Has anyone ever built any octabons... It shouldnt be that hard. I was thinking about using PVC pipe and cutting it to length and doing the bearing edges with router or somthing. Has anyone ever done this or does anyone know of any sites that talk about this? Thanks guys

please excuse my ignorance but what is an actabons??

Yeah, the problem here will probably be finding pipe that is the right size for a standard head.
I build a drum just for fun out of cardboard cement molding tube. And the sizes were just a little big for a head, so I had to fit a head that was way to big.

Yes, brake drums!  I got three of these things a couple of years ago.  I basically slapped around a few at a junkyard to find good pitches and then made a selection.  If you're lucky, some junkyards will actually GIVE you some.  Of course, you WILL get plenty of looks from the folks there!  =>  

When I got home, I wanted to find out what key these things were in so I tried them with a piano and got an E and a couple of minor keys.  What I think would be cool is to take a guitar in standard tuning, pitch pipe, tuning forks at various pitches (E and A are most common) or even a metronome (some contain a few pitches; most contain at least A) and go to the junkyard to find brake drums to construct a scale or at least a chord (3 to 5 brake drums).  This is what I want to go back and do.

Anyway, I have used these things in my own compositions as well as in a folk music setting with just an acoustic guitar and voice.  They sounded great!!  Also, depending on where you strike the brake drum, you will get a slightly different pitch.  Overall, they are just a poor man's version of an orchestra bell, just to give some of you an idea of what they sound like (if you've never heard one before).

You know, there are actual classical composers in this century (as far back as the 1930s) who composed parts for brake drums in their pieces.  Also, even though I can't remember the guy's name, the guy who was the percussionist in the orchestra that performed the music in the old Warner Brother's cartoons back in the day, used brake drums for the music performed for the cartoons in addition to all sorts of odd stuff (trash cans, wire, glasses, bowls, etc.).

Finally, all this stuff has obviously come back to the forefront in the form of the modern day theater group Stomp.  I got to see Stomp about a year ago and they had a skit that was based around a junkyard and of course, plenty of brake drums and 'melodic' trash cans were used.  Fun, fun stuff!  

Oh well, I'm rambling.......  

I used to use Pearl Quarter Toms in my metal days because I liked the more metallic sound they produced due to being fabricated from aluminum. I could not find pipe in an adequate size so I just went with them. I liked them much better than Tamas. Also, there are really no bearing edges to speak of. Most of the octo/quarter/dragun toms I've seen were simply flat cut or slightly rounded... nothing special.