Connecting the Drumsticks

I drilled 1/4" holes through the drumsticks. One accepts a bolt while the other gets zip-tied to the actuator (this one needs to be tightened further).

Motors are in the assembly

Motor placed in the assembly. 5" bolts were used to secure the pair of motor holders.

Wood for motor housing

Using wood of approximately 1/4" thickness.

Relay Module

Here is my relay module with 8 possible connections. From what I hear, Arduino can only power up to 4 of them at a time. Can anyone confirm?

Crispy Actuator

Okay, so I learned that car door lock actuators hate to have constant power applied to them for too long (accidentally)! Ahhh.....the sweet smell of burning plastic.... Anyone bring marshmallows? (sigh)

Using a relay module to control the actuators. What I believed was setting the pin to LOW actually read as HIGH on the relay (on the N.O. side). Hmmm..  More actuators.

Sketching out the idea

My very rough sketch for this project.

Arduino-Controlled Drum

Yet another project that I want to bring to life. An Arduino-controlled drum! I have been inspired by various online posts and wanted to give it a try.

A colleague loaned me an old tom-drum. I plan to outfit this with drumsticks pivoted with door lock actuators (the ones they use for cars). A slightly higher-current DC power supply will be necessary being these little guys are fairly power hungry (something like 3.5A each).

I will program the Arduino with various drum beats which will be user-selectable via a potentiometer.

How about some good old analog user interaction added in? Nearby, I will place found items such as pots/pans to be used as "instruments" with a separate set of drumsticks for the viewer to jam along with the electronic drum.

Okay, this is my initial plan. Let's see how it pans out! (did I just say that?)