MY BROKEN AERODRUMS. HERES HOW TO REPLACE

[Drummingman]

Sadly, after only a month of me owning AERODRUMS, the polystyrene balls kept sliding off the ends of the sticks (due to transporting the aerodrums abroad, the polystyrene balls were sadly squished in my bag. I also squished up the remaining 2 extra sensors that come with the package they are really fragile guys...

So i decided to make my own.

Since the sensors you get with AERODRUMS are fragile polystyrene balls anyway, I visited my nearest hobbycraft store and managed to pick up a box of 30mm polystyrene balls. I then removed the reflector material from an old hi-vis jacket and began to cut it into little pieces.



After this i simply glued these pieces to the polystyrene balls, hardening the polystyrene with the glue in the process.

Now my aerodrums are more secure than they have ever been. And it only cost me 99p to fix.

Whilst J was in an inventive mood. I thought i'd see if the other things were replaceable. Turns out THEY ARE!....

I decided to buy some plastic drumsticks as they do not dent and stay nice for longer.



I also managed to purchase a brand new USB 18 LED flexible bright light for only £2.79.





To secure it to the ps3 camera i simply cut a bulb rose in half and it made a snug fit between the lamp and the camera.



I have also made my own foot sensors with the same hi-vis reflective material and a bit of foam cut into a triangle. I then glued sone hooked velcro to the bottom so that it can easily be secured to a sock or shoelace instead of hooking a piece of elastic to my feet.



The sensors are also smaller in size but still work perfectly with the ps3 camera.



Just a little tip should you ever have the worst luck (like me) and need to replace any part of your aerodrum kit..

[nickynoodles]

Good find of the lamp and polystyrene balls.

I'm working on my own infra-red Aerodrums mod, I've been wondering where to get some spare parts.

[Richard]

Hello Drummingman,

In one of the pictures from your previous post (posting as 'Drumfill'), you had peeled off the reflective tape from our markers, you did not mention any squishing, you also claimed to have returned your Aerodrums. Was this the case?

While it may appear that your DIY parts are compatible with Aerodrums, it will definitely not reproduce the intended experience. There are carefully calibrated settings internal to Aerodrums that are tuned for the parts that come in the box. Your lamp fixture also does not have the custom-made lens that comes with the Aerodrums lamp so the space within which you can drum will be very limited.

We recommend that our users use the Aerodrums box for transporting it because it is true that the reflective balls are fragile. This is one of the reasons we include a pair of spare balls inside the box. For those who need replacements balls beyond this, they can be purchased directly from us for about $10.

[Hanshake]

I have just ordered version 1 through online shop and in the mail at time of writing and one concern I have is due to the drum stick movement the reflector balls experience constant centrifugal force, has there been any reports of the reflector/ball flying off? How sturdy is the glue? I drop sticks all the time and it is likely it will drop/hit the ground ball head first. I know there is a replacement included but gluing DIY I would assume I'll not be doing a better DIY version from the replacement.
Since the "system" works through a Playstation Eye camera, would Aerodrums work with a Playstation Move controller instead?
(Two questions in bold need answering More power to an ingenious product)

[Richard]

No, we have not seen cases where forces due to swinging the drumsticks through the air caused the balls to remove loose. This could happen however due to repeated droppages of the drumstick. If it happens a lot to you, I would suggest putting a rug or similar in front of your seat to soften the fall. In case you do end up needing extra balls, they can be ordered from our website.

We haven't checked how Aerodrums behaves with Playstation Move controllers but even if Aerodrums can track the Move balls without modification, they are a good bit bigger than the Aerodrums balls which is going to affect a lot of other behavior.