Ideas to improve rack stability

Kineticartist · Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:20 pm Post subject:

I was NOT joking the !'s are for emphasis that I think sand in the verticals or even just the bottom horizontals IS a great idea/plan it truly is...
and even if you DONT do it Im going to! (refraining from extra !'s so you know Im serious...)

see what happens when you dont use emoties to help set your tone?
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Why Leash Your Imagination In The First Place?

PSN ID: KineticArtist
Drums: Mostly Hard & Several Expert
Vocals: Expert
Bass: Medium
Guitar: Are you kidding me?

jgrills · Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:11 pm Post subject:

Assuming I was going to fill all the tubing, it seems to me like you would want it to get heavier towards the bottom, and lighter towards the top. I would consider this as bottom-to-top order:

1. The bottom horizontal bars with the feet
2. The long verticals
3. The horizontal bar between the verticals
4. The horizontal arms

I think 4 should be foam for sure, since sand would make them significantly heavier and they are only supported on one end. 1 should almost certainly be sand filled for sure. I'm not so sure about 2 and 3. If I had extra tubing, I'd try out both.
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Proudly anti-1337-speak, and anti-emoticon.

jgrills · Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:20 pm Post subject:

I think this discussion should now get split into another thread. Could a Drum mod help a brother out here? I'd suggest starting with this post of mine, since I edited it to refer back to KA's original message which had other thread-relevant information:

http://docsrockbandmods.netforums.us/vp17606.html#17606 (me)
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Proudly anti-1337-speak, and anti-emoticon.

davidshek · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:37 am Post subject:

Kineticartist · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:30 am Post subject:

I think the plan is a good one the bottom foot tubes (your #4) filled with sand entirely

then the left and right verticals filled only part way say 6" with sand and filled the rest of the way with foam

all the others with foam

taking care to seal or epoxy/super glue the plastic end caps on all the tubes leaving one end open to fill the foam in but sealing the other so the foam wont force the end caps out as well as sand trickling out if the end caps are even a bit loose. (no one wants sand on their carpet...)

then as a final step epoxying the rubber "feet" onto the bottom horizontal tubes so they dont move ever again mine have a habit of folding over when moving my kit around and it bugs the crap out of me.
_________________
Why Leash Your Imagination In The First Place?

PSN ID: KineticArtist
Drums: Mostly Hard & Several Expert
Vocals: Expert
Bass: Medium
Guitar: Are you kidding me?

jgrills · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:27 am Post subject:

jgrills · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:36 am Post subject:

Kineticartist · Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 4:33 pm Post subject:

Picked up some Great Stuff expanding Foam for large gaps today at Home Depot $5 a can and got 2 cans hope that will be enough
can says to fill only 50% of the void as it will expand twice its volume or there abouts.

As for capping the tubes I meant BEFORE I started spraying foam in the tubes...

Epoxy the end caps on so foam doesnt come out as it expands. to keep it contained within the tube Once it cures (about an hour) there would definetly be trouble getting it back out... lol
any that expands past the open end Id just trim off with a knife or saw

Need to make a run to Siesta Key for some fine white powder sand (best sand is on our beaches in Florida so soft so powdery) to fill the "feet" and partially up the veritcals.

planning on doing all of this modification this weekend and will take plenty of photos and video (watching foam expand is a past time of mine...)
_________________
Why Leash Your Imagination In The First Place?

PSN ID: KineticArtist
Drums: Mostly Hard & Several Expert
Vocals: Expert
Bass: Medium
Guitar: Are you kidding me?

foojfighters · Band Member Joined: 17 Jul 2009 Posts: 40

Sand sounds like it will work and at least if it doesn't work, it would be easily reversible Smile

Another reason why I think sand will work is that my old tennis racquet, a Kennex 5ProG featured 'graphite balls' (ie fancy schmancy word for sand) inside the frame in order to prevent/alleviate tennis elbow ... and it worked wonders for me. I had bad enough tennis elbow that I was playing left handed for a stint until I found that racquet.

Let us know how it goes either way though Smile

Kineticartist · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:32 pm Post subject:

OK we did the ION Stability MOD tonight and it has worked out very very well...
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Parts List:
1 ION drum rocker rack...
1 can of Great Stuff Expandnig Foam (Lowes Home depot)
Some nice beach sand
Some Blue painters tape
Sharpie
Gloves and Eye Protection
Epoxy Glue
Optional Parts: 2 Pintech L rack braces (get em at New England Music Supply)
Difficulty Level: 4 out of 10
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

(More and larger pics on our Gallery)
First disassemble your rack, taking care to use some painters tape and a sharpie to mark/lable your cables (especially if you have ION expansion box or other box and have more than the 8 cables that go with the IONs this makes re assembly much easier.

We used Epoxy glue to glue on the rubber "feet" to one end of the base tube so sand wont run out and get everywhere after you are done.
Start filling the base tube from the one open end, tamping the tube as you fill it till it is full of sand. If you are adding the Pintech rack braces now is the time to slip one end of the brace over the tube and slip on the t-Clamp for the verticals. Now, glue the other rubber foot onto the other end of the base tube. Set aside. repeat for the other base tube...

Open up your Great Stuff Super Expanding foam ($6 bucks at Lowes or Home depot) and shake vigorously and screw on their patented trigger sprayer. WEAR GLOVES WEAR EYE PROTECTION AND DO THIS OUTDOORS!!!! I aint kidding this stuff is super flamable in its liquid sticky state is and it SUPER STICKY!!!

Start shooting foam into each tube filling and tamping it to knock the foam to the bottom and fill it till the tube is almost 2/3 full you can fill it all the way but it DOES expand a lot and I mean a lot. Set each tube aside for at LEAST an hour as the foam expands, if it expands past the ends dont worry you can saw it off later...

Once the foam has expanded and cured for at least an hour saw off any excess and peel off any that got on to your rack tubes (it peels off easily off the rack tubes but not off your fingers when sticky or other surfaces... you have been warned...)

Start re assembling your ION rack and once completed get yourself a cold one and rock out with your new more stable, less vibration prone ION drumrocker drum rack.

Before we did the mod we had a few issues with vibration from hitting one pad setting off another pad or cymbal or double triggering. After this mod, that has been virtually eliminated. Before I could tap a pad and feel the vibration all the way down in the base tubes if I had my feet resting on them now I cant or it is so slight to not be noticible. The sand and the pintech rack braces did wonders to stabilize the rack from wobbling back and forth when playing hard. Now its rock solid.

Final notes: When disassembling your rack only loosen the drum key screws that hold the t-clamps together just a couple turns just enough to get the tubes out of the t-clamps then tighten them back just a tad so you dont lose any nuts or drum key screws. We lost a set of 2 each out in the front yard but thanks to our handy dandy metal detector we were able to find them (whew).

This is a super easy mod and the benefits are huge and for the cost of some sand and foam and pintech braces (optional) you cant go wrong.
_________________
Why Leash Your Imagination In The First Place?

PSN ID: KineticArtist
Drums: Mostly Hard & Several Expert
Vocals: Expert
Bass: Medium
Guitar: Are you kidding me?

Casey · Hardcore Band Member Joined: 30 Mar 2009 Posts: 404

Some thoughts:

1) Pictures look great as always
2) GEE THAT DM5 LOOKS FAMILIAR!
3) Who would have thought that foam would work so well? I'm seriously considering doing this myself now.
4) I wonder if there's any stability ballast that could be added which would not require epoxying the feet?

mikehrz · Living Legend Joined: 10 Jan 2009 Posts: 671

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