Handpanmakers material store
Dear Handpanmaker, if you stumbled on this section you will find the materials and tools available to be purchased. Shells and hammers, tuning rings, molds and glue, everything that’s needed to start building a handpan!
We are also available to organize workshops and lessons on how to make a handpan. Our teaching approach comes from our working experience as professors, a beloved profession we have carried out with love and passion.
For further information contact us!
Hydroformed top and bottom shells
- Nitrided (12 hours) or raw dc04, diameter 500mm + 10mm rim, thickness 1mm
- Nitrided (12 hours) or raw dc04, diameter 530mm + 10mm rim, thickness 1.2mm
- Stainless 430, diameter 500mm + 10mm rim, thickness 1mm
- Stainless 430, diameter 530mm + 10mm rim, thickness 1.2mm
- Hydroformed Gu available to match all versions
The shells are our canvas. It is fundamental to have the right canvas to begin with the making of a handpan. Shells usually come in different batches, as they are cut out of huge steel coils. Our suppliers deliver consistent material, to avoid differences from one batch to the other, allowing for consistent quality and results.
Formed shells
We can supply you with pre-formed shells for any scale and version, in different finishings and materials among those above.
At the beginning of your handpan-making journey, what’s important is having the right tuning rings, a good top shell and a few hammers. Whether you decide to use note molds and a press or dimple molds and hand hammers or a pneumatic rammer may come later in your path. If you wish to try the different shaping methods before making a decision you can buy a pre-shaped shell and exploit it until it becomes a dented tabletop lamp.
Tuning rings
The tuning rings are the essential tool to make a handpan. Just like the ones we sell and use, they need to be strong and even, a perfect pair with the right thickness, in order to avoid unbalances while compressing the shell for tuning, and to prevent unwanted resonances. Of all the tools you buy, do not buy cheap tuning rings, as the effect can be very bad. We personally guarantee the quality of the tuning rings in this page.
Merbenit HS60 glue
The most powerful glue to join top and bottom shells, in its black and elegant finishing. The Merbenit HS60 is the most suitable glue for its resistance to higher temperatures.
Hammers complete kit
Pneumatic hammer and heads
This is our featured Kawasaki KPT-1 pneumatic rammer, modified to be used with the 8 nylon and 8 steel hammer heads. The pressure regulator can be included in the kit. The pneumatic rammer is the final tool for handpan shaping. The peening action is essential to harden the steel and to give compression to the notes. As the job is very precise, a good and professional rammer can work with low air pressures.
Bigger rammers or cheaper hammers sometimes do not allow for low air pressure operations, with the result of denting the shell during the shaping step.
Having more rammer heads allows you to work with different inter-note sizes, and they can be useful especially as smaller notes are better shaped with tailored small heads, while bigger note fields can be worked with bigger rammer heads.
Hammers and heads
These are our working hammers, built to to be used with the 8 nylon and 8 steel hammer heads.
The hand hammer set gives the opportunity to rapidly switch the different heads, and decide if you wish to work using softer nylon heads or strong steel heads. The choice may depend on your tuning style: sometimes you may want to hit harder but very precisely in one spot, or you need diffused, lighter blows to start working the note.
Different steels may need different hammer-head materials. The nitrided dc04 is more workable and docile, so nylon can be a choice. Stainless steel is harder and very elastic, so we found that with our tuning style the steel heads are more suitable, as the blow has to be more precise, aimed for and localized.
Note molds
18 note molds that can be used to press notes from a C3 up to a F5. The note molds are a solid help in many ways. They can be used to shape the note and the dimple by hand-hammering, although with hand-hammered dimples it is better to use the dimple molds, and they’re very useful if you use them in combination with a workshop press to make the dimples or to press the border of the note.
Magnetic note stencils
The magnetic notes are fundamental to draw on the shells. The 18 stencils pair with the note molds.
The magnetic stencils are our guide when planning the handpan. They can have different ratios, but ultimately the true note will end up taking its natural shape, the one that allows it to sound. The stencils can be home made, as you can read in our article here, or they can be ordered.
Dimple molds
37 dimple molds to choose the best note field-dimple ratio!
The dimple molds can be used both to hand-make and to press-draw the dimples. The making process is a matter of choice, some makers prefer to hammer the hollows, while others prefer a workshop press. What’s important is finding the preferred dimple/note ratio and making them as even as possible, to allow for the optimal tuning of harmonic partials.
Wood and nylon hammers
There’s a lot of hammers that can be used to make a handpan! We have them all, and we’re here to help you!
The hammers are a matter of personal choice. We use a big, soft white rubber one to start big notes, and then we use a harder Bellota and the full hammer set here in the page, both the nylon and the steel heads for precise blows, in combination with the KPT-1 rammer. Each hand, each hammering style are different, and you’ll have to find you hammers, the ones that best suit your intention.
Deep drawing stencil and sheets
