My oldest daughter is a cheerleader and her school has a tradition of beating on make-shift drums during pep rally class competitions. Most of them are just upside down garbage cans or plastic barrels. When I saw the "drums" that my daughter's class was using, I decided they needed an upgrade. I thought I'd post my design in case any of you ever have a need to make a lot of noise on the cheap...
I got two 35 gallon plastic barrels for free from a local car wash. They get soap and car wax delivered in them. Luckily the bottom of the barrels measures just about 18 in, so I cut a circular hole about 17 in in diameter out of the bottom. This leaves a nice rolled over bearing edge for an 18 in tom batter head to rest on. I picked up two lightly used heads at the local drum shop for $5. I puzzled for quite while about how to tension the heads, I thought of using actual hoops and lugs, but challenged my self to come up with a cheaper solution. I realized that the top rim of the barrels was larger in diameter than the bottom, I assume so they can be stacked on top of each other. My solution was to carefully slice off the top rim and use it as the hoop. The top of the barrels are made from remarkably thick and solid plastic. Next was a trip to Harbor Freight for some huge zip ties and a kit they sell for putting grommets in the corners of tarps, I used those to strengthen the holes anchoring the zip ties. Total spent at Harbor Freight about $5...I love that place!
My planned worked remarkably well. I used a Dremmel to cut slots in the hoop for the zip ties to loop through.Then I just yanked down on the zip ties a few clicks at a time until the head had a nice even tension, and bammo! These things sound like giant tympani drums, and actually stay in tune nicely. My wife added some decals and duct tape to dress them up...mission accomplished.
