Wooden beats for the feets

Paulo · #1 (**permalink**) 04-07-2010, 08:17 PM

Paulo Inc. LLC. USA Transcontinental Enterprises presents his...er...their
newest line of furniture-grade drum equipment.

lol.

I have been wanting to buy a pair of wood beaters but there's so much else
to spend 30-40 bucks on, I opted to dig out some aluminum bar stock and
walnut that I have in the garage instead. Some sawing, chiseling and sanding
goes by and viola! I finished the wood with a few coats of hand-rubbed clear
shellac and bonded the rod to the head with some ridiculously strong epoxy.

It doesn't show in the picture but I put a slight convex radius along the
front so it's not some flat piece slapping the drum.

I also offset the holes about 1/4" (or 6mm for the rest of the world) to
give it a forwards bias. This is my way of mimmicking the pearl demon drive
setting, allowing the face to hit the drum head closer to a right angle than
before.

Anyways, these are super lightweight and the aluminum actually has much
higher tensile than mild steel (its 7075 aircraft grade). It also, in my
opinion, allows the head to carry a larger portion of the weight of the
unit, thus more thwap for the ounce (or gram).

It's still a work in progress, I'm thinking of putting in an adjustable tungsten dot for the ultimate in tweak-age and to provide more momentum for
increased thud.

They sound nice and clicky, are almost as loud but move so much faster than my dw's.

Maybe I'll post a vid if anyone is interested.

Anyways, curious to know what y'all think.

drumn00b · #2 (**permalink**) 04-07-2010, 10:14 PM

So you're saying the wood makes it light? That's really cool! That's a great idea, and hope it all goes well for you

Paulo · #3 (**permalink**) 04-07-2010, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drumn00b

So you're saying the wood makes it light? That's really cool! That's a great idea, and hope it all goes well for you

Well, wooden beaters are nothing new, I'm pretty sure it was the original material used with bass drum pedals. But yeah, they are super light especially with the aluminum shaft.

I am going to try to find a way to measure the difference soon.

A lot of people don't care for the sound I reckon, so, I was thinking maybe fitting felt and plastic/rubber inserts too....

**Tainojim** · #4 (**permalink**) 04-08-2010, 02:01 PM

Your right, the first drum pedal was made of wood.

YouTube - The International Silver String...

**skinslapper** · #5 (**permalink**) 04-09-2010, 09:21 PM

Nice work paulo. I love a bit of diy. I'm surprised the aluminium shaft can take that much of a pounding but I can imagine the weightlessness would be interesting. I used to have wooden beaters but they were shaped like standard round ones and a lot heavier than plastic so they used to kill my feet.

Rocking out with my eliminators I've found ways to make good use of the weight on the beater heads. Have you considered buying some of those adjustable weights to clamp on the shaft?

resonut · #6 (**permalink**) 04-10-2010, 01:59 PM

Im continuously in search of a different and or better sound. I do like wooden beaters. If your idea gives me what im looking for id buy it in a heart beater i mean heart beat.

Paulo · #7 (**permalink**) 04-10-2010, 05:02 PM

I know it seems like there's a lot of force but even the weakest aluminum alloy can handle several thousand pounds of perpindicular loading (shear) for a 1/4 inch shaft of that length. The only possible concern I have is the spot where it contacts the top edge of the thru-hole in the rotating assembly. could be a stress point.

My original idea is using a fiberglass-laminate composite shaft, even lighter than Al but significantly stronger in tensile and flexural strength. I am waiting to receive some this week.

I have hundreds of ideas and variations swimming through my head. So far I'm loving using them, I was able to move the beaters back another 1.5 inches or so from the head with more power and control as the only side effect.

I don't expect to become a millionaire with quirky ideas like these but I've always had a mind for manufacturing and I think it would be fun to offer something a little different. Even if nobody wants them, I'm still exercising my mind and that keeps my ADD at bay, lol.

I plan to do a lot more testing, I'm setting of a large push pull solenoid to actuate my spare iron cobra and do some long distance cycle testing on a rubber practice pad. I can't send off stuff into the world and have it take a crap during someone's set.

Thanks again for the comments and questions, look out for a lot more funky stuff from 'Paulo Inc.' lol.