Snare Drum – Final Glue-up & Finish Turning

I had not glued up the 4th ring yet and when I was ready to do so I asked my wife to take some photos of the process.  Here are a series of shots that hit the major points.  Seven minutes for stacking the pieces for gluing, applying the glue, setting the pieces in the ring, clamping and “adjusting” them with a hammer for fit and finally about 3 minutes for some cleanup.

While waiting for the glue to cure I started to turn the interior to it’s finished size.  I was already within 1/16” so there was not that much material to remove but it did take some time to gradually pare down the surface and get it flat as I really did not want to overshoot the mark.  This is a progress photo showing I still had a few hills and valleys to flatten.  I will say that cutting a flat surface freehand to an exact dimension is a bit nerve-wracking.

Just a Little Flattening to do

Once I had a good flat surface the right size I did some finish sanding and was ready for the fourth and final ring to be glued on.  Here the lathe is turning very slow, about 50 RPM's.  That in combination with the the drill and sanding pad gives a good finished surface.

The next day I went through the taping, flattening, gluing and clamping process for the last time.

This last ring is thicker than the previous two since it will have a thickened edge just like the first one I glued on.  Now mounted back on the lathe I could start the final turning steps.  I am sure glad this is the last ring, the assembly is getting heavier and more awkward to put on and take off the lathe each time I add a ring.  I think dropping it now would not make me happy.

Inside and Outside Views of Final Ring Ready to Turn

As before after knocking off the outside corners and getting it just round I started working on the inside.  You would not believe the contortions I had to get into to see what I was doing to turn the step-down between thick edge and the thinner shell.

The interior diameter goal is 12 ⅞”, ± twenty thousandths of an inch with a smooth straight surface square with the rim and parallel to the central axis.  At least for me that’s not so easy when working freehand on the inside of a cylinder.  I think that’s one reason it took so long to get the inside just right.  Also, if I overshoot and cut too deep that would be a bad thing.  Anyway, here I am just a smidge from getting to where I wanted.

Here the inside turning and sanding is done.  I am now ready to start working the outside down to the final diameter.

Interior with Turning and Sanding Finished

Line Showing Outside Face Location

Before I started turning I measured and marked a line on the rim close to where I needed to cut down to.

I am going to turn down to the final diameter working from the outside end toward the headstock.  My first band is about ¼ the length.  The reason I did not go all the way at once is I want to keep as much mass on the blank as I can for stability.  I ran into some flexing and vibration on the third ring and did not want that to happen here.  When done with the first band this is what it looks like.  The outside edge is ½” thick and after the inside stepdown the body of the shell is ¼” thick. 

First Quarter of Outside at Finish Size

BIG Callipers

Measuring the diameter is easy on the exposed edge but not so easy farther down and I needed to keep a constant diameter along the entire length.  None of my calipers could measure a 14 ⅜” diameter cylinder so I spent some time making an oversized set that Rube Goldberg would have been proud of.

The next band was about a third of the drum.  Having gotten experience with the first band the second one went a little faster with the chips flying.  At least until I got to that last little bit where I snuck up on the finished diameter.  Turn some, measure, turn some more, measure and repeat.  My concern regarding flexing and vibration was well founded in that as I got close to the final diameter I began to experience some vibration that produced a ridged surface.  Not what I wanted.  Honing the cutting tool and adjusting the rotating speed of the piece eliminated the vibration and I was able to continue.

Turning Away

Hole to Allow Measuring Drum Wall Thickness

When I got to the very end of the last band where the drum is joined to the sacrificial ring I wanted to check the thickness of the rim.  To do this I drilled a small hole in the sacrificial ring right next to the drum edge.  With that I could use the dial caliper to measure the rim thickness.  When I did the measurement, good news, the thickness was within a few thousands of what I wanted.  A great relief after working blind.

After some sanding the lathe work on the drum shell is done with all of the dimensions where they need to be.

Stepping back and taking a look at the shell and the lathe I realize what a bunch of material I had removed to get to this point.  By the time I got it all cleaned up it pretty well filled a 20 gallon trash bag.  I could have made the segments a little thinner and would have had less material to remove but I decided not to cut it too close as I was not sure what problems might crop up and wanted to have some wiggle room.  

Last was to take the assembly off the lathe and do a trial fit for with the drum head and hoop.  Everything fit to a tee, can you see the big smile on my face?

Trial Fit of Hoop & Drum Head

Next Up – Parting Off, Layout & a Problem