Oliver Leibbrandt, River Snare Drum (STUDENT 2022)

Student:

Secondary

Name of school or tertiary institution, and name of woodworking teacher (if you have one):

Temple Christian College (Mile End), Mr Craig Cope

For my year 12 SACE Design and Engineering class I created a custom snare drum with an epoxy band running through it. The snare is 14' across and 7.5' deep, made of camphor wood and resin (alongside the hardware that I bought and equipped the snare with). I made this snare by using what is called a stave design; 10 staves with 18 degree angles cut on them and glued together then put on the lathe to round both the inside and out. After that, the shell (which was at that point 5' deep) was cut in half so that the epoxy band could be poured between the two pieces after adding a live edge. This was easily the most difficult and time consuming aspect of the project. I suspended the two halves apart using some rubber sheeting which also acted as the mould for pouring the epoxy into. Then, over the next 4-5 weeks, I would come into school early everyday to pour resin into a section of the drum, making about an inch of progress with each pour. The next day I would rotate the snare as the resin set and would repeat the pouring, needing to match the same amount of die/mica in the resin for each pour. Eventually, the two halves were united with a river of resin and it was time to remove the rubber and put the shell back on the lathe for finishing, which included lathing the excess resin off the inside and sanding and polishing (up to 12,000 grit). Finally, I routed what's know as a bearing edge onto the rims of the snare. I chose 45 degree inner and a round over on the outside edge for a specific sound. Then the hardware was measured and the holes were drilled (a very scary part of the process) and added. Overall, I am extatic with the product that I ended up with. I managed to create an extremely unique product (from my research I only found one company that make anything similar) with an approximate value of $2000-$3000. I now use it every week at school, home and church. Thanks, Oli Leibbrandt

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