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The Nickster triangle holder

I started to think about the design for a different triangle holder in 2008 but the first version of the Nickster didn't appear until 2014. At the 2013 Winter Concert a percussionist in the younger band of the Y/S was trying to remove the triangle from his music stand. It almost looked like a comedy routine as he tried to release it with 1 hand and then both hands and was still struggling nearly missing his entrance. At the time we were using the traditional small glue clamp purchased at a hardware store and modified to hold a triangle. I was proud of his persistence but I also realized that he should  not have to go through all of the contortions to play a triangle.
For the next 3 nights I would wake up at 3AM and spend about 2 hours thinking about this issue and started drawing some ideas in my notebook. I wanted to design a holder that was stable on the stand, easily removed with one hand and isolate the vibrations to the music stand if needed to play mounted.

The picture above is what I ended with.
Materials:
  1.  Upper part. 6"x 3/4"x 1/8" aluminum stock.
  2.  Finger/Thumb support. 3 1/8"x 3/4"x 1/16" aluminum stock.
  3.  1/16" zip tie
  4.  1/4" ID fuel hose.
  5.  1/16"/8lb test beaded zip tie.
I cut the aluminum to length and bent* them to shape.
Two part epoxy was used to connect the upper and lower parts.
Two holes were drilled for the zip tie.
At this point I applied 3 coats of primer and then 3 coats of flat black paint.
I inserted the zip tie through the holes and the fuel hose to the holder.
The beaded zip tie was inserted to hold the triangle.
Silicone was added to the holder to isolate the vibrations to the stand.

We had a triangle holder that was easy to remove, hold and play. If used mounted on the stand it was able to isolate vibrations for triangles up to 6" if played on the 'closed leg'.

Why the name 'Nickster'? The percussionist who had such difficulty at the concert was named Nick and when I first presented it to the section the name 'Nickster' was suggested and the rest as they say is history.
One very important thing happened that I did not anticipate. Because it was named after one of them, it gave the section a sense of pride and ownership for the holder.

In a future post I will talk about the evolution of the Nickster and it's growing pains.

* I chose aluminum over steel because of weight. However aluminum doesn't like to be bent preferring to break instead. This is where my training in bicycle mechanics came in. I used a propane torch using all of the proper precautions required from such a high heat source.
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