Band-Beesten 2014

This is the continued interdepartmental effort to create a fully mobile drum set for use by the Vandal Marching Band. Previous incarnations of the Band-Beesten were plagued by several problems such as excess weight and the inability for the drummer to efficiently move over a football field. Current design goals focus on decreasing weight and friction problems while allowing for a wider variety of instruments to be used.

Previous Design
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Team Members
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Background
The original idea for the project began a few years before the Fall of 2011 by Dr. Edwin Odom, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr. Daniel Bukvich, Professor of Percussion and Music Theory. The plan was to collaborate between their disciplines and create a finely tuned, expertly engineered drum set that is fit for a full on-field marching band performance.

The Fall of 2011 marked the initial experimentation and design of the Beest by a Capstone Design team in the engineering department. These initial tests provided insight on what worked well and what needed improvement. The final design from this year was never seen outside of the engineering buildings on campus, but the following year's goals were clear and a new design began immediately. For more in depth design details refer to the Team Drum Roll webpage.

The Fall of 2012 marked the first public introduction of the Beest, which has become a yearly project in the Capstone Design process. Dan Mathewson, a University of Idaho graduate student, designed and utilized a robotic, power driven front wheel that responded to the drummers input and included brightly lit led's on the forward facing drums. It successfully astounded the audience and fulfilled the requirement of marching with a wheeled drum set, but it could still be improved. Dan's thesis can be found in the References section.

The Beest was successfully used during the last two home games of the 2013 football season with the new omni-wheels working as intended. The future of the project will entail designing a lightweight, efficient frame that can be easily dismantled for easy storage by the marching band.

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Design Specifications

 * Single Band-Beesten Carry at minimum:
 * One 14” diameter, 8” deep, 8lb Timbale
 * One 15” diameter, 8” deep, 9lb Timbale
 * One 14” diameter, 4” deep, 13lb snare
 * One 18” diameter, 4lb cymbal
 * One 19” diameter, 7lb roto-tom
 * '''Double Band-Beesten Carry at Minimum
 * One Marimba (Size and Weight TBD)
 * All single Band-Beesten instruments


 * General features:
 * Move in all directions on a single plane (forward, backward, side to side, and radially)
 * Move freely in those directions at marching speeds up to 2 m/s
 * Adjust to a wide range of user heights
 * Easily accessible harness allowing for full transfer of motion
 * Lightweight, ~100lbs
 * Free-standing
 * Human powered (No motored assistance)
 * Collapsible for easy storage

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Wheel and Frame Design

 * Problems from 2013:
 * Omni-wheels were designed for very specific ball size; large balls got stuck, small balls slipped out
 * Basketball needed to be refilled prior to every performance to prevent slipping out
 * Wood frame was unable to rigidly hold all instruments securely
 * Assembled Beest was too heavy due to extraneous supports and electronics
 * Improvements for 2014:
 * Re-design the frame to allow for a wider variety of instrument use
 * Frame needs to be easily collapsible for storage
 * Frame needs to be at least 20% lighter than previous incarnation
 * Omni-Ball frame should be reworked to allow for a wider variety of ball size

Current Omni-Ball Design
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Frame Designs (to be changed)
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Document Archive
Fishing Scale Report

Fishing Scale Results

Friction Testing Report

Friction Testing Results

Omni-ball Drawing Package

Finale Photo