Author Topic: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)  (Read 30304 times)

Offline Trondster

Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« on: January 31, 2012, 03:09:48 PM »
Hello, all

I've taken a small look at tweaking and improving my drum rack - I would like to share, and would like to have your own experiences, tips and tweaks to get the rack "just right". :)

Do post your own tweaks and modifications!


Rack installation:
If you, like me, like to hit the rim triggers on the top side of the toms, do not face the bracket straight up from the tom - if so, the force of the blow will go straight into the rest of the frame and cause all kinds of crosstalk.
Instead - fasten the toms with the brackets angled, like so:

After angling the toms, the crosstalk from hitting the rims on the top sides of the toms just disappeared. :)

Fastening the (Surge) cymbals:
When fastening the Surge cymbals, there is a screw for locking the cymbal foam pads to the pole, to keep the cymbals from spinning:


Warning: DO NOT over tighten this screw! It should be tightened just enough to keep the pads from spinning - the plastic is extremely thin and brittle, and will crack if you apply just a slight pressure.

Luckily, there was one set of pads with every cymbal, as well as with every cymbal stand, so I had several to spare, and easily replaced the cracked one. :)

Loose cymbals:
I want to have my crashes a bit loose, to let them wobble a bit - just the right amount - not too tight, but not too loose either.
The problem with that is that the plastic nuts on top of the cymbals kept unscrewing themselves as I played if they were not completely tightened.
To combat this, I added some hemp*). I had a bit of hemp used for plumbing, and it's just the thing to tighten up the cymbal nuts, so they won't come loose spin off the threading.

Hemp. Proper hemp.


Just take a piece of hemp, fold it a couple of times and thread it through your cymbal nut. Don't be afraid of using too much - you want the cymbal nut to be a bit hard to turn.


The finished cymbal. I ended up with a bit more hemp than in this first picture, and when turning the nut I pushed the hemp underneath the foam washer, so that it was not poking out underneath the nut.

And there you have it - now my cymbal is just the right amount of loose, and it won't get more or less loose on its own accord. :)


The screws for the L brackets:
I did not like the wing screws, and wanted to replace them with proper drum bolts. If you do use the wing screws, make sure they are facing away from the L bolts, otherwise you won't be able to turn them.


As well - the regular drum screws did not have any washers - and although I had only fastened and unfastened the bracket one or two times, it had already started digging into the plastic. I bought and added washers under each screw. (At least the wing screws had washers.)


And remember - if you buy screws to replace the wing screws - do check the thread gauge - I bought new drum screws, and the thread did not match. Thus, if I want to use the new screws, I also have to buy new nuts with matching threading. Don't try to use screws together with nuts with the wrong threading - it will not hold, and you risk damaging both the screw and the nut. For not to mention the drum, if it suddenly falls off.. ;)


And - it is possible to overtighten the screws for the L brackets as well - I recommend using a regular small T-shaped drum key instead of the supplied drum key - with shorter arms on the drum key it is easier to keep from overtightening the various rack screws and brackets.. ;)

And - after seeing how I had overtightened the screws, the wing screws did not look quite that bad after all..  :P

A hot tip to stop the clamps from slipping is to insert a thin piece of paper between the clamp and the rack, and the clamp and the L-rod. The paper will increase friction a lot, and will keep the clamp from slipping and requiring much less tightening of the bolts - you won't have to tighten them so much that the clamp starts cracking.
You may also use a very thin piece of craft foam, for both friction and slightly increased dampening - this is later in the post.


Replacing the bass drum feet:
I had an issue with the bass pad - when I attached a bass drum pedal, the puny feet were lifted off the ground, and the pad wobbled a bit, as the pad was only stabilized sideways by the pedal plate.
I purchased some slightly larger rubber feet (10mm high; if I would have purchased again, I'd gone for the ones that were 15mm high.), and added some washers as well.


The original feet measured 7mm thick (or "high", if you prefer) - I replaced them with 10mm thick feet and four washers, totalling 17mm high - which was just right. And now the bass drum pad is much more steady.

I also had a problem with the pad sliding on my carpet, and so I bought velcro hook tape, and added plenty to the underside of the pedal.

If you use a carpet and do not have velcro on your drum pedal, I suggest adding some. I had a bit of velcro on my drum pad, but it started loosening and falling off - it was not enough by itself.

And now both the pedal and the pad work juust right. :)



Padding the module mount:
There is a problem with the screws for the Dm10 module mount - they can be just a tiny bit too long, touching the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) inside the module when fully tightened. If they do, it is very bad! If you want to check if this is a problem - remove a single screw and then insert a toothpick, matchstick or similar, measuring the depth of the hole (you measure the combined depth of the hole in the module and the hole in the bracket). Compare this to the length of the screw and see, if the screw may be in danger of bottoming out if fully inserted. You want a couple of mm clearance.
My screws were just about exactly the same length as the hole was deep, so I wanted to pad just a couple of millimeters, and add some vibration dampening to the module at the same time.

I cut a piece of 2mm thick craft foam to cover the bracket, and cut four holes in it for the screws. I also added small washers and made 2mm craft foam washes. This extra spacing is more than adequate - if the craft foam didn't compress when tightening the screws, it would almost have been too much.


And so all that remained was to assemble and remount the bracket. :)




Rack dampening (Moved from my Mesh head conversion thread)
Like Gerdy shows in his dampening thread: http://www.dmdrummer.com/index.php?topic=1541.0
..I used water pipe insulation foam to dampen the rack.

I bough several lengths of 13mm thick foam for 22mm pipes (in retrospect, I should have chosen one step smaller/thinner foam), and went to it.

I cut out a slice of the foam to be able to roll it to insert into the rack tubes.

This is the piece for the curved bar, and so I had to cut a bit more than the other foam pieces.

When inserting the foam into the tubes - do not push it - it will only get stuck.
Instead - tie a string to the end of the foam, send the string through the tube and pull the foam inside the tube. It helps to be two - one to pull the string through the tube and one to curl and insert the foam into the other end.


I filled all the main tubes with foam, although the vertical tubes with the smaller cymbal tubes inside were only filled halfway - just like Gerdy did.
I filled the thinner cymbal tubes - I used smaller leftovers from the cutting and shoved them inside with the butt end of a drumstick.

It seems that if you want to fill the tubes as densely as possible with foam, the best bet is to use smaller pieces and shove them in with a broomstick or similar. Make sure there is an opening at the other end to let air escape. :)

Here's a video of me banging on two rack tubes, one filled with foam and one without: :)



Dampening the rack clamps:
Inspired by Gerdys thread, I went to work dampening the various clamps.
I did not dampen the clamps holding the rack pieces together, as I want the main rack to be a single large mass, lowering the resonating frequency and thereby hopefully reducing any vibration issues.
But - I put pieces of craft foam inside the clamps holding the L-rods, both where the clamps are fastened to the rack and where they are fastened to the L-rods. I simply cut pieces of 2mm craft foam left over from the mesh head conversion.


I made the rectangle foam pieces for the rack side a couple of millimeters longer/larger than necessary to ensure that all the surface area was covered with foam.
I could have fastened the foam to the clamp with double sided tape like Gerdy did, but as the rack stays put in my basement, I rarely will move the clamps anyway and I did not have any double sided tape just then, I decided to skip it. The foam will stay put inside the clamps anyway. ;)

When refastening the now foam-padded clamp, you will need to squeeze tight to hold the plastic pieces together close enough to get the screws to connect with the nuts - make sure you do not lose any nuts, screws or washers! When the screws are inside the nuts, you can tighten it to your hearts content.

Notice that you now no longer have to screw the bolts that tight to secure the clamps - the foam will greatly increase the friction between the rack and the clamp, and once you have tightened the screws, the clamp will be really fixed in place - it simply will not budge accidentally again. :)
(But then again - now you probably will have to reopen the clamp to move it sideways at all - due to the increased friction, just loosening it will no longer do.. ;) )

The fastened clamp:


Dampening the cymbal arms.
I also decided to dampen the joints of the cymbal arms - I wanted vibrations to and from the cymbal heads to have to go through some extra foam, hopefully dampening some of the vibrations in the process.
I took the joints apart, and added some foam. For the joint between the vertical and horizontal arms, I cut a circular piece of the craft foam, cut a hole in it large enough for the bolt, and put it in place.

The foam is deformed from closing and reopening the joint.

When you cut the foam - cut a piece larger than you need. You want the foam to completely cover the connection - not only the bits inside, but also the rim of the joint. Any excess foam can easily be cut later, after assembling the joint.

I also added foam for the joints connecting the horizontal arm to the small arm connected to the cymbal:

Note - this image is not quite correct - I have large piece of foam with the hole for the bolt in the middle as shown, but on the sides I have not just one, but two smaller pieces of foam, cut like small doughnuts, one below the washer under the wing nut, and one under the top of the screw. I first thought of replacing the metal washer with a foam "washer", but quickly discovered that the way to go was to have a foam "washer" underneath the metal washer. (The foam washer by its lonesome simply disintegrated when I tightened the nut.)
When you reassemble the foam-padded joint, it may be hard to get the nut to connect with the threads on the screw - just press it hard enough together and wiggle. Once the nut connects with the screw, you can tighten it properly - the foam will compress and give way once you have the extra force of the screw pulling it together.

The assembled joint - note the excess foam coming out of the sides - cut the large center piece of foam a bit larger than necessary - this ensures that you have foam covering the edges as well.





Angling the cymbal stands.
When I first set up the cymbal stands, I set the stands to be as short as possible, pointing mostly straight up.


..And I started thinking - my two worst crosstalk issues were a) crosstalk from hitting the tom rims and b) crosstalk to/from the cymbals.
The crosstalk from hitting the tom rims disappeared when I angled them - the force of the blow went into the pad, and not directly into the rack through the bracket, as I was no longer hitting them on top of the bracket.
And I thought - why not do the same with the cymbal arms? I angled the arms, raising the vertical arm as high as possible, with the other arms at a high angle, barely avoiding the cymbals themselves, on the principle that blows to the cymbals would not go straight into the rack:





The bottom line.

Does it work?
Well - angling the the toms and converting to mesh heads were the two most effective ways of reducing cross talk from the rack once I had adjusted the trigger settings. (Tuning the trigger settings is of course the most important step in reducing crosstalk - that goes without saying.)

I cannot say exactly which of my other modifications that helped the most - I did not perform extensive scientific testing before and after each single dampening modification, but I can comment on the end total result:
It has helped a lot!

At first, out of the box, I needed a value of 6 or 7 for Xtalk Receive for my ride bell, and I had a lot of high values for the xtalk settings.
Now I have greatly reduced the xtalk settings - I have no longer a single xtalk setting of 5 - all of them are 4 or lower! And no xtalk! Whoohooo! :D  ;D

Well - I can still provoke some crosstalk from hitting the rims on top of the pad brackets, but for normal playing there is now zero crosstalk. I have enjoyed making the modifications, and now I can play without enduring the horrible crosstalk the drum set had straight out of the box.

Of course - I still had to adjust and tweak the trigger settings, and I get crosstalk if I reduce the various current xtalk values, but the rack now has much less crosstalk than when I first installed it. :)




*) Regarding the hemp for tightening the cymbal nuts, I'm not talking about the hemp normally associated with musicians. This is hemp for pipes! Uhm - let me rephrase that - it's to make proper joints that are.. Ungh - you know what I mean. ;)
But - if you do get pulled over at one point, by a nice officer - that would be a bad time to mention to him/her that you have plenty of hemp in your ride. ;)
« Last Edit: April 24, 2012, 03:46:55 AM by Trondster »
DM10 Pro kit with dampened rack, extra crashes, mesh heads, Gibraltar stands, P2002C and a dream cherry snare by Diamond Drums.

Offline Ennuk3

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2012, 03:40:56 PM »
First of all, nice accent!  ;D

To the point: I, personally have never managed to overtighten any screws on the Studio rack, everything is plastic and nothing has been broken yet. Although, I do crank that s*it as hard as I can.  ;D

Offline Gerdy

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2012, 04:13:53 PM »
Hi Trondster,

you did it again. That’s your second high quality post and I would like to thank you for sharing your fantastic work to the community.
In the first section explaining how to mount the drum pads you pointed out how to eleminate false triggering.
That’s the right (and exemplary) way how to setup the drum kit and it is very nice descriped.
Thanks for the further detailed descriptions and high quality pictures and videos.
It is very nice to see how gently and careful you are dealing with your drum kit.

On my former studio kit I used the wing screws from the rack clamps to modify the t-rack clamps and added bigger part screws to get a quick-mount functionallity. Afterwards I used the exchanged screws from the t-rack clamps with the normal rack clamps.


In addition I watched the video clip you posted at youtube showing the noise comparison of the unconverted and converted pad. I have seen that you are using a stick with wooden tip.
For e-drumming I recommend sticks with plastic tips. They are more gently to your mesh heads and got a better controlled rebound to play on the surge cymbals.
(the produced noise increases a bit / sounds higher with the plastic tips playing on the surge cymbals)
« Last Edit: January 31, 2012, 04:28:55 PM by Gerdy »

Offline Trondster

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2012, 04:31:40 PM »
Thank you for the comment, Ennuk3, I do try to speak english as best as I can, although I'm a norwegian living in Denmark. ;)

And thank you, Gerdy! Feedback like that is very welcome - keeps one motivated and makes it worthwhile. :)

And please do post some links to recommended drum sticks - for example to thomann or similar.

Regarding tweaking the drum kit - I read that mesh heads aren't too fond of felt beaters, so I turn my beater around to the rubber side - that's the right way to do it, right?
DM10 Pro kit with dampened rack, extra crashes, mesh heads, Gibraltar stands, P2002C and a dream cherry snare by Diamond Drums.

Offline drumday

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2012, 04:38:18 PM »
Very generous & insightful write up, Trondster.
DM10 Studio 2011, BBII mesh conversion w/ resistors left in place, Simmons DA200S, ProMark 7A nylon, Sennheiser HD280 headphones, Gibraltar rack, Camco double pedal.

Offline Gerdy

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2012, 04:50:58 PM »
Thomann:

Millenium parts screw:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_parts_schraube_4.htm
I used these screws to modify the t-rack clamps.


PRO MARK TX5AN 5AN - hickory wood drum sticks with nylon teardrop tips:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/pro_mark_tx5an_hickory_5a_nylon.htm


Because of the bass drum beater:
A felt beater is going to destroy a mesh head after a while.
The reason is that the felt of the beater dives into the web of the mesh head and glues/adheres always a bit with the mesh head. It looks like that the mesh head is a bit melted at that spot. And then, suddenly during playing, the felt beater cuts out a hole at that spot.

I found a new and very nice beater. I’m using it now for a while. Absolutely fantastic, quiet, very good rebound and you need no patch onto the bass drum mesh head.

drum-tec sound-absorbing-beater
http://www.drum-tec.de/drumtec-soundabsorbingbeater-p-1574.html


« Last Edit: January 31, 2012, 04:53:20 PM by Gerdy »

Offline Trondster

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2012, 05:03:13 PM »
I have now expanded the guide a bit more - I have padded the rack clamps and cymbal arms, and angled the cymbal arms better. The main post is updated with descriptions and pictures of the new modifications, and a summary. I have also angled the small rack toms even more, and have thus updated the picture. Do read and please let me know if you have any feedback! :)

@Gerdy - thanks, I have now bought the beater you mentioned. It is much more quiet indeed than the regular beater. :)
However - I need to improve the bounce and response of my bass drum - I suspect I need softer foam to absorb more of the blow.
The nylon headed drum sticks are very nice too - I bought two different pairs, and I prefer them to my wood tipped ones. :)

..And thank you very much, drumday. :)
« Last Edit: February 21, 2012, 05:23:57 PM by Trondster »
DM10 Pro kit with dampened rack, extra crashes, mesh heads, Gibraltar stands, P2002C and a dream cherry snare by Diamond Drums.

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2012, 05:26:13 PM »
May sound stupid - but would stuffing the pipes with Foam increase the amount of noise transferred to the floor? Need top keep my kit as quiet as possible, but liking the idea of this! :)

Offline Trondster

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2012, 05:41:28 PM »
There are no stupid questions. :)

No, I do not think there will be more noise transferred to the floor - I think the net effect would be more vibrations absorbed by the foam inside the rack and less ringing in the rack.
DM10 Pro kit with dampened rack, extra crashes, mesh heads, Gibraltar stands, P2002C and a dream cherry snare by Diamond Drums.

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #9 on: February 21, 2012, 06:04:39 PM »
Fair point :D

Well I've so far done the clamps, shall head out tomorrow and grab some foam tubing. Cheers for the great post!

Offline MechanEvil

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2012, 01:11:40 AM »
Fantastic post, Trondster! What a great idea to share!

- Jimmy Rage
Warrior poet, guitar vocalist bassist drummer
... and inventor of the three-legged setup

Offline Gerdy

Re: Rack tweaking
« Reply #11 on: February 22, 2012, 08:01:19 AM »
Thank you very much for sharing the additional modifications you did on your drum set and the way you modified the article. Fantastic !

Trondster, you joined the forum one month ago with this article:

Hello,

I'm a completely n00b drummer - I've always wanted to drum, have played drums in the toy game Rock Band and liked it, and so I bought a Dm10 Pro kit and I'm trying to learn the basics.

But - one area where I'm a bit unsure is how to set up the drum kit. I've got the kit reasonably comfortable set up, but there is the matter of the cymbals - should they be screwed tight, hang loose or something in between? Or is that a matter of personal taste?

As well do you have any guidelines as to how the kit should be set up ergonomically - how do most drummers set it up, as to height and position of the various drums and cymbals?


And now, only one month later, you are so familiar with the matter.
It shows us that you are identifying yourself with your drum set.
You spend a lot of time to get the best results.
Additionally you are writing high quality and fantastic illustrated articles to help other e-drum beginners.
That is exemplary. It is reflecting you as an ambitious and creative musician.
And it shows us that everybody can get the best out of his drum set.

Thank you very much Trondster.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2012, 08:45:23 AM by Gerdy »

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #12 on: March 11, 2012, 08:24:37 PM »
This is a great idea as well very insightful with the hardware clamps and the angling of the tom mounts, would not have thought of that I don't think. One thing and I don't want to sound like I'm second guessing everyone. However, wouldn't the spray foam insulation used to weather proof window sills and door jams do the same thing with maybe a little less work ?
Back behind the trap after 30 some year absence.. 70's R&R..5-piece Premier acoustic... picked up DM-10 Studio mostly for rehab

Offline inconn

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #13 on: March 12, 2012, 09:48:56 AM »
Trondster, for the kick beater - buy a kick patch. Then you'll be able to use any beater you please.
I have a bass patch + I pulled car head rest upholstery thingie over the entire kick pad - keeps the noise down AND saves the head :)

You can see a glimpse of it in the bottom here http://i.imgur.com/RdvESs.jpg

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2012, 11:11:10 AM »
Hey Gerdy or anyone know where I can find the knurled knobs (M6) x40 I think cant seem to find a US supplier
Back behind the trap after 30 some year absence.. 70's R&R..5-piece Premier acoustic... picked up DM-10 Studio mostly for rehab

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2012, 09:56:10 AM »
Hey Gerdy or anyone know where I can find the knurled knobs (M6) x40 I think cant seem to find a US supplier

http://www.mcmaster.com/#knurled-component-knobs/=h366z6

Offline Trondster

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #16 on: April 15, 2012, 08:22:25 AM »
I did some further modification on my cymbal nuts to stop them from unscrewing themselves - see the main post for instructions and pictures.


And than you, Gerdy, mattcooper, MechanEvil, netforce, for the kind words! :)

And thanks, Inconn - I have just bought an applied a standard Evans kick beater patch - I'll see how it works. :)



Edit:
The cymbals work smokin' great with the extra modification, with mellow tones - especially the high notes, and leave me hungry - for more modifications. And I apologize for any bad sense of humor in the footnote in the main post or in this editorial comment. *whistles innocently*
« Last Edit: April 15, 2012, 11:43:59 AM by Trondster »
DM10 Pro kit with dampened rack, extra crashes, mesh heads, Gibraltar stands, P2002C and a dream cherry snare by Diamond Drums.

Offline Trondster

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #17 on: April 22, 2012, 09:54:15 AM »
Added modifications for padding the module mount and replacing the bass pad feet. :)
DM10 Pro kit with dampened rack, extra crashes, mesh heads, Gibraltar stands, P2002C and a dream cherry snare by Diamond Drums.

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2012, 06:13:03 AM »
This is a great idea as well very insightful with the hardware clamps and the angling of the tom mounts, would not have thought of that I don't think. One thing and I don't want to sound like I'm second guessing everyone. However, wouldn't the spray foam insulation used to weather proof window sills and door jams do the same thing with maybe a little less work ?

I've seen guys bring this up before. The main thing everyone says about the spray foam is that it can be rather messy, and if you ever want to take it out... good luck. Unfortunately i havent seen/heard anyone say they've actually tried using the spray foam, so im not sure if it will have the same dampening effectiveness as the foam piping...  :-\
DM10 Pro kit, Mesh Heads, Quad Kicks, Dampened Rack, Extra Roland Crashes.

Offline Trondster

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #19 on: April 23, 2012, 06:49:38 AM »
I'm actually thinking of removing the foam from the main horizontal bar on my Dm10 Pro rack - it could be nice to run cables through it and get a "cleaner" looking rack - the brackets holding the bar have openings large enough to stuff cables in there...  ::) 8)
DM10 Pro kit with dampened rack, extra crashes, mesh heads, Gibraltar stands, P2002C and a dream cherry snare by Diamond Drums.

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #20 on: April 23, 2012, 05:16:03 PM »
I'm actually thinking of removing the foam from the main horizontal bar on my Dm10 Pro rack - it could be nice to run cables through it and get a "cleaner" looking rack - the brackets holding the bar have openings large enough to stuff cables in there...  ::) 8)
I've done exactly that, most definitely gives it a cleaner look!  :)
DM10 Pro kit, Mesh Heads, Quad Kicks, Dampened Rack, Extra Roland Crashes.

Offline gorgatron

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #21 on: April 25, 2012, 05:10:10 AM »
i have a DM10 studio. i've been preparing to dampen my rack bit by bit. i have some info from a personal exchange with Trondster regarding foam that will be of interest, and i'll try to copy and paste that in a few days. it's a suggested modification of the procedure and method he personal used. i meant to havel already done so, but have been short on time.

what i want to add at this moment, is that the tom angling you suggest and photograph isn't really possible on the DM10 rack. the clamps can't go as far out due to the different design of the frame. it does work, however, if you bring the clamps into the center, and angle them similarly from there. i'll of course never be able to provide information as to whether this configuration is better, but will obviously know if doesn't work  ;). it will disperse the energy in a much different way that before, but not sure if it will accomplish the same effect as what you've done. i'll try to post a picture, and i'll certainly provide an update should this method no provide improvement
Alesis DM10 Studio - modified Trondster dampened rack, Hellfire mesh head conversion on toms and kick, converted 1971 14" Ludwig 303 snare w/ aluminum shell - cone + rim piezo conversion; alternate between Stock and Blue Jay Roms, BFD2, Reaper, Reason 6.5

Offline Trondster

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #22 on: April 26, 2012, 01:42:37 AM »
As for angling the toms - the most important part is to adjust the toms and/or your technique so that you are not hitting the rims right on top of the tom brackets, as that will cause the force of the blow to go straight into the rack instead of into the tom. And vibrations in the rack cause crosstalk.

As for the foam in the pipes - as I wrote in the main post, any foam would do. Just find the cheapest foam you can get at a hardware store, cut it in pieces and shove the foam into the pipe with a broomstick or similar. This will be much easier than pulling pipe foam through the pipes, which was surprisingly fiddly and difficult.
DM10 Pro kit with dampened rack, extra crashes, mesh heads, Gibraltar stands, P2002C and a dream cherry snare by Diamond Drums.

Offline gorgatron

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #23 on: April 26, 2012, 03:20:06 AM »
lol just read your post after preparing a summary of our dialog. i'll post it anyhow, as there were a few other items that someone might fid good that they hadn't yet thought about. here are simply clips taken directly from the exchanges:

Quote
"As for foam to stuff in the pipes, I don't recommend buying pipe foam as I did - it was a hassle to install. Just buy the cheapest foam you can find at a construction material store - Home Depot or similar - buy cheap, soft foam, cut it in pieces and just stuff them into the pipe with a broom handle or similar. :)
You can get pipe foam like I did, of course, but I think a softer foam cut in pieces would be easier to handle. :)

Quote
The washers are bog standard washers. Can be found at any hardware store, or in a "misc stuff" bin at any drum store. You want the hole big enough for the screw, and the washer a little bit bigger than the screw - other than that, anything goes. ;)
Any screws or knobs can be bought at any drum store. (I prefer screws from a drum store, so I get drum key heads.)

Quote
If you want some really fancy foam for insulating the clamps (it would be way too expensive for pipe stuffing), you could buy a thin sheet of sorbothane, but ordinary craft foam would probably do just about as well. ;)

as for the comments about angling the toms, i got the gist, and even going from the opposite angle as you still reduces the vibration to the ride, which was the main issue. i also completely reconfigured my module according to some guidelines i found in another thread. i think that's helping, too. thanks for your remarks!

Alesis DM10 Studio - modified Trondster dampened rack, Hellfire mesh head conversion on toms and kick, converted 1971 14" Ludwig 303 snare w/ aluminum shell - cone + rim piezo conversion; alternate between Stock and Blue Jay Roms, BFD2, Reaper, Reason 6.5

Re: Rack tweaking/dampening (with pictures)
« Reply #24 on: April 26, 2012, 04:33:29 PM »
That module mount looks way different, and  better than mine.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2012, 04:35:31 PM by evilcartman »