Drum Trigger Foam Cones

[sbonasuk]

I recently read a posting from Privatex written last year making foam cones not out of the material from sanding blocks, but from high-density polyethylene or HPDE. This is the foam used for swimming aids or the mats for yoga etc. So I replaced my snare and 1 tom with the new cones and what a difference. So replaced the lot.

They are much more sensitive carrying the vibration from the skin to the piezo which greater clarity. Far far easier to make and being more dense you can make the tip smaller alleviating hot spots, seven took me less than half an hour.

It was suggested to glue a small tip of the old style foam however this seems not to be necessary. The foam came from a yoga block bought from a sports store, 4" x 3" x 8" long and costs £1.99, enough for 20 cones and being bright pink shows up under the white skins.

To make them cut a 1 1/2" cube cut roughly to a cone shape with a scalpel and then stuck to a cutting disk on a dremel with double sided tape. Using reasonably rough paper and starting from the bottom work you way to the end leaving a 1/4" tip. Support and balance the cone with your finger to counter the paper, however do not press hard with either let the paper do the work. Finish with a lighter paper although not necessary. This type of foam also sticks better to the tape.

[airflamesred]

Thanks very much for posting, this is very useful.

[privatex]

Couple days ago I found new type of sanding blocks. They are made out of harder foam which is similar as eva but without permanent deformation after they are flattened. It's very similar to HPDE. I made new cones with 6mm contact area diameter.
Rule is: harder material brings accurate triggering with small contact area while softer material has less ability to accurately conveying vibrations with less pronounced phenomenon of hot spot. Sweet spot between this two material properties is best way to go.
There are some products that combine this materials like Pintech drum trigger foam cylinder.
http://pintechworld.com/pintechs-trigger-foam/

[ignotus]

Hi,
As I can't leave things alone I decided to test another material. A very soft foam stress ball. I just cut it in half and stuck it on the piezo - the base is much wider than the piezo (it's almost the size of a tennis ball), but that doesn't seem to matter. WOW By far the best result I've had ever. When I used harder foam with a small tip, the mesh tended to vibrate more, leading to more double triggering and forcing me to raise DynLevel and DynTime, and the softer foams tended to be a bit too insensitive. This has more surface contact with the mesh but there is barely a hotspot and the bigger contact area dampens the vibrations of the mesh, allowing me to lower Threshold, DynLevel, DynTime and Minscan. I tried with and without a disc the size of the ceramic part underneath and found it is really necessary to let the piezo flex. The only downside is that PS doesn't work as well, but to be honest I don't really miss it that much - I prefer to have more accurate roll detection and dynamics. And this one smiles at you

ball_cone.jpg

[privatex]

That ball is practise tenise ball. They have few different types od balls with different hardnes. I believe in your results. I think that your results come from big contact area so head can transfer biger amount of energy to the piezo. My snare triger foam constantly change hardnes same as your but I believe that piezo dont have future in this aplication. No matter what I do there's always some problems. Nice work :)
P.S. Can you tell me your opinion about roland 2 ply mesh? I never use them always some single ply heads. Are they better do the job?

[ignotus]

Roland mesh heads are less bouncy than single-ply heads and more durable - I just have one on the snare but it's now 9 years old and still going strong, just a bit dirty... But when I bought it they were a lot cheaper than they are now, I would look at other brands now instead. A few years ago one of my T-drum single-ply heads broke and I (of course) looked into making my own. I used 43T (this is the hole size) screen-printing mesh, 3 layers of it, on a tom. That was about 3 years ago and it's also holding out well - the feel is also comparable to the Roland head, less bouncy than the others. I don't think I'll buy any more mesh heads, I'll just use the hoops of the ones that break and make my own.

[privatex]

I have bought 5m2 of screen mesh and I know what youre talking about. I have made couple mash heads but they have their problems (materials again...). Thanks man and cheers.

[ignotus]

But was it silkscreen printing mesh or just window screen mesh? Big difference. Also, there are many different thread counts in silkscreen mesh. I first tried with 16T and it fell apart because the very fine strands were too far apart and broke with the high tension and hits. 43T is almost the same thread count as Roland mesh heads and it has turned out to be very durable. If the thread count is too high it would probably start to be noisy.

[ludwgite]

On a completely unrelated note - where did you find silkscreen mesh? I've looked and just tried using some sheer curtain material (to not so great effect).

[privatex]

Ouch I didn't saw your answer ignotus. No I used fiber screen mesh for mosquitoes prevention, and results are not good, it has low power transmission possibilities from punches. I will try with those meshes for printing (43T I got it).
Update: I found one firm in my country that selling silk mesh for screen print. They have various types. Here's screenshot from their site:

What you think should I go for T54 maybe or take same 43T?
@ludwgite: Try in some shops that have materials for varius printing. I tried it and got result. If I found in my country you will find whenever you are.