I assembled the new frame tonight... the previous version was steel conduit pipe, and that stuff was heavy. I had some black aluminum sitting around that was the same size (it originally was from an acoustic drum rack, so it is more than strong enough too), so I used that instead and it is now much lighter. Between the frame and the drums, I expect this version to be less than half the weight of the last one. Yay!

Below is the frame with all but one of the drum pad bases to show positioning. (The splash cymbal is missing; it would be to the right of the crash, which is the top left pad). The bass drum is there, but not in position (you can see the two widgets that it will attach to). The control box / brain will go on top of the left arm.

After this was taken, I finished drilling the holes in the pads (including the holes for the RCA jacks to connect to). I then epoxied the 1/4" washers in front of the RCA jack holes, for the panel mount RCA jacks to mount onto. Once dried, I will finish the pads with Danish Oil and will be ready to assemble them with the piezos and drum heads.

On the electrical side of things, I just got an email from Dirty PCBs today that the board has been submitted to the fab house for production. I am hopeful that the boards will be here by the middle of September.

More updates to follow...

Cheers