Thread: Djembe WIP

I saw it last Sunday and it's indeed a work of art in the making.

I think you will need to make either a better toolrest or put the cutting head into an Oland style tool.

Peter.

Wow! this has been an exciting and incredible thread.

Must be getting nervous about now GJ So close to finished

GJ makes a habit of taking his drum kit and his esc. chuck to the forum geet-togethers.

Looks like this half of the project is finally getting there. Great work GJ.

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

I put a single thickness of duct tape around the drum in the hope of preventing scuffing of the sanded surface.

Don't worry about scuffing near the top rim of the drum as that will be covered up with skin and cord.

But the bottom rim will be exposed, so hollow out that end first so you can remove any blemish from the steady when you reverse the drum to hollow out the top end.

Remember to leave a smooth rounded top rim to allow the skin to stretch over it and not be cut.

The Munroe should readily do the job (and no need for a super smooth interior). Perhaps get or make up something like a Shepid Irons gate to reach in and secure the hollower while working deep.

Yes, the Irons toolgate can be very helpful.

What do you mean by 'clean up' GJ?

If sanding after thinning the wall further, depending on the wall shape you might get away with abrasive sheet wrapped around a dowel of decent thickness.

Of course as Neil says it'll never be seen by anyone else .... but a maker always remembers ;-}

Originally Posted by rsser

Of course as Neil says it'll never be seen by anyone else .... but a maker always remembers ;-}

Yes, I should have qualified what I meant by.... no need for a super smooth interior.
From what I have seen from the various djembes that my son has brought back from West Africa, their interiors have been very rough, as you would expect from being hand hewn, but I haven't heard from him or the other members of the djembe band he plays in that this has much effect on the quality of the sound.

But of course, as Ern says, taking the interior to the level of finish that satisfies you is another matter, just like the finish on the interior of a hollow form which cannot be felt beyond finger reach or readily seen under normal lighting conditions. Many of us struggle to find a happy compromise there.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm just cleaning out the inside to achieve the required wall thickness, not too worried about the finish. Even with the Irons Toolgate there is going to be some severe overhang so I'll have to be pretty careful when I get further inside the drum.

Is that a bottle stopper? I'd like to see the bottle of vino it's going to fit.

Well I've got some HD boring stuff here and you're welcome to come up and use it.

Straight bar, 3/4" x 50cm, that will take a Proforme head and Proforme scraper, mounted in a Vicmarc hollowing tool support. How deep do you have to go?

Also a steady that can be modded (I think) from the days of big swing lathes chez Ern. What's the max. diameter of the piece?

You can leave the drum in your chuck as we prob. now have spindle threads that match. 30 x 3.5 M.

Let me know.

Went out to the shed with all the good intentions to finish the Djembe today (I've been making too many excuses for too long ), however......... part way through finishing the inside of the top, one of the welds on the steady "let go". A quick trip over to 's to get it welded up and when I got back I noticed a HUGE crack in the bottom half , my fault for leaving it unsupported .
Attachment 196854

Undaunted I continued on and finished the top, the extended tool gate worked a treat .

Attachment 196853

I've filled the canyon with araldite and coffee grounds and clamped it using my cole jaws, here's hoping it holds together. I'll let it cure till Wednesday and remount it in the lathe and hopefully everything will OK.

Attachment 196855 Attachment 196856

why did you use coffee grounds in the epoxy? Now if any are in the joint, it will squeeze back to original shape

I've had no probs with 50/50 grounds and epoxy in this kind of application with Cypress Pine. Was more stable than the wood. (And yes, the wood was dry).

Originally Posted by dai sensei

why did you use coffee grounds in the epoxy? Now if any are in the joint, it will squeeze back to original shape

Neil, before filling with epoxy I tried to fully close the split, unfortunately it has "sprung" too much to close up. I used the coffee grounds hoping to avoid the look of bare epoxy. If you look at the last photo you can see that the split has not closed up fully, there is about a 5mm gap at the bottom.