Suggestions for DIY bachi, need help!

this should belong under the "community" section, if any, but anyway, i'm not sure where to post this, so here goes...mint is lazy to post this, so i shall help her ask too~

she wants a pair of bachis slightly thicker than the arcade one, but lighter.

i want something similar to my current one, but shorter and lighter.

any suggestions? thanks!

...... I didn't have enough brainpower to come up with DIY stuff lately leh. =/

but yeah, broomstick handles are out for me because there are no wooden broomstick handles in my house. other than that and rolling pins (which Blyx suggested elsewhere in the forum), I have no ideas yet...

also... i was wondering if anyone prefers to using bachi that is thicker than the arcade ones?

Taken from rants...

Giazenshia wrote:
...I'll bring my metal rod (baton) along if I feel like it as my bachi and to whack her with. (mild-carbon steel rod, shaped like bachi)

Gia where did you get that? Just curious...I feel like knowing more about it.

Uhh, my hammer handle... LOL. I have 2 of the same hammer, and they broke when I use them somehow. I don't know why. Maybe I used too much strength. (Like hammering my PC casing, bending some stuffs, nails on walls etc) I just went *SMACK* and the hammer head came off.

Anyways, my uncle suggested to me that you go to any instrumental shops (Preferably Chinese Instrumental shops) and see if they have it (Since they use wood anyway). Get the rod (best to get a bigger one), bring it home and file it to your desirable size, then use some wood polished sheets things (like those sheets used in cupboards) to cover the rough area, or use a rubber sheet (you can use many rubber bands, they're fine, but just doesn't look nice) to cover one portion as your grip.

Or you can go to those DIY shop to get a rod (pray they have it) and do like the above.

And just to let you know, my preferred bachi is like 3-3.25cm thick (diameter) and about 20cm in length. Slightly thicker than the arcade bachi and much shorter. I'm going to make mine one day when I get my uncle to bring me to the shop to find a rod.

Speaking of hammer handles, you can buy some cheap hammer, detach off the wood part and use it as a bachi. It works. (Please don't use metal bachi on the machine LOL, you'll spoil it *and their heavy*)

I'm currently using a pair of bachi which I bought at a shop selling instruments for Chinese orchestra...somewhere at Bras Besar Complex. It suits me just fine right now, and I'm pretty used to it, but of course if possible I'd want a lighter pair.

Besides, I wanna help mint get hers too. She prefers it DIY though.

Head to those DIY shops and get some rough wood planks. Of course, you can choose the type you want there, they have many different kinds of wood, get the hard ones to be safe. Or just ask the stall owner.

Then file them down to a bachi shape (rod like). Might be difficult for people who have no experience in technical stuffs. But you can try. Then do some finishing off like painting, reinforcing etc.

Next, if you have went camping and know what is a "basha" tent (those DIY tents from scratch, using 2 poles, strings and hooks and a mat-like cloth), then those kind of poles are effective as well. Just chop them down to your desirable size.

But if you want to DIY your own bachi, I would advise you to reinforce it after making it, like painting for anti-corrosion and a little strength (if your paint is thick), adding a few more layers of wooden sheets etc to play safe in case your DIY bachi could be fragile.

DAISO!
try the rolling pins...
or the wooden rods they sell.
i checked it out. its not bad. but u need to sand them down and lacquer them.


my bachis r shorter than the arcade ones.
but much heavier.
i wonder if anyone here can use my bachis.
yuu always complains tt they r damn heavy.
wahahahaha

fuuyue wrote:DAISO!
try the rolling pins...
or the wooden rods they sell.
i checked it out. its not bad. but u need to sand them down and lacquer them.


my bachis r shorter than the arcade ones.
but much heavier.
i wonder if anyone here can use my bachis.
yuu always complains tt they r damn heavy.
wahahahaha

It's REALLY heavy.. But cos' it's made of quite good material, that's why it's dense.
And gepi said my bachi is heavy, wait till he hold yours. xD

Maybe we should all get together and discuss this! Truth be told I'm not very much into technical stuff...that's why I didn't DIY!

DIY or real bachi, all have their own pros and cons.
For me, i prefer those real bachi like the ones i used in my chinese orchestra.
More durable.
DIY is cool and you can keep it light, but i don't have all those tools to do it myself.
xD

I want to DIY to make it heavy and short, and I am considering to paint/decorate the bachi as well.

I have almost all the tools at home, that I can use. Chisel, hammer, nails, paint, drills (I might be using my friend's airbrush). But I'm missing a file.... Gonna be very rough if I don't file it. (Anyway, it will go rough from all the whacking sooner or later)

Maybe I'll ask my friend to use his airbrush to paint my Shana/Yoshida on it? One with Shana, the other with Yoshida.

Just wanna ask, does anyone here has any painted bachi with nice designs? If so, can you show it?

Alright, being the logician that I am, I shall try to list down the items needed and the steps. I'm not a technical guy, so correct me if I'm wrong, or I'm missing something. (My questions are in red.)

Materials

• wooden rods, preferably of desired thickness and/or length
  
• paint (optional) Any sort of paint?
  
• lacquer (optional) Is this really needed? And are there different types of lacquer?
  
• glue (optional)
  

Tools

• File
  
• Hacksaw (optional)
  
• Hammer and chisel (optional)
  

Essential steps

1. If rod is not of desired length then saw it down to length.
   
2. File it to smoothen the surface, round the edges etc.
   
3. Reinforce it with something if you are concerned about splintering.
   
4. Apply lacquer to it. purpose?
   
5. Apply paint to it.
   

Seems like a lot of work!

Not those Nippon paint for the walls, try using those spray paint (Those that comes in bottles and a spray nozzle). If you know how to use an airbrush, that's the best.

People use an airbrush to paint those real nice design (like characters), so that is only if you know how to use it.
If you just want one colour, then go ahead and use the spray kinds.

For lacquer, I know there are different types of lacquer, from chemistry wise. (Different hydrocarbon chains). But if you want to lacquer, I'll rather you not paint and vise versa. Try getting someone else to help you on this, cause I never used them myself.

Functions of lacquer that I know of: To make it slightly stronger, anti-corrosion and designing.

Reinforcing wise, some people use wood sheets (exterior), metal sheets (interior). Some drills a hole and add a metal rod inside, etc. There are many ways, but just don't over do it as you can make it brittle (hard but breaks easily, like glass) or too heavy.

I would really recommend you use paint, since it is cheap. And try using one colour would suffice, as when you go Taiko-ing with it, the paint would come out over time (due to whacking). Lacquer as well, would come off if you smack it too much on the kat. So don't really spend too much on decoration if you were to use it frequently.

And please use carpenter's glue/white glue (or any strong ones) if you want to stick things like a metal rod, a wooden sheet onto the bachi. That's the only way to ensure it will get sticked in place and won't drop off easily.

And remember to cover the bachi with like, a piece of rubber (or alike) if it is rough, to protect your hands.

Other optional tools you can use:

Air brush (Full set, including paint, compressor etc) (For decorating)
Drill (If you need it to insert things into the bachi, you'll need it)

-----------------------------------------

Making bachis, for amount of work wise, it depends.

You can finish it off in 10 minutes if you want a really simple one, like just getting the rod and filing it down and thats it.

Of it could take days if you want a nice one (design wise, perfection, etc)