Easy yet efficient and free permanent FD-8 rubber fix

[happy_dude]

[gabryk]

Just tried and it works like a charm! Thanks!

[Shuffle]

Kindly see attached picture and correct me if I illustrate your procedure correctly. And where do I cut ? On "A" or "B"? Thanks for the feedback.

[happy_dude]

Oh wait I'm not sure you've got the right part to cut through. If it's your drawing then ok, but if the part really looks likeyour drawing it's not the same model that you've got, so think twice before you do anything maybe. It should look like that : http://blog.lincomatic.com/wp-conten...4/05/foot2.jpg

And you have to cut the part that is on the upside, that is on the the inside of the curve (that would be B and your illustration of the cuts is correct) Don't go past the middle joint in the thickness of it because you would compromise the integrity of the part.

You can use this video as a general guide, and the result you're after is the elasticity shown right there https://youtu.be/w5XOlr-0vqw?t=1m57s

[BarT]

I have been told by a Roland dealer the reason why the FD-8 gets unresponsive or really hard to trigger properly over time is because the Chinese maker of the rubber piece inside the FD-8 stopped respecting the industrial chart at some point of the batch and melted an inappropriate rubber recipe to make that part. As a result it gets stiff over time on some models, while some others don't seem to be affected at all (because they are supposedly from a newer batch.

That makes a lot of sense to me. I could never figure out why some worked fine and others were troublesome when they looked identical.

Bruce

[felixbur]

thanks a lot, that worked super for me and saves me the money Roland wanted for the spare part (11 euro + 6 shipping)

[daleed]

Thank you Happy Dude for a great idea and great post. I was a bit uneasy in cutting down into the rubber, for fear of creating stress risers that would cause the cuts to continue to get deeper over time. Probably over thinking this. Anyway, I tried a variation that I would like to share. I used a Roto Zip dry wall bit to thin out the rubber part, as smoothly as I could. I learned that as soon as I remover the outer "skin", the part got much more flexible, so I didn't remove much more that 1/16 to 1/8" of material. Worked great! I still could not get the closing sound that I wanted from using the pedal alone, so I added a felt pad to the surface of the film resister where it send the signal for the closing sound (I saw this in another blog) and it worked perfectly. Pedal now performs better than I ever remember it working IMHO. Please see attached photos of the rubber actuator fix.

[jimorlando]

Similar to when I discovered this forum in 2012 when my FD-9 pedal stopped working correctly. I found the fix on this forum and the fix made the pedal work better than when it was new. The fix was a wire tie and some foam tape.

Went on to fix my CY-8 cymbal as well and the pixie dust controversy:-)

This forum has been great.

[Jon Pal]

Hello there.

Think I found the ultimate solution for this f*** Roland FD-8 Pedal to finally work correctly :

Get rid of this g@#* damn' useless rubber hammer that causes all the trouble (> trash),
and stick a piece of pencil rubber/eraser at the bottom of the black metal part that is fixed
to the pedal (see pictures attached). Piece of pencil eraser which will hit the sensor directly.
Make sure the rubber hits the sensor on the right spot.
Yes, the course of the pedal gets longer, but I can finally get a fully closed hi-hat sound without
having to push my foot down like a maniac.

Hope it will be helpful for anyone reading this.

Happy drummin' everyone !

[jpsquared482]

Similar to when I discovered this forum in 2012 when my FD-9 pedal stopped working correctly. I found the fix on this forum and the fix made the pedal work better than when it was new. The fix was a wire tie and some foam tape.

Went on to fix my CY-8 cymbal as well and the pixie dust controversy:-)

This forum has been great.

Didn't you mean FD-8? The FD-9 was released about a year ago. I just want to be sure as I am looking into getting an FD-9 for my MP. Thanks.

[jimorlando]

Sorry about that. It is an FD-8.

[Laird]

Thank you so much for the advice on this happy dude. It worked like a charm!

[jonooi]

Hello there.

Think I found the ultimate solution for this f*** Roland FD-8 Pedal to finally work correctly :

Get rid of this g@#* damn' useless rubber hammer that causes all the trouble (> trash),
and stick a piece of pencil rubber/eraser at the bottom of the black metal part that is fixed
to the pedal (see pictures attached). Piece of pencil eraser which will hit the sensor directly.
Make sure the rubber hits the sensor on the right spot.
Yes, the course of the pedal gets longer, but I can finally get a fully closed hi-hat sound without
having to push my foot down like a maniac.

Hope it will be helpful for anyone reading this.

Happy drummin' everyone !

Awesome !!! It works !!! You are genius !!!

[Crouchinghero]

worked like charm...

[Milman]

Thanks very much, works like new.