www.megadrum.info

Hi,

I wanted to know what the deal was with longboard, direct drive pedals, but as I can't justify dropping a load of cash just to try them out, I decided to make myself some by modifying a double pedal I already have.

The footboard is made with 4 mm thick carbon fibre (two 2 mm thick plates epoxied together) I found a great deal on. I also ordered some small ball bearings for the connecting rods and pillow block bearings for the hinge at the heel.



The footboard is reinforced underneath with an aluminium profile that also attaches to the connecting rods. The bearings in the connecting rods are held in place with rivets. It looks a bit ghetto, but it's effective and they won't move.

It actually turned out quite well - it plays smoothly and silently. I'll play with it for a while to see if I prefer it, but if I don't or it falls to pieces everything can be disassembled and it can be returned to its original form.

Looks great, and just shows that it can be done for s small budget. Where did you get the bearings?
I'm thinking about more Bix as I'm not loving the beaterless kriggs.

I got the bearings from AliExpress. The pillow block ones seem sturdy enough and only have to rotate a tiny amount; we'll see how long the ones in the connecting rods last though - they're very small, only 8 mm in diameter. I used two rods per pedal to distribute the force a little. Gave them a proper thrashing yesterday and nothing came apart so happy for now.

And in your opinion does direct drive have a significant advantage over chain?
Heel up or down.

I wouldn't say there's an advantage, I reckon it just feels "different". I think the longer footboard has a bigger impact than the direct drive/chain. I play with heel up but use heel-toe for quick doubles, and the longer footboard makes that easier. You can also move down closer to the heel to play fast double bass (with singles) with less effort. The pedal feels slightly lighter and faster; with the chain it felt a bit more sluggish, but after looking at the forces in play I think it has a lot to do with the shape of the cam (with chains). I'm pretty sure that if I installed a chain linking the exact same points that the connecting rods do, it would feel exactly the same. That said, I'm tempted to put the chain back on one of the pedals and do a side by side comparison.

Made some improvements to the pedal: carbon fibre cams and connecting rods and a DIY drive shaft.