Rock Band Drum Repair

So after fixing the cymbal pad for Guitar Hero, I found that the RED drum pad for my RB kit was broken as well. I always thought the RED and GREEN pads had a little too much bounce in them and that the thin plastic would not hold up to the constant banging of the drum sticks. To keep from having to fix the GREEN side in the future I reinforced it as well.

To start, my assistant and I had to completely take apart the drums. Here is the process we followed.

REMOVE THE BATTERIES!

This consists of removing all the drum heads by gently prying them up from the body of the kit. It is best done by grabbing them from underneath the pad at the points where they are held in by conical shaped rubber heads. You can find them by looking at the underside of the kit and looking for the 4 holes.

With that done, turn the kit over and remove the six (6) screws that hold the housing on the "brain". With that uncovered you can remove the two (2) screws that hold down the circuit board on top, (This may or may not be required, but I like having everything apart)

Turn the kit back over with the brain and battery compartment hanging, carefully place it on a work surface so that the wires and ribbon cables aren't being strained.
At this point, we needed to remove the inner plastic drum housings to get access to the very bottom of the outer housing. There are about six (6) screws for each drum. Remove them and each half will pop out. (NOTE: pics were taken after the work was completed)




So now with these inner housings removed we could start the prep work for the reinforcements. A piece of wood about 1/2" thick, 2" wide and 13 1/4" long was used. We started by positioning and clamping it in place so that it went across the whole drum pad as well as having ample space on the inner drum pad to be anchored. I did think about using some Gorilla Glue as well, but was afraid it would make the kit too stiff.

With the wood in place, I drilled holes from the inside using a 5/32" drill bit, but just through the plastic, not the wood. On the outside drum the holes were in the channel on the outside ridge of the drum housing. On the inside drum, the holes were just evenly spaced out in line with the wood. Be careful of the wires and how they are routed so that you are not placing a screw where it might end up rubbing against a wire with the constant bouncing of the pad.

After drilling the holes in the plastic, I pilot drilled holes in the wood with a 3/32" drill bit so that the screws didn't crack it. Once all the holes are drilled, use regular sheet rock screws to secure the drums to the wood. I used 1 1/4" course screws, but had to cut off the tips to get rid of the sharp points. I would suggest either 1" or 3/4" screws to avoid the extra step.

With both sides screwed to the wood, we were able to reassemble the drums in the reverse order. Here is a pic of the final job. I'll probably paint the wood black so it isn't so noticeable.