Dundun stands

[michi]

[Edit: There is now an article with detailed instructions and videos for how to make these stands—Michi.]

I just built these dundun stands:

Dundun stands

IMG_4541.JPG (157.38 KiB) Viewed 845 times

From another angle:

Dundun stands

IMG_4542.JPG (160.4 KiB) Viewed 845 times

The design is the same as the stands sold by Drumskull. The main difference is that, instead of making a webbing cradle for the drums, I used the webbing at the bottom. I found that the stands are much more stable that way. In addition, because of the splayed legs I have attached to my duns so I can play them upright, moving the webbing to the bottom kept it out of the way of the legs.

Like the Drumskull stands, they fold up such that they nestle inside each other, so they are easy to transport and don't take up much room:

Dundun stands folded up

IMG_4540.JPG (113.01 KiB) Viewed 845 times

Total cost of materials was $100, so they worked out very cheap. I used hardwood (Tasmanian oak) for the frames, which accounted for about $70. The remainder is for the webbing (taken from a cargo strap I found for $10 at the local hardware store), connector bolts ($6) as hinges, plus assorted screws and sandpaper.

I added rubber feet so the stands won't make scratches when playing on a wooden floor.

This was a fun project, albeit quite time consuming. I don't have a mitre saw or a drill press, so I did everything using hand tools. Total time was about 12 hours, including two extra trips to the hardware store for things I found I needed halfway through.

Cheers,

Michi.

[bubudi]

those are nice stands, michi. the folding into each other is a really nice touch. a friend of mine once made a similar style stand with the strapping on both the top and bottom for maximum stability.

i was wondering if you have a blueprint for the design that you could post up to let others make them more easily, eliminating wasted time and money from errors or forgotten materials.

[michi]

I don't have a blueprint. I basically looked at the images of the stands on the Drumskull website. I wasn't willing to pay $550 (including shipping) for those, so I decided to make my own. Besides, making them myself meant that I could adjust the width and height to exactly the dimensions I wanted.

Materials:

• 42x19mm Tasmanian Oak strip flooring or similar sized hardwood, 4 lengths of 2.4m, 3 lengths of 1.8m
• 6 connector bolts with M6 thread
• 48 30mm 6G wood screws with Phillips flat head
• 4.5m webbing (seatbelt webbing or webbing from a cargo strap)
• 36 10mm wood screws with Phillips round head
• 36 flat washers to fit the 10mm wood screws
• 24 10mm wood screws with Phillips flat head
• 6mm black rubber
• Single-pack polyurethane lacquer
• Sandpaper, coarse and fine
• Wood glue

Tools:

• Hand saw and mitre box, or mitre saw
• Battery drill
• 2mm, 2.5mm, 6mm, and 8mm HSS drill bits
• Wood clamp
• Scissors
• Blow torch or cigarette lighter
• Orbital sander (or sanding block and elbow grease)

Measure the width of your dunduns, so you know where the supports can go. Note that, for the nestling design, the width of the stands goes down by 8.5cm each time. So, if the dundunba stand is 58.5cm wide, the sangban stand will be 50cm wide, and the kenkeni stand will be 41.5cm wide. Make sure that you can get reasonable support for your dunduns given these constraints.

Start by building the dundunba stand. Cut four lengths of timber at 90cm lengths for the legs. Assuming that you are building a 58.5cm wide stand, cut two lengths of 58.5cm, and two lengths of 54.5cm. I used a handsaw and plastic mitre box to get halfway decent right angles. You can do this without a mitre box, but it'll be a hit-and-miss affair: it's quite difficult to make precise right angle cuts by hand.

To figure out the correct angles and lengths, put the dundunba upright on the floor and mark the center of the drum on the floor beside it. Take two of the 90cm legs and position them on the floor the way they will eventually support the drum, crossing over "below" the drum. Adjust the position of the legs so you get a good angle to support the drum. The bottom of the legs should be far enough apart to get good support. (At this stage, the legs will be about 5-10cm too long. That's intentional, and we'll fix it later.)

Measure perpendicular to the drum (vertically down, if the drum were in its eventual position on the stand). The correct playing height is around 68-72cm from the floor to the centre of the drum. (Work out what height you want beforehand by putting the drums on some temporary support and find the height that works for you.) Ensure that, with the angle you have set the legs at, you will get the desired playing height. Now measure along one of the legs from the top to where the two legs cross over, which is where you will place the hinge. Remember that distance.

Clamp two of the legs together with a wood clamp and drill a 2mm pilot hole through the centre for the hinge, at the distance from the top you just measured (probably around 36-40cm). Widen the hole to 6mm. Unclamp the two legs and widen the hole in one of them to 8mm. Do the same with the other pair of legs and connect the two pairs with connector bolts:

Connector bolts

main_bronzeconn.jpg (44.8 KiB) Viewed 837 times

Ideally, the space between the bolts when they are fully tightened should be 39mm. I got 45mm bolts and cut them down with an angle grinder to the correct length. You can put two M6 nuts on the thread of the bolt and clamp locking pliers onto the nuts so you can hold the bolt against the grinder without burning your fingers. After smoothing off the cut-off end, when you unscrew the nuts, you will effectively cut a new thread into the cut-off end.

With the two pairs of legs connected by their hinge, set the two pairs parallel and connect the two outer ones at the top with a 58.5cm cross piece. Use four 30mm wood screws for the cross piece. Pre-drill the holes and make a recess at the top for the screw head. Apply wood glue to the join for greater stiffness before driving in the screws. Turn the whole thing over and connect the inner two legs at the top with a 54.5cm cross piece. On the same side, about 20cm from the bottom, make the bottom cross brace for the outer legs with a 58.5cm cross piece and, finally, use the other 54.5cm cross piece on the opposite side to brace the inner legs at the same height. This results in a stand where, on one side, the outer legs are connected at the top and the inner legs are connected at the bottom; on the opposite side, it's the other way around: the inner legs are connected at the top and the outer legs are connected at the bottom.

The basic stand is now done. Take some webbing and cover the last 4cm on one side with glue. Fold the end over so you get a double thickness strip about 2cm wide, held together by the glue. Once the glue has set, heat a piece of fencing wire or similar and melt three holes through the double-thickness strip of webbing. You have to make these holes first—trying to drill through the webbing doesn't work. I tried and ended up pulling threads out of the webbing that wrapped around the drill.

Use three of the 10mm round head screws with washers to attach the webbing as shown. Note that, for the dundunba, you have to put the webbing about 9cm from the inside edge, otherwise it will get in the way of the nested sangban and kenkeni stands. The photo doesn't show it well because the webbing is folded under, but the screws go through the 2cm wide strip of double thickness webbing.

Also note that I chose to put the webbing under the cross piece instead of over it. This has the advantage that, when the stand is folded up, you can move the webbing out of the way over the sides of the legs. That's useful when you are painting the stand. Also note that the webbing is attached to the inside of the cross piece. This way, the pull on the screws is sideways, and the extra friction where the webbing wraps around the cross piece means that there is less pull on the attachment points. The washers help to distribute pressure onto the webbing, so it doesn't get cut by the sideways pull on the screws over time.

Webbing attachment

IMG_4543.JPG (161.91 KiB) Viewed 837 times

Use the wood clamp to attach the piece of webbing temporarily to the cross piece on the other side. The stand is strong enough to hold your dundunba even with only one piece of webbing, so put your dundunba on top and check that you have a little more height than you want to end up with, and that the legs are splayed wide enough at the bottom to give good support. Adjust the length of the webbing until you are happy with height and angles. (You still need to have the drum at least 4cm too high at this point.)

Cut off the webbing at the clamped end at the correct length. (Remember to leave an extra 2cm of webbing to fold over where it will be attached with the screws.) Remove the single strip of webbing and use it as a template to make another strip of the same length. Make the same 2cm fold at the ends of the strips and burn three holes through each end.

Now attach the two strips of webbing with the twelve screws and washers, and you have the stand almost done.

Set the drum back on the stand and measure from the centre of the drum head vertically down toward the floor. The legs of the stand at this point are standing on a corner where you initially cut them. Make marks on the legs, parallel to the floor, such that, after cutting the legs, you end up with the drum head at the height you want. Cut the four legs and trim off the sharp tip where you have an acute angle. (If you don't cut it off, it will eventually break off.)

You'll end up with shape at the bottom of each leg as shown in the photo:

Bottom of leg

IMG_4544.JPG (55.57 KiB) Viewed 837 times

Cut a piece of rubber mat to fit the area where the leg touches the floor when the stand is open. Glue it onto the leg and secure it with two of the 10mm flat head screws. Drive the screws in far enough to recess into the rubber, so they won't scratch the floor.

Now build the sangban stand to fit inside the dundunba stand, and the kenkeni stand to fit inside the sangban stand, as shown in the original post. To make sure that things fit inside each other nicely, connect the legs of the sangban stand at the top only, slide the half-finished frame into the dundunba stand, and mark the point where the cross piece has to go. Leave a gap of 2mm or so between the bottom cross pieces of the dundunba and the sangban, so the webbing can fit through in between without rubbing. (You can see that gap in the photo in the original post.)

A few minor things: the timber I bought had razor-sharp right angles, so sharp that careless handling of the frames risked cutting fingers, so I broke all the edges by running my orbital sander with coarse sand paper over them. I did this after I finished building the stands and, in hindsight, I should have done that before any cutting and assembly. It would have been much easier that way.

It pays to run your sander with fine grit paper over all the surfaces, to remove splinters and get a better finish. Again, do this before you start assembly.

I decided to coat the stands with a clear polyurethane lacquer (satin finish). That way, the stands look a bit nicer, because the lacquer brings out the grain, and they are sealed against moisture and are easy to wipe clean if they get dirty. Of course, the lacquer is something of a luxury and not strictly necessary.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Djembe-nerd]

Nice workmanship on these stands, and the vertical stand for the dununs.

The DSD ones are quite costly, $125 - 145, I saw cheaper ones at Africanrhythmtraders.com, they have all 3 for $149, they look the same, I don;t know about the shipping but for US people, it shouldn't be that much. Here is a link

http://www.africanrhythmtraders.com/html/dununs.html

[michi]

I saw cheaper ones at Africanrhythmtraders.com, they have all 3 for $149

That's a much more reasonable price. The description doesn't say, but it looks like they will nest inside each other too. At that price, I'd probably buy them rather than build them, assuming that you can get reasonable shipping charges.

Cheers,

Michi.

[AoxoA]

Hi Michi-

Where did you get the supplies for the vertical stands? I'd like to get some of those on my Dununs.

[michi]

The legs for playing the dunduns upright are made out of steel spreader bars, available at camping stores. You can buy aluminium ones too (which are a lot lighter) but they cost an arm and a leg. I paid $10 for each spreader bar.

Spreader bar

spreader-m.tiff.jpeg (41.48 KiB) Viewed 680 times

You will need to cut the outer tube to a length such that the tightening screw ends up about level with the playing surface when the cut-off end of the tube rests against the flesh ring at the other end. After cutting the outer tube, squash the end flat in a vice (or hammer it flat on an improvised anvil). Then bend the cut-off end to a 3–­5º angle, away from the screw. This makes it easier to properly position the flat top part of the leg under the flesh ring.

To prevent the cut-off end from damaging the skin underneath the flesh ring, buy a length of metal-reinforced car door edge guard and glue it over the squashed-flat end of the outer tube.

Car door edge guard

images.jpeg (1.41 KiB) Viewed 681 times

Attach the legs with long cable ties from an electronics or hardware store. The cable ties go behind the weave near the leg and around and below the flange of the tightening screw, holding each leg both in and up. The edges of cable ties are quite sharp and can cut through the rope over time, so I bought a piece of 5mm polyethylene tubing at a hardware store and pushed that over the cable tie to protect the rope.

To get more stability, I splayed the legs by inserting a block of high-density polyurethane foam behind each leg. I shaped the back of each block to match the shape of the bottom of the dundun by cutting a step into it. I also cut a V-groove where the leg rests against the block, so the leg won't move sideways. I cut the foam pieces out of a yoga block, which is made from the right kind of foam, very dense and strong. You can cut the foam easily with a hacksaw.

I recommend to buy black foam. Mine is bright blue, which looks awful on the dunduns. I spray-painted the blocks black, but the paint tends to come off over time. I'll probably find a black piece of foam eventually and replace my blocks.

The photo below shows how the leg is attached. The cable tie goes around the leg and below the flange of the tightening screw, so it holds the leg both up and in. You can see the attachment point in the photo below.

Leg attachment

IMG_4542.JPG (176.11 KiB) Viewed 681 times

For the inner tubes, cut them to the right length. Work out the length so you have about 10-12" (25-30cm) of inner tube remaining inside the outer tube when the legs are extended to their normal length. Any less, and you risk bending the outer tube because the leverage of the inner against the outer tube gets too large. Any longer, and you just have more weight for no good reason.

For the feet, you can buy rubber or PVC furniture feet at hardware stores. (PVC is better—rubber goes brittle and crumbles with age.)

For transport, the legs slide into the outer tube, so the dunduns don't take up any more room than without them (bar the inch or so by which the legs protrude below the bottom skin).

Because I didn't like the look of galvanised steel on my dunduns, I spray-painted the legs black. The paint wears off over time, but as long as most of the leg is still black, it looks acceptable, and it's not a big deal to remove the legs once every few years and apply another coat of paint. If you want to go really up-market for a long-lasting finish, you could have the legs powder coated, but I expect that this would be seriously expensive.

I've had these legs on my dunduns for about one-and-a-half years now. The dunduns have been transported a lot, and they've been used a lot. The legs are rock-solid, nothing is loosening or otherwise wearing out (except for the rubber feet, which are starting to crumble; I'll replace them with PVC ones).

Cheers,

Michi.

[Djembe-nerd]

AoXoA

Check this out, these are similar, just wood.

http://www.yankadi.nl/doundounstand.htm

And these ones are metal again

http://www.x8drums.com/Vertical-Djun-Dj ... vs-dun.htm

[AoxoA]

Thanx Michi & D-Nerd!

[michi]

AoXoA

Check this out, these are similar, just wood.

http://www.yankadi.nl/doundounstand.htm

And these ones are metal again

http://www.x8drums.com/Vertical-Djun-Dj ... vs-dun.htm

Some concerns with these legs:

• The wooden ones are held in place by the key rings and the bungee cord. The metal ones are held in place by the hooks on the legs and, by the looks of it, also by the black belt that (presumably) somehow attaches to the legs. Both mechanisms will securely hold the legs against the side of the drum. But the the only thing that holds the legs in place vertically is the weight of the drum where the top end of the leg hooks under the horizontal rope of the crown ring.
  
  I've seen similar legs in the past and, on occasion, a leg has a tendency to slip out from underneath the crown ring, particularly on uneven floors, such as when playing outside on grass.
  
• The legs are not height adjustable. That means I can't tilt the drums slightly towards the player (which many people prefer).
  
• There is no splay in the legs. Especially small kenkenis tend to fall over without splayed legs—the base is simply not wide enough to provide solid support.
  
• Removing the wooden ones seems simple enough—just slide them out. Removing the metal ones is a little harder because moving the verticals out of the hooks would be a bit fiddly. And removing the legs is important when it comes to transport because most cars aren't large enough to have room for the drums with the legs attached and sticking out.

The big advantage of the wooden ones is that they are extremely cheap. I suspect you could make the whole set for less $50, even if you choose expensive hardwood. The metal ones are nice but, at $174, quite expensive.

Cheers,

Michi.

[AoxoA]

Michi-

Yes, i like the splayed action, it just looks waaay more stable.

I am having a hard time locating spreaders online. I think they must be called something different in the USA because the only spreaders i can find are in Australia. What are spreaders made for? If i know that, maybe i can figure out what Americans named them.

Also, please post an image of how you hook the top in if you can.

Thanks!

[michi]

I am having a hard time locating spreaders online. I think they must be called something different in the USA because the only spreaders i can find are in Australia. What are spreaders made for? If i know that, maybe i can figure out what Americans named them.

They are sold at camping stores and normally used to put up a tarp. Basically, the spreader sits on top of a pole at each end, and the tarp goes over the spreader bar, which forms a gable. Then tie the tarp to a pole at each corner and you have nice little roof.

If you have problems finding spreader bars, look for telescoping tent poles. They are essentially the same thing, just with different fittings at the ends.

Also, please post an image of how you hook the top in if you can.

The dunduns live permanently at the studio, so I can't just take a quick picture. Also, I have the skin folded over on my dunduns, which very effectively hides where the legs hook under. I'll have a look at removing one of them so I can take a photo. But, basically, it's really simple:

• Cut the outer tube to the correct length, so the tightening screw ends up just below the bottom skin.
• Squash the top end of the tube flat such that the tightening screw ends up at a right angle to the flat bit. The flat strip should be about 1cm in width.
• Bend the flat top end away from the screw a little bit, maybe 3-5º.
• Glue the car door seal onto the squashed-flat bit, so the sharp edges of the metal won't damage the skin around the flesh ring.
• Push the leg up in between two rope so flat bit with the door seal sits under the flesh ring.

Cheers,

Michi.