sweet sawdust wrote:
Very Very Nice!!! No Hinge, top just glued straight to the box. Crack
occurs at one of the end cuts for the tongues. Most of the time the cracks
occur when I take them to outside shows where the temp/humidity changes are
severe over a short period of time. Have had the same problem with other box
type items, but not to the extreme (maybe one out of a hundred). Mine look
similar to yours, not anywhere near as fancy, but are toys for children,
cost is a strong concern. That's why maple instead of Paduk or other wood.
For the mallets I use superballs also. I find that the superballs have a
tendency to crumble after being drilled and used a lot so I coat them with
"dip It". Before coating I was having about a 70% failure in the sticks
after a month of use. After coating I am down to a 1% failure after one year
of use. and that is by kids banging the daylights out of them.
"jtpr" wrote in message
oups.com...
sweet sawdust wrote:
Need some advice on gluing up a box. This is a standard box about 6" x
11"
solid wood with rabbit joints on corners (for appearance). Bottom is 1/4"
ply glued to the box body, no problem yet. The top is 11/16" hard maple
with
tongues cut in it to make a drum head. I need to fasten the top to the
body
in such a way that there is no vibration in the top except in the
tongues.
Gluing all four of the top to the box body works fine except that I get
wood movement that cracks the top and ruins the drum. Any Ideas on how
to
attach the top in such away as to allow the wood movment but hold the
drum
top to the box. The maple is kiln dried, and seems stable in about 65%
of
the drums the rest get cracks. Finish is poly on the inside of the box
and
drum head (sprayed on) outside is oil. tried poly on outside no
difference
in cracking and liked oil better. Any advice would be helpful.
I made 2 of these for last Christmas:
http://jtpryan.smugmug.com/gallery/1080675/1/50212914
I used Paduk for the top's. How much are you taking off at the hinge?
Is this where the cracks occur? What are you using for mallet's? I
use superballs. Anyway, I just glued mine on with yellow glue and a
ton of clamps. Been over a year without a problem. My sides are miter
joints with horizontal splines, I have no bottom as I liked the sound
better without one.
-Jim
Thank you for the compliment. Actually, by hinge I was referring to
where the tongue attaches to the rest of the top. I would get the tone
by chiseling away at the bottom of that point. If you go too deep it
will crack. But everything I read said to go with a mahogany type
wood. In fact when I did a Google for "tongue drum" I found most of
the results had Paduk for a top, so I went with that. The sides of one
are birds eye the other curly maple. But I understand what you mean
about cost. If the children are young I don't think I would use
expensive wood. My boys are both in college, so they are (a bit) more
gentle. The drums were quite a hit in the dorm and are cool when you
stick a mic in them.
If cost is a concern, the kids might have fun with the Cajone's that
are also on that page. Easy to make, and not expensive using birch
ply. I have plans if you would like them. They also have a nice
sound, but could drive you crazy if you get a bunch of kids beating on
them. Give some to the brother in law's kids...;+}
-Jim