[TopPop]

Apologies for merely linking to another thread of mine, but I'm very surprised to find little to no information in the forum archives about DIY custom IEM sleeves, as well as very little discussion about it in the other thread.

With the interest there seems to be in custom sleeves made by companies like ACS, I'm curious as why there isn't more interest in far cheaper, seemingly easy-to-make DIY alternatives.

Maybe I'm missing something here. I'll be trying to make my own within the next month. Perhaps I'll come across some unforeseen problem that makes DIY custom sleeve construction impractical. Regardless, I'll make a thread of my project, with pictures, since there doesn't seem to be one that's been made yet.

 

[mythless]

Good luck with your experiment. In my eyes, it may be more difficult than one would assume. I shall keep my eye on this thread .

 

[Bilavideo]

I think the custom tips thing was a great idea. It's certainly cheaper to customize the tip, which is the part going deep into your ear canal, than to write off the earphones you have and buy a whole new set of monitors. But the price of monitors, themselves, have come down due to competition. What's more, if you have to get impressions made in either event, there are people who would rather have the whole thing than squeeze on a tip. Insecurity being what it is, there have been enough posts by those who say that the tip is not the same as a whole custom that it's enough to have a chilling effect on those who know their bragging rights will be cut short by neighbors with complete "customs."

 

[IainB]

Given that you'll probably get a pretty nice fit, there are a few things I can think of that might make the difference.

I recently ordered a pair of custom IEMs, I talked with the manufacturer a LOT before ordering them. Lots of phone calls, lots of questions. At one point I just said 'Ok, sell me on the headphones, why do I want these, and not just high end factory line headphones'. They explained that not only does the fit make a big difference (which we can mostly rule out in this debate), but they also explained that they know how to place the components to best fit my ear.

Now, I don't know how much of that is true, and how much of that is selling me the more expensive headphones, BUT these are the kinds of things I leave to the pros. They know what needs to go where.

The other issue I see is the molds. I know it's possible to make great molds of things yourself, I work with special effects artists, and they've made molds with a cardboard box and some plaster. However you're making a mold for something that needs to fit you really well, and in a fairly sensitive part of your body. I'm not sure how you would know you got a good mold, until you're done with the whole thing and it either fits right, or irritates you, which blows a whole process, and you have to start again. Also- I know I'm not qualified in any way to be taking molds of my ears. I went once, and they couldn't do it, because I had some wax built up in my left ear. He said he could really damage my ear if he did it then. I had no idea. He did some quick tests on my ears before doing the molds also, something to do with eardrum pressure I think, but I'm not sure.

This is another kind of thing that I leave to the pros. They know what they're doing, and they get paid for it because they're good at it, and qualified to do it. I know I can get my molds, send them away, and in 1 - 2 weeks, have a kick ass set of headphones. I don't have the ability to do that myself. If you mess up, not only do you have to start again, but you might ruin a set of headphones too.

Sorry for the crazy long post, but that's why I don't think they're more popular haha.

 

[Bilavideo]

Great post!

 

[TopPop]

Great thoughts, guys. I'm glad that some dialogue is opening on this!

The thing is that I will be able to get the impressions done by a professional for free. I don't have to worry about that, thankfully... and this is really the only reason why I'm deciding to go ahead with this. If it is a success, maybe it will encourage other people to try.

Once the impressions are finished, the tricky thing will be to make both the positive molds and the sleeves themselves correctly. I'm guessing that this will take several trials to get right. However, I'm also guessing that, whatever material I end up buying for these two things, there will be plenty to spread over many iterations.

I'm thinking of using plaster for the positive mold, since I already have some of that available, and then silicone or silicone caulk for the tips, which can be purchased at the local hardware store (in a quantity which will allow for many trials!).

The place where I'm stuck in my thinking right now is how to make the sound tubes within the sleeves themselves. I'm going to have to try different combinations of both diameter and angle to the IEM.

 

[IainB]

Ah, well free molds from a professional does make a bit of a difference. There is a good set of videos online that shows the process that Ultimate Ears uses for their customs. It should be easy to find on youtube, maybe you can get some tips (no pun) from that.

I think plaster isn't a good idea, because of how delicate/solid it is. If you remove your mold from the plaster, and scrape it, you could mess it up. Even worse, you could have your negative get stuck in the solid plaster, and it could get damaged. You got them for free, but how many times can you get them for free. I would use something like alginate, same stuff dentists use to take molds of teeth. It's easy to work with, and easy to get. Hell, if you can find out what is really used, use that.

I asked the custom manufacturer about doing a soft mold, and he said that they would do it if I wanted, but he advised against it. (This applies more to the custom IEMs then homemade tips for universal phones, but whatever) He explained that anything soft is going to weather much faster, and possibly crack, or break apart. If your tips are cheap enough to make, this isn't such a big deal.

I had a big debate with myself over getting customs in the first place. They are no doubt expensive. There were a few key things that made me go through with it, and one of them was "if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing right". In these posts I'm really stressing the whole 'professional' thing. The people that make these things are so good at it, that they get paid to do it. I don't mean to discourage you from trying it though. If you're confident you can do it, then go for it. I hope you can do it. It would be awesome for you to pull it off, and for the products to sound great.

 

[mythless]

Well, that is great. Making a impression by yourself seems a bit difficult, even if you have a friend helping you.

 

[TopPop]

Wow... ummm... yeaaaahhhh... soooo...

I just watched the UE videos on YouTube. There's a lot I haven't taken into consideration.

I'm feeling less optimistic about this little "project" now.

 

[FoodSnorker]

Let's wake up a really old thread instead of making a new one.

Just wanted to share these custom in ear tips I made in about 30 minutes using a DIY ear plug mold kit. It's the first "prototype" so they look a bit rough, but this is mostly because the putty hardened far quicker than the instructions stated.

There are quite a lot of YouTube tutorials out there of varying quality, and perhaps other forum threads regarding this, but I couldn't find any.

The iem's used are the budget friendly blon bl-03 driven by Fiio BTR3, and paired with this custom tip the isolation, comfort and sound is just fantastic. I am going to make second better looking version in the near future.

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