wooden tongue drum

[Ajcoholic]

My son is in a toddlers music class every Saturday, where the teacher sings songs, and also the kids get to play with various percussive "instruments" (like shakers, drums and tambourines, etc).

When I was a kid I used to make myself these wooden tongue drums, basically a box with the top cut to give pieces that will resonate when hit.

I wanted to make a bunch, of smaller ones, to give to the kids in the class. So, I gathered up some 8/4 maple and birch off cuts, and sized them to 5" by 8" by 1 3/4". With the CNC, carved out the interiors to leave a 3/8" wall all 4 sides and a 1/4" bottom.

The tops are 5/8" maple, cut with three tongues and a sound hole. Quick, and easy and loud! The kid's parents will LOVE me for this

Prototype...

[Ajcoholic]

On the "real ones" the slot will be cut on the underside as not to be visable.

Its there to allow the tongues to resonate better.

[Ajcoholic]

And, I cut 10 tops today, and 10 boxes. Time to cut the tops was 3 minutes, and to hollow out the box with a 3/8" endmill, 30% stepover still only took 5 minutes each.

Glue on the top, and when dry sand the edges on the edge sander.

Total time each is less than 15 minutes. Actually, probably take me less than 2 hours for 10 pcs.

Never be able to do this without the Bot!

[jdervin]

Very nice. I love these kinds of projects.

[adana]

Super nice, for sure.

What notes do the tongues generate?

[myxpykalix]

3 notes A H H....

[zeykr]

Great Idea. We do something for the kids at my daughter's school every year and this might be a good idea.

[JDaVinci]

This is really cool. Really great use of a bot.

[Ajcoholic]

Not sure of the notes... but they are three definite notes and surprisingly sound like they are in some sort of major key.

I know you can tune the note by working the tongue, sanding thinner and shorter... similarly to tuning a wooden marimba or xylophone key (you carve a wee bit under the center of the key).

Will post more pics when I get a chance to get the ten others glued up and made. Probably tomorrow or Friday. Saturday is the class and I want to give them out then.

AJC

[myxpykalix]

3 notes A H H....

Not sure of the notes...

I know you can tune the note by working the tongue, sanding thinner and shorter...
I tried that but it just bled......

I guess when you have to explain the joke its a epic fail

seriously tho...to get a good musical tone wouldn't you have to use a exotic type of wood? like what the use on a xylophone.

What i like about this project is that the toys you are making for him will be around for him to hand down to his child long after the plastic **** you buy him is gone.
Good job buddy!