Ludwig Vistalite restoration process

Thanks! I'm really liking how they're coming out also!

I did quite a lot of google searches about acrylic drums in general and repairing cracks on them and I remember seeing a comment on a random forum where someone mentioned how they used to own a set of Vistalites but then they got cracked so they had to throw them to the trash..

That kind of mentality just doesn't cut it with me.
There's a difference between broken and un-fixable. Even if you were never to fix them yourselves, at least don't throw them to the bin.

I saw that thread with the cymbal drilling... I don't really know too much about cymbals or the tensions involved in the metal, I don't know if I would dare to try it.

And I quite like the lingonberry, but that joke would have been closer to home if I was Swedish ;)
It's all good tho, thanks for the kind words!
 
poika said:
Here's a close up of one of the edges sawed off, I put next to it a match to better show the proportions.
I think this is interesting because on the bearing edge there are what seem to be round table saw marks,
meaning that the bearing edges were not done on a router as one would think
but instead with the table saw, before the acrylic
was bend to a shell. From my experience, this type of work is usually faster, easier and safer to do on a router.
The only thing that I can think of as to why they would have done it like this
is that the acrylic might have needed a specific kind of router bit that they didn't maybe want to spend money on or that
maybe the acrylic would have made the router bit used in the work "de-sharpen" (I don't know the correct word) too fast
so they chose to use a rough saw blade to do it. Which of course results in what we are seeing here.
I don't know, maybe someone with more experience knows better?

Also looking at this picture it might be that after this project is done I'm going to start working on that match..
Looks like it probably came from the same factory that these Ludwigs of mine were made in.
Click to expand...


I meant this pic- the edge looks like it has heavy file markings- Not your work
 
Ah, ok.

I still see badly executed table saw cuts in there :)

Who knows, maybe they tried to fix some of the worst of the saw marks with a file or something. Makes sense because on some of the seams I could see there was clearly some kind of work done to them after the acrylic had been glued up to form the shell. Might as well have been a file.

Would be interesting to hear about this stuff from the actual factory workers of the time. It might be they were working at such a pace that there was no room for proper quality control.
 
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