Balasz iBox custom drum - installation details

[forthaney]

I figure posting here instead of sending a pm is better in case someone has a similar question.....

Anyway I just got the i-box today and have a 30" maple drum comming my way.
I remember reading that ChrisM has a similar setup.

ChrisM I assume that you had to install the 30" drum off center (front to back) in order to make the 30" drum work. Do you find that this works well for you.

I was thinking about getting another plate of steel to add support to the offset 30" drum. Something like a 14" dia. by 11 gauge or so. I would attach this to the plate on the i-box frame (off center) then I would attach my drum to the new plate. From your experience is this necessary? I don't want to over kill or over think this. But I would like to do it all now while I'm in the construction phase.

Now that you have used your i-box and 30" drum for a while, are there any improvments that you have thought of doing. Anything that I shoud do before I get r done. My plane was to set the drum off center so that the middle of the swivel falls just inside the flat plate. I would then drill thru the drum and steel plate for three of my swivel bolts. The fourth bolt would just go thru the drum and miss the plate. I didn't want to have to drill thru the box frame.

I also thougt I would mention that I was able to get the frame without the MDF drum. It cost me $144 + tax since I live in Pennsylvania. I was able to pick it up since I live close by. I was going to order this set up before but got discouraged about it because of the MDF drum (there's nothing wrong with them I'm just a very picky perfectionist) But after a few calls I discovered I could get just what I wanted. Which really put me in a good frame of mind about Balazs and how they do buisness.

[Chris M]

Like you, I am also a perfectionist. Sometimes that works to our advantage and sometimes it doesn't.

Anyway, I just installed my drum offset. I installed it so the back of the drum was as close to the wall as I could make it but still allowing about 3/4" clearance to the back wall. What ended up was the front of the drum stuck out a little farther than it normally would.

Here's how I worked it out in my mind before I installed it.

The ibox comes with, and is designed for a 24" drum center on it. When that drum is installed on it, it had a couple inches or so from the back wall when installed. So what that meant was that the front of my 32" home made drum stuck out about 5 or 6 inches from normal. Yes, the support arms and the mount is to the rear slightly instead of over the center, but because the platform that I made was so thick, it doesn't flex at all. Any flex that is there was taken care of by the sandbag. I think that if I was to do it over again I would get an old mouse pad and place it between the mounting arms and the drum in the rear. I think this would make things a little tighter because as it is now, there is a little bit of a gap that allows the drum to flex. There are some mounting pad there, but I would prefer it to be a tighter fit that what it is. I'll take some pictures later this afternoon that will illustrate what I'm talking about.

Sorry, but I'm in the middle of remodeling my kitchen and I'm really busy today. Otherwise I would do it right now.

All in all, I wouldn't hesitate to mount a larger board on the ibox, it works and it works well, at least it did in my case. You definitely need a thicker drum as in at least 1" thick of SOLID wood so it doesn't flex. If I remember right, yours is going to be 1 1/2" thick so you'll be fine. 1 1/2" of maple in a 32, 34, 36, or even 40" will not flex at all. I think the ibox mounting plate will flex long before your board will.

Just plan to put at least one sandbag on the front edge of the board and you'll be fine. Securing that sandbag so it doesn't fall off from the vibration, but that's easily solved and one that I'll be able to illustrate when I send my photos.

[Chris M]

Here's some photos of how I installed my approx. 32" homemade cherry drum to my ibox. I did have to offset the drum a few inches.

I just put the back of the drum as near as possible to the back wall, and use the same holes for my swivel that I had in it originally when I had it mounted on my old Everlast frame. You want the swivel in the center of the board obviously, even if the mounting holes are not.

You can see where I'm talking about cutting an old neoprene mousepad and inserting it between the mounting arms to stiffen things up a bit.

The four bolts that are off center are the mounting bolts. I used a forstner bit to make a nice round countersink with a flat bottom for the bolt heads to sit into. The four bolt holes that are towards the outer edge are from when I had this drum mounted on my old Everlast frame.

You'll see what I did for my sandbag to secure it. I wrapped the sandbag in a garbage bag first, then wrapped it up with duct tape. I then set the bag so the bolts that are protruding through the arms hold the sand bag from moving around any. So far it works well and it's been almost a year now I think.

Oh yeah, since we were talking about perfectionism, you may notice what appears to be two cracks in the drum, but it's not. I didn't put those two boards on my jointer before I glued them up and it left a bit of a gap. Just another one of those nagging things that probably only I can see, but again I don't think it makes any difference structurally.














Note that I mounted the drum with the grain going to the left and right. I did that totally by accident. I wasn't paying close attention to the orientation of the grain when I drilled the holes. I don't think it makes a bit of difference other than aesthetics, but if I had been paying attention I would have had the grain going perpendicular to what it is now.

[Chris M]

I was thinking about getting another plate of steel to add support to the offset 30" drum. Something like a 14" dia. by 11 gauge or so. I would attach this to the plate on the i-box frame (off center) then I would attach my drum to the new plate. From your experience is this necessary? I don't want to over kill or over think this. But I would like to do it all now while I'm in the construction phase.

I don't think I'd do that unless you get a piece of steel that will extend under the mounting arms as well because it will lower the drum away from the mounting arms and you'll lose that little bit of support from the back of the arms. I still say I'm going to use a couple old neoprene mouse pads cut up into strips to insert between the mounting arms and my drum to use as a shim to tighten it up a bit.

[forthaney]

Thanks ChrisM
I like your idea about the mouse pad or additional support under the arms. Don't the rubber pads that came installed on the arms provide enough pressure against the drum? Oh and thanks for the insight on the forstner bit. I was planning on using a Spade bit to do some deep counter sinking. But I couldnt remember what the bit was called that makes nice work of it.

My drum is going to be 2" thick (its supposed to be anyway) and 30" in dia.
So my offset will not be as much as yours, which is working well for you.

I'm not going to add another steel plate after giving some thought to what you said about increasing the distance between the drum and arms. I think this could add stress to the arms. I think a tighter fit with more bearing between as much of the surface area of the drum and arms is ideal. I like the mouse pad idea but think that it might compress a little to much (not sure yet) but somthing very similar. I'm going to check a local hardware store that has hard to get things for some rubber pads that are a little denser than a mouse pad.

See told you I was picky... Drives my wife crazy... (in a good way)

Oh yeah I also went to Wood Craft and picked up the wax and Linseed Oil. Now Im just waiting for my drum.

[Chris M]

Don't the rubber pads that came installed on the arms provide enough pressure against the drum?

Actually, it doesn't even touch the drum now. I'm guessing there is about 1/16" between the pads and the drum which is what makes me think a little shimming might help. It doesn't vibrate any now and it's certainly not noisy. I just think it would probably help a little if I did that. I just don't want to go through the hassle of loosening the bolts, inserting the strips and tightening it back up, particularly now when I don't have a lot of free time. I'm doing good just to get make time to get down in the basement to work the old bag as it is.