Iron Cobra + Kd120 - possible fix, sugggestion needed

[evil1rox]

I'm never giving up my Iron Cobra...even though the fix to keep it from slipping off the kd120 has ceased working.

-I think what I'm going to do is tap 2 holes through the bottom plate of the kd120 and through the base of the Cobra, then secure with screws.

Anyone ever tapped that type of metal on the Cobra before...??? I don't want to break it!!! (But I have to fix this...driving me nuts!)

E

[mrelwooddowd]

I dont think you'll break it. It's probably aluminum. Just make sure you use a sharp bit and a drill with good speed.

[steve.pie]

Gosh !! ... that sounds a bit drastic ........ have you tried a Tama forum ( is there one ? ) ....... possible the top bods there could help ? I know we have Roland employees on here, maybe there's someone there that could shed some light ?

[Colquhoun]

Just make sure you use a sharp bit and a drill with good speed.

Yes, enough speed, sharp bit, light pressure, and use a lube like WD-40 often during the process. You might try a small hole first, and increase the size of the hole with different sized bits.

[freddarl82]

I don't have a KD-120, so I don't know what kind of "lip" is available for attaching the pedal -- but, if it's at all like the "lip" on the old KD-5 or KD-7 (the inverted beater ones), I had the same problem with my IC. Problem was, the KD-5 had a raised ridge running across the lip(which was stamped from the sheet steel), which was Roland's solution to make a 1/8" piece of steel "act" like the thickness of the typical bass drum hoop. The square section on the Iron Cobra's top grabber didn't have enough surface area on that raised ridge to grip effectively.

The problem with drilling and mounting the two together is that it is much more difficult to set up and break down each time, or else you end up carrying the whole thing around as one assembly all the time. My solution was to use a piece of aluminum (about 1/8" thick) placed around the sides of the ridge so that the entire mounting lip was roughly the same thickness throughout. Now the entire area of that square section was in contact with the mounting lip. Never had a problem after that. The point of this whole post is, make sure the entire square section of the Iron Cobra's upper grabber has something good to grab onto.

By the way, don't keep just cranking down harder on the Iron Cobra -- I ended up breaking the aluminum casting that is the top "grabber" of the pedal, and had to special-order a new part (which was not inexpensive ).

[2112guy]

Is the KD-120 that diferent from the KD-85? I use my Iron Cobras on my KD-85 with no problems at all.

[SPISHAK]

I just bought a new iron cobra yesterday(HP900P power glide). On the new cobra the clamp is adjustable for hoop thickness, and clamps right on to the KD-120 with ease......solidly.

The cobra is the best pedal I have ever owned. I tried all kinds of DW pedals and was unsatisfied with their action. I'm a heel up kicker and DW's didn't give me the speed I was looking for without excessive effort. The cobra is BUTTERY smooth, and responds quickly to my input. It came with a case I'll prolly never use

[SPISHAK]

I've heard of folks beating the bump on the KD-120 with a hammer to flatten it out. I work in a metal shop and am sure you can successfully tap threads into the pedal....just don't torque the screws too tight or you'll strip out the threads


My Yamaha pedal I just replaced could clamp onto the bump, but I couldn't get it tight so I taped three nickels together in a stack and put them under the clamper screw under the footboard....viola.

[freddarl82]

I saw a detailed picture of a KD-120, and sure enough, it has the same ridge on the mounting plate my old KD-5 had. I've attached two pics to show the plate I fashioned from 1/8" thick aluminum - this gave me a total mounting thickness of 1/4". I had no problems whatsoever after putting on this plate.

If you don't want to get this involved, Spishak's idea sounds fine, or you could adhere a few strips of 1/8" thick material adjacent to the ridge (double-stick tape, superglue, epoxy, etc).

Evil1Rox - let us know if you've solved this (and we'll stop replying!)

[SPISHAK]

freddarl82: GOOD IDEA!!.....looks like that works quite well, and would surely speed up setup/teardown time without evil1rox having to screw things together.....which does seem a bit extreme

[Hellfire]

I saw a detailed picture of a KD-120, and sure enough, it has the same ridge on the mounting plate my old KD-5 had. I've attached two pics to show the plate I fashioned from 1/8" thick aluminum - this gave me a total mounting thickness of 1/4". I had no problems whatsoever after putting on this plate.

If you don't want to get this involved, Spishak's idea sounds fine, or you could adhere a few strips of 1/8" thick material adjacent to the ridge (double-stick tape, superglue, epoxy, etc).

Evil1Rox - let us know if you've solved this (and we'll stop replying!)

That looks good! I was thinking, couldn't you just get a self stick vinyl tile from the hardware store (about $1.00), and cut small strips out of it. Then you could just stick them on. The adhesive they use on those tiles is really strong and shouldn't go anywhere. Just a thought.