which is a little thin, a little less than 1/32". Steel anyways, maybe thicker with aluminum?

Still it would be pretty easy to make a jig to cut all the arcs you would need.

I wonder how long the bits last.

For just a couple of bands that may be a good way to go, for 50 a year the flojet places are probably best, but those guys are always busy and $$$.

my architecture firm does business with flojet places, and once you add the set up fees with the labor fees it adds up.

Those set up fees are what kills you. But once it is set up, it is set up for a while like and account, it's starting the account which costs.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1197660060

[louvega]

A quick solution ti this would be to make a template out of construction paper or card bord. There you have the exact form of you band. Most bands are cut staight and hammerd into a conical shape, then fitted onto the drum.

LV

[jmdriscoll]

Tony, yep.. Driscoll is my last name. Thanks, the beautiful thing about these bulletin boards is that there is so much cumulative knowledge amongst everybody! Yeah man, if bnb's got the CAD hookup, then you might be in business. You know, believe it or not there may be a company that offers flojet services on the net. If you have a CAD file of what you want, then they could easily quote you based on that. Believe it or not, during my "option weighing process".."still going" of building my own drums, I found a company that does steam bending for furniture companies. They mostly run batch jobs. Well, their quote was too high.. but they were willing to supply the wood "Red Oak", bend 75 staves at the measurement and bend that I wanted whether it be conical or radius and then ship them to me. A big chunk of their cost, like bnb said, was in jig setup. That was $100 by itself. Wow.. I'll be doing my own work at that cost.

Bnb, my experience with the nibblers is that the blades cut for a good while unless your cutting stainless. Blades never last too long cutting stainless. I've seen the units break before the blades do though. They carry nibblers that cut thicker.

Lou, I agree man. You surely don't need fancy machinery and tools to make a nice product. Especially if you have the skills!

Mike

[bongosnotbombs]

Mike,
That's good info. I could make a cad file of what Tony needs in my sleep, compared to multi story buildings a drum isn't much you know.
I think blango could probably build his own jig to use a nibbler on, but I got some phone numbers of people in the industry I'm gonna call for him.

Part of me feels that the high technology of laser's and flojets is overkill for such a low tech instrument like a drum. I mean Cubans and other's have been making drums and they didn't need no stinkin' lasers!

Of course the skill to cut smooth even arcs into metal is rare these days, and I know blango is looking for a high quality product, and that's the problem he is facing.

[blango]

Yea bombs, im also facing the problem of never working metal!!! :laugh:

Hey brother, thanks for the help, nice to have a CAD wiz in the family.

Yes, Lou, id love to know how to roll out flat stock to the right curve. Id be way in over my head, im sure. I work wood, and play drums.... I hope some shop can flowjet these out quick. Somehow, i cant see why its so damn expensive to cut a few bands out of a sheet, even if they are differing shapes. all the CAD work is done for them - how easy can it be for them. cut and past the @!#$@#$ ing things on a page and press go, you know....

I hear bombs point, everyone wants to use this tool, so i may pay just for that.

Driscoll - thanks for the tip, i will look for someone online if we cant find someone local to do the work.. think globally, act like a local... something like that...

... gotta love this pic of Matts repair work!!! yea...

much love,

Tony



Edited By blango on 1197865253

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