Iron cobra chrome questions.

Hey,

Recently had to move and couldn't play/ didn't practice for over a year. No point in explaining I totally lost it but I've been giving a great comeback this past month and I've been tweaking my pedal around, cleaned the thing oiled it back and now tried every different positions I could mess with such as:

-beater attack angle
-pedal heigh
-spring tension
-pedal positioning
-drive shaft lenght

Every times I play I feel like there's something wrong to it and move it a little, fiddle around and in the end I feel like I'm not doing it right, which brings me to this conclusion:

I'd like to have the pedal setup back to it's default position and have some experienced feedback on how to adjust it, then learn the technique all over again. Where should I start?

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Here's a thread that might help:
Bass drum pedal(s) setting : The “effortless” method.
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93800

I found that one using the search function... the secret weapon of every forum ;-)

Put everything on the middle setting, footboard angle, beater angle, beater height and this goes for the amount of threads showing on the spring tension as well. If it's a 20 thread screw, screw it up or down until 10 are showing, or as close as possible and start from there. You're really not going to jump behind the kit after a year or more of no practice and magically get the feel back with any of it. At least not like it was. Trust me I know lol.

I would start by seeing if you like the footboard angle, followed by the beater height, beater angle and then spring tension.

OOOohhh well, I've just figured something's wrong.



So after taking it apart and having the footboard set to a height I liked, I figured there is no screws to the left of the drive shaft.

It has been like that for a while but taking a close look to it, there's quite a bit of play in there...

Problem is that the screws probably disappeared at the same time the threads did, so there's no taking one of the right side screws and putting it there since there is no threads.

I guess I need a new driveshaft, what should I be looking into?

You just need a couple short drum ket rods. It would only cost a couple bucks. It should be back to working right then.
In the mean time, you could take one from the other side and that should hold you over.

There is no threads to tighten the screws into the shaft, they simply spin by themselves.
I don't get it: On the picture the two screws were holding perfectly right, after I took one out, I couldn't put it back into the same spot, it seems the threads got ruined by taking the screw out...

Loosen the screws on the right/main pedal handside and take a look at the threads. Both ends of the outer drive shaft should look the same. There should be threads in the outer shaft but there aren't any in the connection bar (of course - to allow for flexible positioning) - those are just jammed by tightening the screws. Now if for some reason there's no threads on the left handside I'd cut some threads into them and use the next bigger screw size, that would work but may look unusual.

Nice thread! The IC's are amazing at all costs, I Own a pair myself.

As a suggestion, I think you should adjust the pedals to your preferred angle that will also reduce friction given out by the (angled) drive shaft. In my case (According to my playing style of course), I have a need to keep the slave pedal in proportion to the master pedal cause at some point it makes my strokes a lot smoother when I'm at a speed of 180-200BPM. But hey, it varies from person to person depending on their style as well. This is just a suggestion, worth a try!

I May also add that, oiling the important parts would do a better job in getting the best out of the mighty Iron Cobras.

I'm not a fan of 'Heel-Toe' per se, but this video instructs a couple of maintenance tips that'll help.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCRbhyYRNrU

PS: I'm new to this forum, so could someone tell me how to initiate a post? Thanks much!

I just figured something else: I've lost a part.

The outer shaft's holes are not threaded because there is a smaller part that goes inside and tightens the hexagonal inner shaft when you tighten the screw.

The top picture shows all the part you need for ONE side
bottom picture shows how it fits in. (Only fitted it halfway in for you to see)
Now, if I try cutting the rubber part and cutting the threaded tightener in a half, will I be able to tighten both sides? It seems stupid, well I'll try to figure something else for the other side, probably just drill threads directly on the outer shaft as arky suggested.
Thanks a lot for the video Obliterator btw!

EDIT: A friend of mine will reproduce the little piece of metal for me and locate a set of screws.

Ended up getting the tightener part and screws duplicated, it looks odd but works just fine.
Also, took the whole thing apart and oiled the bearings. I never thought my drum pedal was that great!

A-v said:

Ended up getting the tightener part and screws duplicated, it looks odd but works just fine.
Also, took the whole thing apart and oiled the bearings. I never thought my drum pedal was that great!

Click to expand...

So long as it works! No one will ever get onto you about the screws looking funny I doubt anyone would ever see that except for you when you play anyway. Nicely done.