About the 10-inch practice pad
Instead of a rubber pad, this practice pad works like a small drum. The shell and the rim are each printed as four segments and bolted into rings. A standard 10-inch mesh head sits on the shell, and eight lugs tension it against the rim, so the feel and bounce can be adjusted like a real snare. Mesh heads are also very quiet, which is the point of a practice pad.
After printing, remove the supports under the rim and inside the lugs, and sand the top edge of the shell so it can't tear the head. Tension the head gradually and evenly around the lugs, as on any drum. The rim is printed denser to survive accidental rim shots. The designer planned an electronic version with a piezo sensor and a 6.3 mm jack, and included a shell variant with mounting holes. Check the page for whether that update arrived.
Who it's for. Drummers who want a better practice surface for little money.
What you'll need
Printed parts
- 4 rim segments
- 4 shell segments (optionally the variant with holes for a future eDrum mount)
Bought parts
- A 10 in mesh drum head
- Rim: 4 × M4 × 20 bolts and 4 nuts
- Shell: 4 × M4 × 20, 4 × M4 × 35 bolts and 8 nuts
- Head: 8 × M4 × 35 bolts and 8 nuts
Tools
- Screwdriver or hex key for M4
- Sandpaper
Build overview
Print settings
- Material: PETG
- Layer height: 0.2 mm
- Infill: 50% rim (for rim shots), 25% shell
- Supports: Yes, under the rim and inside the lugs
Photos
All photos: Kenny "XDr4g0nX" Verhoeven, from the design page on Printables, licensed CC BY-NC-SA. We resized them and converted them to WebP. These adapted versions are shared under the same licence.