Advanced Drum Building Tools

Here is the 2nd part to the “Drum Building Tools” series. In this post I briefly discuss some of the drum building tools and supplies that you might want to get your hands on if you plan on building drums more often than just once. Again if you only want to build a snare, or even a full kit, but you don’t want to invest in buying tools, refer to this blog post to learn about building drums with only a screwdriver.

Advanced Drum Building Supplies and Tools

Tools I own and use for cutting bearing edges:

A Router
Router Bits
A Router Table
-You can buy router tables from most hardware stores, but I recommend building your own table so you can easily route drums that are larger in diameter than standard router tables allow. (I have router table building plans in the eBook)

A “Truing” Sanding Table
-There are many ways of going about making a truing table, which I explain in the eBook. The basic idea of using a truing table is to allow you to start, and make sure that your edge remains perfectly tru all the way around the bearing edge, in other words start with a flat and level edge, and make sure the bearing edge doesn’t have dips or curves.

Tools I own and use for marking the hardware layout on a drum shell:

Layout mat or cake dividing layout mat
Blue Painters Tape
Pencil
Combo Square

Tools I own and use for drilling holes for hardware:

A Drill (A right angle drill is preferred for when you need to drill from the inside of the shell on smaller size shells)
A Drill Bit Set (You’ll need different sizes bits to drill different size holes for the different sizes of hardware)

Tools I own or use for cutting wrap:

Questions or comments? Please leave it below and I’ll get back to you!

Philip

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I'm a full time drummer in Austin, TX. I started P.Ellis Drums in 2006. My love for drums and teaching others came together when I created this website in 2009 as a resource for drummers who wanted to build their own drums. Most days you will find me playing drums with Aaron Ivey or building drums at the shop.

7 responses to Drum Building Tools for the Advanced Drum Builder

Justin K May 8, 2011 at 10:04 pm

Hey Philip, I am currently in the process of building my own kit (just ordered my shells, hardware, etc.). I am thinking about purchasing your ebook and just wanted to know if it covers anything about getting custom drum badges made or where to get them? Thank you and great website.
Philip May 15, 2011 at 5:07 pm

Justin,
The eBook touches on the subject, but it doesn’t really go in depth about getting drum badges made, I just offer some suggestions about how to go about getting them designed and suggestions on where to get them made. Good luck with your project!
Terry November 15, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Hey Philip. As the ebook does not cover this question I would like to know if you could provide me with some info on how you or I would cut down the depth of a drum shell in the most precise and safe manner. Would you use a table saw or…?
Naveta Magar July 23, 2012 at 2:16 am

Hey there are using WordPress for your site platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own.
Do you require any coding knowledge to make your own blog?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Sean April 20, 2013 at 9:43 am

Thanks for the list. I own most of these already, so It should be easy for me to get the rest.
Philip May 7, 2013 at 7:09 am

No problem! Good luck!