Axis Hi Hat- Up close and personal ♡

I've searched the web, even the Axis site and realized there's no decent pic's of the Axis Hi Hat.

Here's some up close and personal shots of the Axis X (short board) Hi Hat.

Pic's:

Foot board- Same as on the Axis kick pedal.

Hi Hat cup, or would be where a HH cup would sit. Axis uses two rubber pads held on with allen screws. the third is the tilt adjustment screw, it has a nylon tip. The 'center pole piece' is a composite material, replaceable.

Bottom of HH cup assembly. Steel tilt adjustment screw with its steel locking nut. Set screw visible holds the center pole piece... white Lithium grease from screws threads visible.

Clutch- Steel wing bolt, steel thread insert. Clutch body is solid aluminum.

Bottom of clutch- Nut is a composite material as is the piece it threads onto. Pipe thread on the nut.

Clutch with nut off- Note the 3 replaceable rubber pads. These pads contact the top of the top HH cymbal.

On to the leg assembly.

Pic's L-R:

Leg assembly.

Bottom support ring of leg assembly. Leg assembly rotates fully. Note nylon tipped set screw in center. This set screw (there are a set of two, on both upper and lower support rings) will lock leg rotation, as in a memory-lock type application--- Find a position you like the legs in on a repeatable surface, lock'em down etc.

Leg on support ring. All the legs are fully removable via steel allen headed bolts. Note leg rotation locking set screw to the left.

Here's the upper support ring. This is where the lower main tube exits out the top. Aluminum handled T-bolt will secure upper HH tube, note (white) nylon tip which will make contact with the upper main tube.

Rubber feet. Replaceable.

Steel allen headed bolt holds rubber feet to leg. Steel nut on the other side completes this fastener.

Lower section of Axis X Hi Hat.


Pic's L-R:

This is the lower main tube. Aluminum T-handle looks like wood, Axis sticker. Set screw holds the collar onto the lower main tube. T-Handle screws into collar, collar accepts upper main tube etc.

Base H-piece (I'm making all these descriptive names up BTW, they're not official Axis monikers). This solid, one piece chunk of aluminum sits on the base plate. It has a steel shaft running through its top which the triangular pivot piece (described in 4th pic) mounts to. The two hole's you see have set screws in them which secure the shaft which the triangular piece rides on. T-Handled bolt secures triangle to shaft.

Close-up of alum T-Handled steel bolt. Note steel thread insert.

Hat folded onto itself for travel/storage. There's a shot of the 'triangle piece'. Note shaft through Base H Piece triangle is riding on. This triangle is the pivot point for folding as you can see.

Last pic shows linkage the foot board bolts to the-'direct drive' link if you will. Blurry pic, but the 'house-shaped' white piece pivots vertically and the black solid aluminum strap (at extreme bottom) also pivots vertically. The black piece sitting on top of the 'house shaped piece' pivots horizontally. Three pivot points to this linkage. The spring you see on top is a bumper for the lower main tube entry point. The (black) nut the spring sits on is the locking nut for the lower pull rod etc. Pull rod is fully connected-up inside the spring and in its normal playing position here sans the foot board, though it is extended from the lower main tube for the pic.

Spring assembly.

Pic's L-R:

Here's the bottom plate, bottom collar minus tubes, leg's foot board etc. Note pivioting triangle piece sitting on shaft (it in its erect position here), top of triangle is bolted to the bottom collar, lower main tube would go through bottom collar etc.

Here's the spring tension adjustment, 6 positions with the heavy setting very heavy BTW. Top window of cut-out shows white lithium grease covering the spring.

There's the lower pull rod through the spring assembly, note white grease on spring.

This is the lower pull rod out of the spring assembly. Spring is inserted into a composite tube (I don't know how its held in. Im not taking it out just so it remains tight-if its just pressed in). Note the white washer near the middle of the pull rod. This washer makes contact with the spring. It in turn butts-up against three locking clips, which are hard to make out. Other H-Hats have the pull rod 'crimped' here. The clips are simple and effective, they can also be moved up or down the pull rod to increase or decrease overall adjustment of spring tension, though quite possibly not by Axis design, you could do it if you needed to.

Last pic here is the spring assembly tube. A composite material, it has three grooves cut its internal length. Inside each groove rides a nylon ball bearing (you can clearly see two in the shot). The lower pull rod makes contact with these three nylon ball bearings, keeping the action of the Hi Hat running tight and smooth. Bearings are surrounded by white lithium grease. This view is from the bottom, at the top of this pic is the threaded bottom of the lower pull rod, which would tap into the foot boards direct-drive linkage etc.

Overview:

The Axis Hi Hat is constructed in a way that all its parts are user serviceable, assuming you have basic mechanical skills. Everything comes apart on this Hat (legs included) and if anything were to break, you could easily fix it, even in the field.

The action is silky smooth without feeling heavy, even when using heavy spring tension. The bottom of the bottom plate has 4 pieces of velcro on it, one square in each corner. Grip is superb and you can play this stand with the bottom plate elevated.

The clutch is simple and effective. You don't need any felt washers top or bottom due to the composite nut, the bolt-nipple it threads onto and the bottom cymbal cup's composite 'center pole piece'. As a result, the Hi Hat cymbals resonate more.

Pricey, but taken care of this Hi Hat could easily last a lifetime. Anything that wears/get lose can be user tightened back to factory spec's. All the T-Bolts have hefty steel inserts in their aluminum receiving pieces. A well thought out practical piece of great feeling gear.

thanks for the pics and info. I just got the longboard version of this stand, and it is great! Also, do you have any experience with the Axis Pro Clutch? If so is it drop clutch accessible?

Nice to finally see some close-ups of the stand. Axis seems to do a poor job of showing details of their products on their website. Thanks for the photos. That clutch is wild.

theindian said:

thanks for the pics and info. I just got the longboard version of this stand, and it is great! Also, do you have any experience with the Axis Pro Clutch? If so is it drop clutch accessible?

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The Axis pro clutch has a different profile than the standard and the only other trick it can preform the standard cannot is 'tiltage' of the top cymbal it mounts too. Its made to fit other brands of HH's

I haven't played the Pro Clutch, but I can confirm the design of the bottom cymbal cup, hardness of pad material along with the minimal clutch contact on the Axis HH system produce cymbal sounds never before heard. Its literally a different HH sound, more sizzle action. Very apparent on recordings, you haven't heard HH cymbals sound like they do on an Axis HH.

The 'Pro Clutch' retails for $45 US the standard $30. An Axis drop-clutch does not currently exist. You'd think, and the requests are in, we'll have to wait and see.

theres a company up my way that sell these hi hat stands for ridiculously cheap prices, and i was seriously considering replacing my current hardware with a full axis set up, cept maybe the pedals as they are a tad too pricey for me right now. As someone up above said, axis are rubbish at pics on their webbie, so i havnt reaaally been able to see the intracacies, so ta very much, its certainly helped me in my decision

Jacamus said:

theres a company up my way that sell these hi hat stands for ridiculously cheap prices, and i was seriously considering replacing my current hardware with a full axis set up, cept maybe the pedals as they are a tad too pricey for me right now. As someone up above said, axis are rubbish at pics on their webbie, so i havnt reaaally been able to see the intracacies, so ta very much, its certainly helped me in my decision

Click to expand...

Its true, Axis is guilty of poor pics on their web site, but take a look at Yamaha, Pearl, Sonor, Trick, Gibraltar and lots of others. They all fail when it comes to showing off their stuff. Worst (evil) case scenario, it might be a tactic to force people to shops. More likely though its "web consciousness relating to pics" just isn't there.

It needs to get there though. Consumers shouldn't have to guess at what their buying. Great pic's will sell more product. Everyone can't get to a shop to see gear in person.

A lot of sales are done blind over the internet. Some are sour b/c buyer couldn't see the product well enough, surprised by the unseen. In 2009 this is unacceptable. IMO drum co advertising is stuck in the 1980's.