drumdial vs tension watch setting

forflex

Junior Member
Hi folks,

I've been searching but having difficulty finding an answer....
How does the Tama tension watch measurement equate to the drumdial measurement?

I've seen from ...

1.. http://www.mikedrums.com/drumdial.html

"This means that if both the Tension Watch and DrumDial were to measure the same movement of distance, the dial readout needle on the Tension Watch would move 2-1/2 times as far as the DrumDial. Or, the Tension Watch would move 2-1/2 small marks for every 1 small mark on the DrumDial."

...but if thats true... then 50 on drumdial would be 125.... which doesn't work... because my tama watch only goes to 100.

2... http://www.drummercafe.com/forum/index.php?topic=1575.20

"If you want to convert Drum Dial numbers to Tension Watch Numbers, just subtract 5."

...ah... really?


... does anyone have both? What are pairs of measurements between the two. If we had some comparision points... we could probably put together an equation?

Forflex.
 
A drum dial comes with a piece of glass in the kit for calibration. When you calibrate it, it reads 100.
 
A drum dial comes with a piece of glass in the kit for calibration. When you calibrate it, it reads 100.


While a tama tension watch does not come with glass... in the manual, it also recommends calibrating it with glass. When calibrated, the tama tension watch also reads at the 0 (or 100) position.

My question is comparing the measured values from the tama watch to the drum dial. They are not the same.
 
Well shouldn't that mean they're exactly the same.
 
Well shouldn't that mean they're exactly the same.

Well... no... not necessarily. as per user mikeL on 2/19/2012

"The dials are essentially an engineering measuring device for machine tooling etc.

They are adapted for drum use. If the springs used are of even a slightly different tension, and they will be, in the same model and make of dial, you will get a different reading between dials. They were not designed to measure pressure (the head) but flatness/depth."

... I agree with Mike but was hoping there would be some consistency between the dials that could be compared.
 
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