Awesome- thanks! Interesting point about using the fence. I noticed that most (if not all...) of the guys I've seen videos of cutting bearing edges have been doing so freehand. To be honest, I was planning on setting up a large router table out of melamine (such as in the 'Guerrilla Drum Making' vids) to be able to handle a 22" kick, etc, and doing the same. Now you've got me second thinking that...

So you guys usually use a fence when cutting bearing edges? Any recommendations on a router table setup? Learning so much here already. Hah!:D

I am not disagreeing with John here at all but Im sitting here thinking the only way to land the apex on a given ply is to increase the radius of the cutter. Going deeper wont change the location of the apex it will just cut deeper. When I did my last kit I made a sanding table with 120 grit paper glued to a piece of 3/4" birch plywood and that worked great. I did feel the need to re-cut the inside profile, which was a 45 degree angle, because I sanded the so much on my sanding table that I had a pretty wide flat spot left. After routing the 1/8" round profile on the outside there was still a flat area, so I had to take the inside down so it would meet the round over profile. I am no expert, this was my real first attempt to re-do edges. I think they turned out good, the drums were easy to tune and sound awesome.

Did you find this site,

http://www.drumfoundry.com/t-cutting_drum_bearing_edges.aspx

That's a good point about the depth of cut versus radius...hadn't really considered that. I see you're a cabinet maker- that has to come in handy! I am, like I said, a decent woodworker, but by no means pro, so this is all helpful...

So in other words, the way to truly land the end of the profile on the inner ply (poplar, in this case) would be to figure out the radius of roundover bit needed? (1/8" vs 1/4" vs 3/8" etc?)

Makes sense to me...just making sure I understand correctly. Did you use a fence on your router table when cutting the edges?

No fence, the router bit should have rub collar (bearing) on it that the shell will ride against. I once did a shell with a wrap on it and where the bit/bearing hit the seem it made a bump in the edge profile because of the step down where the wrap overlaps. I'm not sure what the pros do about this, I just touched it up with some sandpaper. I'm not sure of the importance of where that apex is located, maybe John can explain that. I have learned that the different profiles do make different sounding drums. And again, if its a round over then you need a different radius to move the apex, if it is a 45 degree outside profile then cutting deeper will move it closer to the center.

You will be fine, just get an old shell like your saying and experiment. If it is a MIJ shell with vertical grain you will find that the cutter wont work to good, it will splinter and tear up the outer ply due to cutting into end grain. I have been using my CMT router table, its not very big and you have to be careful not to rock the shell, but it works. If you have one of those very small table top router tables then you should consider making a larger table top for it out of some plywood or just making up a table top and mount your router on that, it would be worth the effort. For the outside cut, turn the shell counter clockwise, clockwise for the inside. Take it easy start low with the cutter and raise it up a little after each pass if you want. If it looks like the wood is splintering and not cutting too good then spin the shell the opposite way actually running it through backwards. We call that climb cutting, its very dangerous on a big machine because it can throw you stock across the room if your not using a feeder, but this is a little tiny router bit and you have a big shell to grip so it will be fine.

Have fun and good luck to you, please post some photos for us.

Thanks, Jeff! I think I am going to go with the roundover bit so I'll check out which radius seems right. As far as the seam in the wrap, I believe I've read about people doing exactly what you mentioned: touching up the resulting bump with a mill file/ sandpaper.

Looking forward to getting started on this in the coming weeks. I will post some pics - hopefully they're not of a bunch of trashed drums! Hah!

> I'm not sure what the pros do about this,

They stop the cut just short of where the router started and they finish the last bit with files and sandpaper. That way you don't just keep cutting deeper and deeper into the shell. Stop the cut about an 1/8" before complete to avoid taking off too much material at the edge. Finish by hand.

Jhn

Jeff has already said what I would about cutting the edges, except that I do the outside roundover at 1/8" and use the inside 45 cut to center the edge properly.

I use a small tabletop router table and just go slowly and carefully. My first cuts barely kiss the shell, then I raise the bit just a little, and so on.

Regarding your leveling table, I just use a piece of 3/4" birch ply with 180 sandpaper glued to it.

The important part is having a flat surface to check the flatness. I got lucky when a neighbor remodeled and put her old granite countertop out in her driveway.

To check the edges, I dim the lights in my shop and put a flashlight inside the shell to check for light. That will reveal gouges and low spots, which are critical to eliminate in order for the drum to be tunable and not have weird overtones.

As with the router, take a little off, check it on your flat surface, repeat until true.

It ain't rocket science; you're just getting the bearing surface coplanar.

My WFL Barrett Deems and Slingerland shells went from sounding pretty good to "holy ****!" after I did the bearing edges.