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This is a picture of the flesh ring and the retaining ring. The retaining
ring is the flat stock ring on top. The retaining ring is going to have the
tensioning rods welded to it. It is VERY important that the flesh ring be the
same size or even slightly larger than the retaining ring. Here is a crude
drawing of how this works…
Notice that the skin wraps around the shell, and under the flesh ring, and
back under the retaining ring. Now when the retaining ring is pulled down by the
tensioning rods it locks the skin on to the flesh ring. This is why it is
important that the flesh ring is the same size or a slight bit larger than the
retaining ring. If it were smaller the skin would slip right through…
This is the material that the tensioning rods are made from. On the left is a
material called all thread. It is basically a threaded rod. I am going to cut
this into pieces about 7-8” long, and weld the pieces to the ends of the rods
to the right. Those rods are ¼” cold rolled steel. You can buy all of these
materials from a home improvement store, such as Home Depot here in the U.S. If
you have a steel distributor in your area then you can save a considerable
amount of money buying from them. In my area I can buy a 20’ long section of
this for $8 verses $2.87 for a 36” section from Home Depot. That is the way to
go if it is available to you.
I have now welded the threaded rod to the ends of the tensioning rods…
those are on the right in this picture… (Another way to do this is to cut the
threads on the rods your self instead of using the all thread rod. The tool to
cut them is fairly inexpensive, but it is hard work and very time consuming. If
you can, welding all thread on is the way to go.) In this step I am going to
weld the tensioning rods on to the retaining ring. It is extremely important to
line up the rods with the coupling nuts so I am marking the retaining ring in
line with the nuts so that I know where to weld the rods…This is VITAL to a
nice looking drum!
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