wooden tongue drum

[Ajcoholic]

My son is in a toddlers music class every Saturday, where the teacher sings songs, and also the kids get to play with various percussive "instruments" (like shakers, drums and tambourines, etc).

When I was a kid I used to make myself these wooden tongue drums, basically a box with the top cut to give pieces that will resonate when hit.

I wanted to make a bunch, of smaller ones, to give to the kids in the class. So, I gathered up some 8/4 maple and birch off cuts, and sized them to 5" by 8" by 1 3/4". With the CNC, carved out the interiors to leave a 3/8" wall all 4 sides and a 1/4" bottom.

The tops are 5/8" maple, cut with three tongues and a sound hole. Quick, and easy and loud! The kid's parents will LOVE me for this ;)

Prototype...

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_0479.jpg

[Ajcoholic]

On the "real ones" the slot will be cut on the underside as not to be visable.

Its there to allow the tongues to resonate better.

[Ajcoholic]

And, I cut 10 tops today, and 10 boxes. Time to cut the tops was 3 minutes, and to hollow out the box with a 3/8" endmill, 30% stepover still only took 5 minutes each.

Glue on the top, and when dry sand the edges on the edge sander.

Total time each is less than 15 minutes. Actually, probably take me less than 2 hours for 10 pcs.

Never be able to do this without the Bot!

[jdervin]

Very nice. I love these kinds of projects.

[adana]

Super nice, for sure.

What notes do the tongues generate?

[myxpykalix]

3 notes A H H....:rolleyes:

[zeykr]

Great Idea. We do something for the kids at my daughter's school every year and this might be a good idea.

[JDaVinci]

This is really cool. Really great use of a bot.

[Ajcoholic]

Not sure of the notes... but they are three definite notes and surprisingly sound like they are in some sort of major key.

I know you can tune the note by working the tongue, sanding thinner and shorter... similarly to tuning a wooden marimba or xylophone key (you carve a wee bit under the center of the key).

Will post more pics when I get a chance to get the ten others glued up and made. Probably tomorrow or Friday. Saturday is the class and I want to give them out then.

AJC

[myxpykalix]

3 notes A H H....

Not sure of the notes...

I know you can tune the note by working the tongue, sanding thinner and shorter...
I tried that but it just bled......:rolleyes:

I guess when you have to explain the joke its a epic fail:eek:

seriously tho...to get a good musical tone wouldn't you have to use a exotic type of wood? like what the use on a xylophone.

What i like about this project is that the toys you are making for him will be around for him to hand down to his child long after the plastic **** you buy him is gone.
Good job buddy!

[Mayo]

Really cool project!
Have you tried them without making the sound hole?
It seems like there would be enough space around each tongue to let the sound move out of the box.

The ones I remember from the early '70's had no sound hole on the top.
The tongues were struck with a little super ball on the end of a dowel rod.
Here's a Youtube video showing something similar and then he also shows
how to make one of those Thumb Pianos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8qyD1Apbnk&feature=related

[Ajcoholic]

Yes I tried with and without the hole - the hole does add some volume but these things are loud enough, the parents dont need any more volume.. ;)

I went to work early this AM (6:30) to get these finished before I started work at 8.

You can see how I used a 3/8" ball end bit to undercut the tongues, from underneath (again, to allow the 5/8" top to resonate better) which looks a lot better than my first one that I cut from the top.

I have all 9 set to go tomorrow to the music class.... hope they like em' !!

I made the mallets from a 1/2" stick of basswood, doweled to a maple knob (I had 400 in stock) with a short length of 1/4" dowel.

AJC

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_0483.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ajcoholic/IMG_0482.jpg