Transcript for the video "How I Made My Drumkit, Part6"

Note: this page includes very few pictures, watch the video for the complete story!

Hi my name is Marcel and I would like to share with you how I made my electronic drumkit and how you could be making your own electronic drum kit. In the previous videos I have shown you how to make different types of drumpads, that would ordinarily be mounted on a rack. Instead of buying a drumrack, you could make a rack yourself. This video is part 6 of a 10 part series and in this video I’ll show you how I designed my rack and how I made my rack.

Most racks are made of pipes and clamps. There are several rack systems out there, designed for drums or for other purposes. The system that I use is normally used for shop interiors. You can buy these pipes in lengths up to 3m, there are curved pipes and different types of clamps. In most drumracks the clamps are made from plastic, in this system the clamps are made of metal. The system is relatively cheap, depending on the size, a rack would cost between 40 and 80 euros or dollars. I bought these parts at a company called Retif, but if you look around, you might find this system in other stores.

The disadvantage of systems like these is the clamps or connectors are not as flexible as drum rack clamps. You can’t just mount something somewhere and change the direction in which it is facing. What you need to do is to adjust the length of the pipes and put connectors at specific places, so that the pads are in the exact position you want. Basically it is like a puzzle, only you have to make the pieces yourself. Let me show you how you could design your perfect rack.

Let’s make some room first... First set your drumchair to the exact height that you want. Take into account that your feet will probably rest on pedals rather than of the floor (yes, even those few inches matter).

Set a bunch of chairs around you. Then take your drumsticks, close your eyes and start playing, as if there was a drumkit around you. You are hitting in thin air, just to check what positions feels right. If you know for sure where a pad needs to go, open your eyes and move the chairs towards the point where you were hitting. If you know where all your pads need to be placed, make all the measurements in 3 dimensions, relatively to the drum chair. With those measurements, you can design and build your perfect drumrack.

This may look funny, but this is what I did about 20 years ago. Although I have extended my kit over the years the basic shape has remained the same for all these years. That confirms that for me, this is the best layout. it feels natural. I could still play my kit with my eyes closed, if I needed to...

Let me show you the result. This is my rack from above without any pads....

Now I add 4 footpads...

Then the basis shape, nine 10"pads...

On top six 10"cymbals...

And inbetween the pads five 6”cymbals...

to make a 24 piece drumkit.

Okay, if you have done what I just shown you, you know the size and shape of the rack. The next thing to do is to make a rack design, so that all your pads are in the exact position where you want them. To make a rack fit your measurements, you need to adjust the length of the pipes. I will show you how to do that at the workbench.

How to cut pipes? You may want to use some kind of saw, but sawing metal can be hard work and is you use machinery it can even be dangerous. I recommend you use a pipe cutter instead. Whatever you do, be careful. If you do not know how to do this, please ask someone else to help you. Don’t blame me if you hurt yourself, okay?

A pipe cutter works like this. First measure where you want to cut it. Then place the pipe cutter around the pipe and tighten it so it stays on. Then you might want to check whether it is in the exact position. Then start swinging the cutter around the pipe. Whenever you feel the resistance getting low, tighten it by turning the knob and go on. Depending on the force you apply, the pipe will be cut in 10 to 30 seconds. Afterwards, you may need to file the ends of the pipes. Depending on whether where the pipes go, you may want to put plastic caps on the ends as well.

So now you know how to cut pipes, with connectors you can build a rack in practicly any shape and size.

The next thing is how I mount my pads. To eliminate crosstalk I use silent blocks. I have shown you these before, in part 4. There are different types, male and female and of course different size screwthreads. I use mostly M8, sometimes M6 and mostly I use a type that has two male screwthreads. One side goes into my pad, the other side needs to go into a rack clamp.

To fix the silent block to my rack, I came up with this: a piece of aluminium with a screwthread if the middle. I call it an insert, maybe in hindsight not the best name, but what's in a name, right? The silent block goes in the insert and the insert into the clamp. Then I place the pad on top of the silent block and twist it around till it is tight. After that, I check whether the connectors are on the inside, where I want my cables to go. If the connector is not aligned as I want it to be, I loosen the clamp and move the pad, the silent block and the insert clockwise until it is aligned. Then I tighten it again. That way, all connectors are aligned the way I like it.

As you have seen in my previous videos I also use Cymbals. You could mount them in the same way. But I like the look of curved pipes going up and I like my cymbals horizontal. So this is what I came up with. This is a leveling foot. In Dutch it is called a “stelvoet”. Normally it goes on the bottom end of a pipe, but you can put it on top as well. That means you have a female screwthread in which you can put a silent block. Then it looks like this.

To keep your rack steady, you need steady feet. I have some plastic parts that fit in a pipe like this. You can attach the plastic part with a screw, but be careful drilling a hole in a pipe. You need clamps to fix the pipe before you druill a hole, I recommend you use a setup like I have here: a drill machine that drills vertically and a clamp in which your pipe can be fixed. If you are not experienced with this type of equipment, be sure to ask someone to help you that does have experience!

If you put rubber underneath the plastic, it will be quite steady. Glueing rubber to plastic is difficult, so when I made feet like these, I chose to use a stapler to attach the rubber. Another way to go is to use two or three tripods, the base of snare or cymbal stands. Just remove the top part and put in the pipes. Obviously you need to make sure the diameters of the pipes match, otherwise you will not be able to fix it properly.

My current drumkit is placed on a podium, in such a way that the rack does not need any feet. I simply drilled 25mm holes in the wooden floor and the pipes go in a few centimeters. I don't want to open up the floor of my drumkit, but I made a picture before putting it together. As you can see I used wooden blocks with circular holes. That is where the pipes go in. So I have about 2 inches of support for those uprights. My rack seems to have more uprights, but only 3 vertical pipes are fixed in the floor.

On top of the floor I use flanges, that have a horizontal screw inside, that can be used to fix the pipe. In my case I don't really need those because the weight of my rack keeps it down. So I use these flanges merely for decoration. I will show you more about the podium in part 10!

Just like in the previous parts, I would like to leave you with an idea that might help you to make something a bit different. As I explained, 20 years ago I designed my first rack, by hitting in the air, like I described. Back then I hadn’t found this rack system yet. The father of my brother in law, had a welding station and he welded a complete rack for me. A gigantic project, which I could not have done myself so he helped me out bigtime.

The thing is, the rack he built for me had no clamps at all. He made it so I could take it down in parts and I could build ik up again, but he did not use any clamps. The rack just had screwthreads, whereever a pad needed to go. So you could say the rack was totally fixed! The downside of this is of course that you cannot make small adjustments. But that is also the advantage... if everything is exactly where you want it, you will be certain that all pads are in their right places at all times!

So in this video I showed you my rack and how I made it. I am very happy with my rack, the only thing I haven’t done yet, is that I would like to make a rack where all cables go through the pipes. I would love a rack without cables. But it is pretty difficult to do that with this rack system, because of the connectors are closed on the inside. Also, there is a risk involved. If for some reason a cable breaks, it would be much more difficult to repair it. That’s why I haven’t done that yet...

If you are wondering how this rack fits in my flightcase, be sure to watch part 10 of this series. In that video I will show you how this all fits into my station wagon. Next up is part 7 and in that video I will show you my cables and I will give you tips on multi connectors!

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