[Garuspik]

I still believe corrugating the driver should yield a better middle ground. You can corrugate and then tension the driver more.

That's a plan for future model

And now a progress update - I've finally achieved good results in making a cup. It's rigid, strong and lightweight (~40 grams). It's made from caprolactone - some sort of lightweight and extremely strong plastic. Rather complex part, so it took a while till I've finally made it with good surface, ready for paint work.


And now you see haw rare-earth magnets are mounted inside. Such construction is very precise and eliminate errors during assembling.

 

[MuZo2]

You would need metal structure to hold that magnets in place for longer duration.

 

[GREQ]

From wikipedia:
"Caprolactone hydrolyses rapidly and the resulting hydroxycarboxylic acid displays unexceptional toxicity, as is common for the other hydroxycarboxylic acids.[9] It is known to cause severe eye irritation. Exposure may result in corneal injury."

This doesn't sound like the best plastic to be worn, especially near the eyes.
Is it a different polimer based on caprolactone, or have you somehow treated it to make it safe?

 

[Garuspik]

You would need metal structure to hold that magnets in place for longer duration.

No I've spent many time to construct this. It's reliable and lightweight. First versions indeed have metal parts.

This doesn't sound like the best plastic to be worn, especially near the eyes.
Is it a different polimer based on caprolactone, or have you somehow treated it to make it safe?

It's my bad English. Caproloctane is a mono molecule and toxic, Poliamide is macromolecule and safe.
Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyamide

Caproloctane is a powder:

Type of polyamide I've used in Russian has name 'kaprolon'. So I decided that in English it'll be caproloctane))

 

[MuZo2]

Milled part?

 

[Garuspik]

Milled part?

Yes. Had some difficulties with thin walls and achieving good clean surface.
Tried 3d printer and don't like the durability of what I've got.

 

[Garuspik]

Some photos from the assembling process. That's not a final look for sure. I could call this rather a sceleton. But soon all paint work and all smoll parts will be ready and I'll present you a final product.

 

[cskippy]

I'm not so sure about the pivot system you have currently. It doesn't allow the ear pieces to be staggered at all which could create fitment problems for some people. Everything else looks great though.

 

[Garuspik]

Cskippy - it allows even more then traditional headphones. Cups has two degrees of freedom + you can adjust clamp force of the earpads.

 

[GREQ]

The headband looks like it's very thick and heavy.
Obviously there must be a fine balance so it's able to carry the weight of the heavy magnets on either side, but it is a little concerning that it's going in the same direction as other big, heavy planars.

Have you considered designing a lighter, more conventional suspension headband system?
I usually just bend the metal parts on a headphone when I'm not happy with the clamping force, and I know others do the same.
It's actually a saving grace when there are metal parts to bend instead of a fully plastic design that forces you to be stuck with the manufacturers choice.

 

[Garuspik]

The headband looks like it's very thick and heavy.
Obviously there must be a fine balance so it's able to carry the weight of the heavy magnets on either side, but it is a little concerning that it's going in the same direction as other big, heavy planars.

Have you considered designing a lighter, more conventional suspension headband system?
I usually just bend the metal parts on a headphone when I'm not happy with the clamping force, and I know others do the same.
It's actually a saving grace when there are metal parts to bend instead of a fully plastic design that forces you to be stuck with the manufacturers choice.

Greg, headband is made from 0.7 mm thick hardened spring steel Weight is 45 grams.
I'll show you the pivot system closer. As you can see - you can adjust space between cups and so adjust clamping force.

Also you can adjust an angle

 

[WallofHooligans]

I think you could talk for ages about what you do and do not like about a design, but I don't "get" the resurgence of square-ish headbands from the likes of high end gear. I understand the value of easy to fabricate, but I don't understand why high end companies like hifiman and abyss would walk the same line as a bedroom diy-er.

 

[Garuspik]

You're not right - squareish and round headbands are of the same difficulty to produce. It's just more comfortable for my taste. And first I've made conventional headband like in He-1000.

p.s. I don't think about myself as bedroom diy-er. This project is much more serious.

 

[WallofHooligans]

I'm not sure that that's entirely true, since round doesn't necessarily mean you have a suspension system between the user's head and the band itself. I also don't see how you can consider the He-1000 to be conventional, from any standpoint.
Not intended as an insult, I mean bedroom diy-er mostly literally.

 

[leeperry]

bedroom diy-er

Lol that's ballsy, please don't upset the man as we're all very impressed by your work and look forward to seeing more pics please

Of course a dual headband like the new Hifiman's and Yamaha HP-1 woulda been nice.