I dont know why I'm skeptical of it, I guess it makes sense, and It will probably be smaller, witch is what I need in this case. I think I might just try it both ways. I'm not making these in quite the traditional way. I have a tiny budget, but I have a lot of materials available to me already. I have some 8" cardboard tubing that is really durable. Its not the corrugated crap, its about 1/4" thick, andI can stand on it. I want to use that as the shell. Then I'm thinking that I would have a base similar to that alesis pad in your video, except made from wood, and then combine the head and hoop in one piece from 2 plywood hoops with the mesh sandwiched in between. Then put bolts through that to the base. I can basically make these for free from scrap at my dads shop, so I might as well just make one of each and test them. Any tips for foam?