rage2
12-24-2007, 08:46 PM
For those that don't care why the pedals are failing, skip to the bottom "THE FIX" section.
Sometimes it pays to be good at physics lol. So I took apart my broken kick pedal, and figured out how to fix it properly and cheaply. The goal was to make a permanent fix, without changing the feel of the pedal. We play without shoes at our places, so the metal reinforcement plate option just won't work for us, so I had to come up with a different idea.
Looking at the pedal design itself, even tho the pedal looked to be 1/2 inch in height, it's actually very thin... when you look under the pedal, you'll see diagonal "support" with open holes. Unfortunately, by using the same plastic with the diagonal support beams, it really doesn't do a whole lot in supporting the load from stomping on the pedal hard when playing songs in hard and expert.
http://www.virgeweb.com/rage2/rockband/kick01.jpg
When you look at how the pedal spring mechanism works, you'll see that the entire pedal is supported by the spring. The problem is when you press on the pedal, the 2 sides of the springs act as pivots (shown by the red arrows). Because of the distance between where the pressure is applied (noted by the 2 blue lines), the pivot spots are subject to very high torque loads, and eventually break. Every single failed pedal I've seen in person or on the internet has broken in one of those 2 places, and cracked in the other.
http://www.virgeweb.com/rage2/rockband/kick02.jpg
So, to fix this, I could either move the pivot point (shortening the blue lines, which results in less torque on the pivot area), or reinforce the pivot points to be able to handle a lot more torque. The solution was a combination of the 2. By filling the holes with a hard solid material, the pedal itself would be able to handle much more load without any flexing of the plastic. No flexing, no fatique, no cracks, no breakage. Simple. Unfortunately, the plastic orange piece that houses the trigger magnet is in the way, so we can't fill those holes without taking it apart. I'll spare the math involved in it, but by filling just holes surrounding the spring and the orange trigger housing, it effectively shifts the pivots 1 to 2 inches in each direction, reducing the torque at the new points by around 75% on the base side, and eliminating it to 0 on the side where you stomp on the pedal (your foot's force at the pivot point == 0 torque). The pedal will NEVER break at this point.
--- THE FIX ---
Pick up some of this at your neighborhood auto parts store or Home Depot. It's sold everywhere. It's a 2 part epoxy that hardens as hard as rock, and bonds very well to the plastic used in the pedal. It's so hard that when I was testing different epoxies, I couldn't even get a self tapping screw to go through this stuff without drilling first.
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=106
Mix the 2 parts in the provided cup. You'll need about 1/2 of each bottles worth to fill the required holes. You need to fill in 6 holes to the left and 6 to the right of the spring (starting at the first hole beside the trigger ball).
If your pedal isn't broken and you just want to reinforce, you don't have to take anything apart to fill the holes. Just flip the pedal upside down on a table and apply the goop with the provided sticks.
If your pedal has already broken, take the spring out for now and crazy glue the pieces back together with the orange piece secured properly in the slot. Once the crazy glue has set, then apply the goop to the 6 holes on each side.
The stuff is kinda messy, but it does take a good 30 minutes before it starts to harden, so you have lots of time to apply, clean up surrounding areas before letting it cure. Dont worry about filling in the holes all the way to the top. As long as the stuff fills between the support beams and the holes are at least 2/3 filled, it'll be enough to stop the plastic from flexing/breaking. Just make sure there's no air bubbles at the bottom of the holes and you'll be fine. You can be sure by stirring the goop in the holes with a toothpick or something just to get it to move around and fill in properly.
It takes about 2.5 hrs to cure in room temperature. Once it cures, push on the goop... should be hard as rock. If your pedal was broken and the spring is out, compress the spring and put it back in the slot. Takes some muscle but it will go in there.
That's it, you're done, and guaranteed that your pedal will NEVER break again! I've had several drummers try the setup out, some of these guys stomp on 'em hard (metal drummers) with zero problems. These guys stomp HARD, they've broken other ppl's RB pedals in less than a day. The nice thing about this is you can't see the filler at all, it's hidden nicely underneath the pedal.
I'll post pics of the next pedal that I'm reinforcing from beginning to end for those that want a visual. Enjoy!
Sometimes it pays to be good at physics lol. So I took apart my broken kick pedal, and figured out how to fix it properly and cheaply. The goal was to make a permanent fix, without changing the feel of the pedal. We play without shoes at our places, so the metal reinforcement plate option just won't work for us, so I had to come up with a different idea.
Looking at the pedal design itself, even tho the pedal looked to be 1/2 inch in height, it's actually very thin... when you look under the pedal, you'll see diagonal "support" with open holes. Unfortunately, by using the same plastic with the diagonal support beams, it really doesn't do a whole lot in supporting the load from stomping on the pedal hard when playing songs in hard and expert.
http://www.virgeweb.com/rage2/rockband/kick01.jpg
When you look at how the pedal spring mechanism works, you'll see that the entire pedal is supported by the spring. The problem is when you press on the pedal, the 2 sides of the springs act as pivots (shown by the red arrows). Because of the distance between where the pressure is applied (noted by the 2 blue lines), the pivot spots are subject to very high torque loads, and eventually break. Every single failed pedal I've seen in person or on the internet has broken in one of those 2 places, and cracked in the other.
http://www.virgeweb.com/rage2/rockband/kick02.jpg
So, to fix this, I could either move the pivot point (shortening the blue lines, which results in less torque on the pivot area), or reinforce the pivot points to be able to handle a lot more torque. The solution was a combination of the 2. By filling the holes with a hard solid material, the pedal itself would be able to handle much more load without any flexing of the plastic. No flexing, no fatique, no cracks, no breakage. Simple. Unfortunately, the plastic orange piece that houses the trigger magnet is in the way, so we can't fill those holes without taking it apart. I'll spare the math involved in it, but by filling just holes surrounding the spring and the orange trigger housing, it effectively shifts the pivots 1 to 2 inches in each direction, reducing the torque at the new points by around 75% on the base side, and eliminating it to 0 on the side where you stomp on the pedal (your foot's force at the pivot point == 0 torque). The pedal will NEVER break at this point.
--- THE FIX ---
Pick up some of this at your neighborhood auto parts store or Home Depot. It's sold everywhere. It's a 2 part epoxy that hardens as hard as rock, and bonds very well to the plastic used in the pedal. It's so hard that when I was testing different epoxies, I couldn't even get a self tapping screw to go through this stuff without drilling first.
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=106
Mix the 2 parts in the provided cup. You'll need about 1/2 of each bottles worth to fill the required holes. You need to fill in 6 holes to the left and 6 to the right of the spring (starting at the first hole beside the trigger ball).
If your pedal isn't broken and you just want to reinforce, you don't have to take anything apart to fill the holes. Just flip the pedal upside down on a table and apply the goop with the provided sticks.
If your pedal has already broken, take the spring out for now and crazy glue the pieces back together with the orange piece secured properly in the slot. Once the crazy glue has set, then apply the goop to the 6 holes on each side.
The stuff is kinda messy, but it does take a good 30 minutes before it starts to harden, so you have lots of time to apply, clean up surrounding areas before letting it cure. Dont worry about filling in the holes all the way to the top. As long as the stuff fills between the support beams and the holes are at least 2/3 filled, it'll be enough to stop the plastic from flexing/breaking. Just make sure there's no air bubbles at the bottom of the holes and you'll be fine. You can be sure by stirring the goop in the holes with a toothpick or something just to get it to move around and fill in properly.
It takes about 2.5 hrs to cure in room temperature. Once it cures, push on the goop... should be hard as rock. If your pedal was broken and the spring is out, compress the spring and put it back in the slot. Takes some muscle but it will go in there.
That's it, you're done, and guaranteed that your pedal will NEVER break again! I've had several drummers try the setup out, some of these guys stomp on 'em hard (metal drummers) with zero problems. These guys stomp HARD, they've broken other ppl's RB pedals in less than a day. The nice thing about this is you can't see the filler at all, it's hidden nicely underneath the pedal.
I'll post pics of the next pedal that I'm reinforcing from beginning to end for those that want a visual. Enjoy!
