Finster
01-11-2009, 04:07 PM
*Edit: While this fix continues to perform very well for myself. Please note one poster's bad experience below. As with any mods, proceed with caution.
The RockBand 2 drums sets were a vast improvement over the RockBand 1 sets in terms of noise, rebound, and sensitivity. Unfortunately, many suffer from a problem that is being called “bubbling”. The pad is composed of three primary pieces: the plastic base, a felt sub-pad, and the rubber top pad. What is happening is the rubber top pad delaminates from the felt sub pad, giving a stretched, bubbled appearance
Link to All Images (http://www.finsterfolly.com/Site/Bubble_Fix_Photos.html)
This procedure took me about 1.5 hrs, including an hour drying time. What you will need:
• small Philips head screwdrive
• small flat screwdriver or pocketknife
• 3M Rubber & Vinyl 80 Spray Adhesive (available at Home Depot paint aisle)
• paper bag or other stiff paper to cut a stencil
• masking tape
• well ventilated area, ideally outside
STEP 1: Remove the pad from assembly from the base. Carefully use your fingers to pry the pad from the base. Make sure you are getting under the black part of the base, and not prying from the grey trim edge. There are four stoppers to pop out. Note that I am popping the Red pad on an SL set (indicated on the inside of the battery cover). Other sets or pads might be different. It might take some force, so be mindful of not pulling on the wiring assembly when it does give.
STEP 2: Disconnect the wiring assembly where it plugs into the drum set base. Its hard to tell in this blurry photo, but the top piece of plastic has two lock notches in it. I used a small flat screwdriver to gently lift up each side at the blue lines indicated in the picture, while putting a little pulling pressure on the wires.
STEP 3: Flip the pad assembly over and remove the 6 small screws with a Philips head screwdriver. Locations are indicated in Red. Note the location of the plastic pin. It’s important when we put it back together.
Gently pull the rubber pad from the felt backing. It feels a little like Velcro when it separates, and sounds like something is tearing. My pad was almost falling off, so there wasn’t much to separate. I assume it is possible that the felt could tear, if your pads still had decent lamination.
STEP 5: You can see the three pieces of the pad assembly in the 2nd photo above. There is still a fair amount of glue or laminate material on the rubber pad, and none on the felt. Now you need to completely remove the glue from the rubber pad. Most of it peeled off for me, but the last little bit I was able to roll off by running my finger over it like rubber cement.
STEP 6: Using the rubber pad as a guide, draw a circle in your stencil material. I used a paper bag. Cut the circle in the stencil. Tape the pad assembly base (plastic and felt pad) to the back side in the stencil, so only the felt is showing through the circle. If I do another pad, I’ll take a picture of the back side. Place the rubber pad bottom side up on top of the stencil. In a well ventilated area use the Super 80 spary adhesive to thoroughly coat each piece. I pretty much followed the can directions except I used about 10-12 passes. If you have never used spray adhesive, this stuff gets EVERYWHERE. I wouldn’t advised spraying indoors, or your whole room will end up sticky.
STEP 7: Wait 4 minutes, move the rubber pad to a clean surface, and carefully untape the pad base from the stencil. With the rubber pad on a clean surface, take the base and place it on the pad, trying to be as centered as possible. I did a decent job first try, so I don’t know if you can peel it and try again, but you can use your fingers and push in one direction to fine tune the centering. The main thing is to clear the 6 small screw holes for the grey ring. When it’s centered, continue to massage or burnish the top into the base, making sure you are getting the best contact possible, and spreading the glue through all the gaps and into the felt. Set the base on the ground rubber pad up, and place some even weight on top. I used a stack of big books. Let sit an hour plus.
STEP 8: After drying, reattach the grey ring with the 6 small screws. Do not overtighten. I don’t think the ring does much to hold the pad in place, and it would be easy to strip out the plastic.
STEP 9: Reattach the wire connecter. For me there was a small notch on the top side to line up. Place the pad back in position. There is one plastic pin on the pad assembly base (noted in an earlier photo). There are three plastic pins on the drum base itself. Line up the 4 rubber stoppers with the wholes, making sure the one plastic pin on the pad does not line up with the three on the base. Press firmly from the top on the 4 rubber stopper locations until they pop into place.
You are good to go. The above pic shows the new flat red pad (left), and the yellow and blue pads with two small bubbles. It might smell like glue for a day, but it will go away. So far this fix has worked wonderfully for me. It’s only been a few days, so I don’t know how long it will last. I did a similar treatment to place mouse pads on my RB1 set and it lasted 6 months before I had to reglue it. I am definitely getting better rebound than the the other pads that are starting to bubble, and it seems like the rebound is even better than when the set was new.
“Long Live Rock! Come on and join the line!”
Finster Folly (http://www.finsterfolly.com)
The RockBand 2 drums sets were a vast improvement over the RockBand 1 sets in terms of noise, rebound, and sensitivity. Unfortunately, many suffer from a problem that is being called “bubbling”. The pad is composed of three primary pieces: the plastic base, a felt sub-pad, and the rubber top pad. What is happening is the rubber top pad delaminates from the felt sub pad, giving a stretched, bubbled appearance
Link to All Images (http://www.finsterfolly.com/Site/Bubble_Fix_Photos.html)
This procedure took me about 1.5 hrs, including an hour drying time. What you will need:
• small Philips head screwdrive
• small flat screwdriver or pocketknife
• 3M Rubber & Vinyl 80 Spray Adhesive (available at Home Depot paint aisle)
• paper bag or other stiff paper to cut a stencil
• masking tape
• well ventilated area, ideally outside
STEP 1: Remove the pad from assembly from the base. Carefully use your fingers to pry the pad from the base. Make sure you are getting under the black part of the base, and not prying from the grey trim edge. There are four stoppers to pop out. Note that I am popping the Red pad on an SL set (indicated on the inside of the battery cover). Other sets or pads might be different. It might take some force, so be mindful of not pulling on the wiring assembly when it does give.
STEP 2: Disconnect the wiring assembly where it plugs into the drum set base. Its hard to tell in this blurry photo, but the top piece of plastic has two lock notches in it. I used a small flat screwdriver to gently lift up each side at the blue lines indicated in the picture, while putting a little pulling pressure on the wires.
STEP 3: Flip the pad assembly over and remove the 6 small screws with a Philips head screwdriver. Locations are indicated in Red. Note the location of the plastic pin. It’s important when we put it back together.
Gently pull the rubber pad from the felt backing. It feels a little like Velcro when it separates, and sounds like something is tearing. My pad was almost falling off, so there wasn’t much to separate. I assume it is possible that the felt could tear, if your pads still had decent lamination.
STEP 5: You can see the three pieces of the pad assembly in the 2nd photo above. There is still a fair amount of glue or laminate material on the rubber pad, and none on the felt. Now you need to completely remove the glue from the rubber pad. Most of it peeled off for me, but the last little bit I was able to roll off by running my finger over it like rubber cement.
STEP 6: Using the rubber pad as a guide, draw a circle in your stencil material. I used a paper bag. Cut the circle in the stencil. Tape the pad assembly base (plastic and felt pad) to the back side in the stencil, so only the felt is showing through the circle. If I do another pad, I’ll take a picture of the back side. Place the rubber pad bottom side up on top of the stencil. In a well ventilated area use the Super 80 spary adhesive to thoroughly coat each piece. I pretty much followed the can directions except I used about 10-12 passes. If you have never used spray adhesive, this stuff gets EVERYWHERE. I wouldn’t advised spraying indoors, or your whole room will end up sticky.
STEP 7: Wait 4 minutes, move the rubber pad to a clean surface, and carefully untape the pad base from the stencil. With the rubber pad on a clean surface, take the base and place it on the pad, trying to be as centered as possible. I did a decent job first try, so I don’t know if you can peel it and try again, but you can use your fingers and push in one direction to fine tune the centering. The main thing is to clear the 6 small screw holes for the grey ring. When it’s centered, continue to massage or burnish the top into the base, making sure you are getting the best contact possible, and spreading the glue through all the gaps and into the felt. Set the base on the ground rubber pad up, and place some even weight on top. I used a stack of big books. Let sit an hour plus.
STEP 8: After drying, reattach the grey ring with the 6 small screws. Do not overtighten. I don’t think the ring does much to hold the pad in place, and it would be easy to strip out the plastic.
STEP 9: Reattach the wire connecter. For me there was a small notch on the top side to line up. Place the pad back in position. There is one plastic pin on the pad assembly base (noted in an earlier photo). There are three plastic pins on the drum base itself. Line up the 4 rubber stoppers with the wholes, making sure the one plastic pin on the pad does not line up with the three on the base. Press firmly from the top on the 4 rubber stopper locations until they pop into place.
You are good to go. The above pic shows the new flat red pad (left), and the yellow and blue pads with two small bubbles. It might smell like glue for a day, but it will go away. So far this fix has worked wonderfully for me. It’s only been a few days, so I don’t know how long it will last. I did a similar treatment to place mouse pads on my RB1 set and it lasted 6 months before I had to reglue it. I am definitely getting better rebound than the the other pads that are starting to bubble, and it seems like the rebound is even better than when the set was new.
“Long Live Rock! Come on and join the line!”
Finster Folly (http://www.finsterfolly.com)
