The First Edition
This is the first belt that i made. It was made out of nylon straps and packing foam, and was machine sewed together. But let's backtrack a little, to see how I got here.
When this project first started, a belt was the furthest thing from my mind. I initially had the idea of stopping catalytic converter theft, but thatproved to be a lot more difficult than I initially expected. So I was forced to expand my horizons.
During the time of this project, I was involved in Anoka's winter drumline. I've been in marching band (specifically drumline) for 3 years. My drum weighs 45 pounds, it is extremely heavy and takes a toll on my back.
Now there are already belts like this on the market. But, theyre big, bulky, expensive, ETC. I can go on about why I don't like them. So me, as a drummer, thought, "How can I make this better?" So, that's what I set out to do.
From left to right: Nick Jandro, Ryan Collins, Jaylene Stone
I did some research, and the most popular belt on the market is found on LoneStar percussion's website. (I will link it below).
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Using this as inspiration to go off of, I made my fitst iteration of the Drumbelt Slim. We then had our first event, the professional review night. It went well, I got a lot of super helpful feedback, and used that going into the seconf half of our project design.
The Final
Edition
I went into this new chapter confident about my new design. With some trial and error, I made it exactly how I wanted it. It was hand sewed, had thicker, matress foam padding, and it had an attatchment, so that if you needed a thicker, more supportive belt, you could have it with the snap of three buckles.
And to cap off my STEAM career, we had the first ever STEAM expo, a night where we all got to showcase our projects. No judging, just a night to be proud of what we accomplished, and I don't think it could have gone better.
Contributors
There are a few people who helped me along my way. I would like to thank Mr. Brian Sutter, for providing his wonderful feedback, which gave me a lot of help on deciding where to go next. I would also like to thank Mr. Hunter, because while I may have messed around a lot, he was always as supportive as he could have been, and helped me alone a lot more than he may realize. I would also like to thank Ms. Jill and Ms. Hale, for helping me and my awful graphic design skills design a halfway decent poster.
