My homemade octoban project

Embalmer

Senior Member
I decided instead of paying Tama's ridiculous price for octobans ($300 for 2 in fiberglass nonetheless!) I would undertake the project of making my own. I sourced 6' of extruded acrylic tubing, along with hoops, lugs, tension rods, and mounting brackets online. Scouring used music stores and local Craigslist ads I found 2 stands with mounts for dual toms. I have all the parts ready to go except I'm waiting for the heads to be shipped. I'm going to be well under $400 for a set of four by the time I'm finished.

First step was cutting the acrylic in the desired lengths (11, 11.75, 13.5, and 15.5") and filing down the bearing edges for a level and smooth surface. This is currently where I'm at now, next step will be drilling for the lugs and brackets.

The second smallest tube has a crack, so I'm going to cut another length from my leftover 6' to replace it.

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I will update this thread as I proceed.
 
Looks good so far.............I've thought about doing this for a long time, just never got around to it.

Hope it turns out great
 
Do they not get rounded over or 45 degree bearing edges? Some sort of edge?
 
http://www.arrickrobotics.com/tubetoms.html

This guy has a cool web page on building tube toms. Where did you get the acrylic tubes?

Do they not get rounded over or 45 degree bearing edges? Some sort of edge?

Nice! I’m thinking that creating a good bearing edge will be the hardest part.

You could also make them out of bamboo. I think that’s where Tama ripped off the idea from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boobam

I have seen many sets of these, and most do not have a bearing edge. I think it has to do with the type of instrument these are, and they are not supposed to resonate like a drum does. That being said, I plan to try them without the bearing edge, and if I'm not happy with the end result, then I will use a router and give them one. Many people have been successful creating a bearing edge simply with 220 grit sandpaper and some elbow grease. The tubing is only 1/4" thick, there just isn't much material needed to remove.

I got the acrylic in a 6' length from here:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23401

Hopefully planning to drill for the lugs and brackets this weekend. I will keep the thread up to date.
 
I was asking out of ignorance as I have never explored octobans and only wondered.
And where did you come up with the depths since there doesn't seem to be a pattern or normal graduation.
 
I got to give you props for doing this. Building stuff is so rewarding. I hope they sound killer.
 
Kudos for going for it!

Is it safe to assume that the pitch of those octobans will be the same when tapping the tubes as compared to when they'll have the heads on? I could imagine that there might be small derivations in pitch that might have to be considered when cutting them down to a specific length - IF you're going for a specific pitch per drum.
 
Got one finished, although it is the 11.75" one (second shortest) that is cracked. I wanted to do my first bit of drilling and measuring on the cracked tube, just in case I screwed up something. Most likely I will cut a replacement out of leftover stock and re-drill. I also need to attach the bracket to mount this to the stand.

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I should have the rest of them done and mounted by the end of this weekend, will post up more pics and a video/soundfile! Very excited!!!
 
I love them man! I have been thinking about doing the same project a few years ago myself, but never got around to doing it. Now I play in a punkhardcore band, so octobans won't be of much use to me, but I still love them. Your project inspires me :). Could you please make step by step pictures of the proces for the next 3 octo's?
 
Wow awesome job! Where did you get the hardware? I love the gunmetal chrome and have not found it anywhere.
 
Wow awesome job! Where did you get the hardware? I love the gunmetal chrome and have not found it anywhere.

I got the hardware from drummaker.com, but I wouldn't recommend them because I had to wait over 2 months for it. I'm STILL waiting for the heads I ordered back in early December.

Any secret to the final cost for all 4?

The 6' long acrylic tubing was $96 shipped. The hardware (16 lugs, tension rods, 32 mounting screws, 4 hoops, and 4 tom leg brackets to mount them and 4 6" Evans G1 clear heads) was $230. I found the 2 dual tom stands used online and Craigslist for about $100 for both. So, around $425 total for everything.

I love them man! I have been thinking about doing the same project a few years ago myself, but never got around to doing it. Now I play in a punkhardcore band, so octobans won't be of much use to me, but I still love them. Your project inspires me :). Could you please make step by step pictures of the proces for the next 3 octo's?

Read my next post.
 
Luckily, I have a buddy who has access to a band saw and he cut the acrylic for me in the desired lengths. Then, all I had to do was make sure the "bearing edges" were level and smooth.

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So, I took a file and smoothed out the edges and removed some material to make the edge level all around.

Before:
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After:
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Next, I measured for the locations of the holes for the lugs. First, a hole will be drilled 1.75" below the top edge for the first lug hole.

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Next, I mark every 4.75" around the outside of the tube, being sure to keep my 1.75" from the top edge.

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Drilling the top holes with my step drill bit:
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Top holes drilled:
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Bottom holes drilled:
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Installing the lugs:
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All lugs installed:
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Head and hoop installed:
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Measuring for center between the lugs to drill for the tom bracket:
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Drilling for bracket:
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Bracket installed:
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Tuning:
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