GAS Percussion: CY14 China Conversion

[Charly]

Hi all,

spurred on by all the DIY going on here and the constant noise directed towards Roland for not (yet) making a China cymbal, I decided to convert an existing CY14 Crash into a China Cymbal for the fun of it.

I am proud to present the first 'Roland' CY14Z China Cymbal (2 zone w/ choke).

PART ONE: strip down a CY14 and see how it works - hope that you don't ruin it in the process. (Sometime in the future I will post a definitive guide to totally stripping down a CY14 if anyone is interested).

PART TWO: sit behind SolidWorks (or other 3D CAD software of choice) and model what you want. Again I can post pictures if anyone is interested in this. But let's skip to the business end...

PART THREE: Send CAD off to model makers and have them machine your CAD out of a solid block of ABS... and you get this.



Note the silicon hoop. This was added to assist in the shaping of the China's 'flange'. Silicon was used for this part (as opposed to total ABS) as I need this area to deform on striking; the Roland upper part of the cymbal deforms to trigger the membrane switch for an edge sound. This also deals with the choking.

[Charly]

The Chinese characters at the top of the ABS platter reads "ZhongGuo" or China. I thought it a little bit too cheeky (read 'I don't want to get sued') to use the vdrums logo.

The original Roland electronics are now in place - the membrane switch feeds through from the otherside - this too is hooked up to the circuitry.

[Charly]

It fits !!!!

Original Roland electronics cover replaced.

[vdrummer20]

Very cool. I like the GAS Percussion lable. How much did this cost you?

[Charly]

Lots of double sided tape ready to hold the upper rubber part in place.

You can also see the green membrane switch in place. I left the switch on the desk for a while and unfortunately it suffered slight damage. I had to cut about 40mm off the end - hence it looks sharp on the right.

[Charly]

Assembled and on my kit - the other cymbals in the photo are all CY14s apart from the CY15 ride.

[Charly]

Bit of a close up.

So how does it play?

I've mounted it at more of a verticle angle than the crash cymbals - at this angle I hit it perfectly on the ridge of the flange - I only had to increase the rim trigger sensitivity and it works great. I was expecting to have to tweak the membrane switch height, but it is actually as sensitive to rim triggering as all the other CY14s.

The bow sound obviously works fine.

Overall I am pretty pleased with the result. If I do another I think I will make the china shape more pronounced. Maybe I'll do a CY15 conversion next just to mix it up a bit.

[daveybabes]

That's superb! well done Sir.

[Charly]

Very cool. I like the GAS Percussion lable. How much did this cost you?

Thanks

All up it was pretty cheap I reckon - well, after the intial investment of the CY14 (US$220). The silicon and ABS parts were both 600 RMB each. So about US$175 for the 'conversion' parts.

But I did it for the pleasure, not the cost!

The GAS Percussion logo is something I came up with, adding a logo it looks a little more professional I think. Actually the modelshop were unable to easily locate the graphic on this surface so both logos are cut into the ABS by 0.5mm and then hand infill painted. From a distance it's difficult to tell.

It's late here now - 1am, looking forward to having another play with it tomorrow. It feels good to see and hear a China cymbal

[Charly]

That's superb! well done Sir.

Thanks, I really enjoyed working on it. It's been in the pipeline for quite a few weeks now. Just doing a bit here and there. Trying to get the membrane switch to trigger was the mind mess The silicon hoop idea was the breakthrough I was looking for, I had been looking at pvc tubing to perform this function but couldn't see how I could get the shape I wanted.

I think I've caught the DIY bug.

The hardest thing about this project was to keep stum and not talk about it until I had it all finished and working!

Feeling very pleased this evening. It was all worth it. Ok, bed time!

[Sabre]

The hardest thing about this project was to keep stum and not talk about it until I had it all finished and working!

Heh, no doubt.

Congratulations, well done!
And thanks for sharing. That thing looks awesome!

[SuperPuss]

Very cool Charly. Very cool indeed

[Charly]

Thanks all.

I'm pondering on what to do next....

[daveybabes]

source the parts there in China, start producing, make millions then send me half for inspiring you he he

mmm what next? i just converted a cowbell into an electronic one, that was cool and fast to do ...

[PumaPhreak]

Looks great Charly.