[RubbberDucky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meraj.salek /img/forum/go_quote.gif where do i sign up?

Doesn't that sound like fun? Plus there would be so many people on Head-Fi that would love to get in on it and they would provide awesome feedback.

 

[Bilavideo]

It would be cool if we had a supplier who did nothing but make empty custom molds so that DIYers could put in whatever driver configuration they liked. It would be even cooler if that supplier did this for a reasonable price.

 

[RubbberDucky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilavideo /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would be cool if we had a supplier who did nothing but make empty custom molds so that DIYers could put in whatever driver configuration they liked. It would be even cooler if that supplier did this for a reasonable price.

Agreed. What about the ones in China you were talking about?

 

[Billyk]

Been away from the thread for a while, sorry if this has been covered. I used to make reasonably complex parts from a vacuum molding process that was fairly straight forward. I had a master from which I made a silicone mold and then a cast of the master out of several materials. This was all for ultrasonic monitoring devices so everything was approved for use by humans. I could go into details if you were interested. I am sure it should translate into what you want to do.

 

[RubbberDucky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billyk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Been away from the thread for a while, sorry if this has been covered. I used to make reasonably complex parts from a vacuum molding process that was fairly straight forward. I had a master from which I made a silicone mold and then a cast of the master out of several materials. This was all for ultrasonic monitoring devices so everything was approved for use by humans. I could go into details if you were interested. I am sure it should translate into what you want to do.

Are you saying you are able to produce custom ear molds? Or are you saying you might know what we could use for the molds? I am slightly confused, as you can tell. hahaha!

 

[Billyk]

It's more like I know a process by which we can create the custom ear molds. Starting with an impression from the ear we make a silicone mold and then make the casting out of whatever material you desire as long as it has a liquid stage. You do this by creating a vacuum chamber, placing the mold into it and drawing the casting material into the mold by creating the vacuum. You also de-air the material in the vacuum first to insure no air bubbles in your casting. I think a vacuum pump from Harbor Freight for air conditioner service and a bell jar isn't that much so the set-up should be a reasonable cost.

 

[RubbberDucky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billyk /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's more like I know a process by which we can create the custom ear molds. Starting with an impression from the ear we make a silicone mold and then make the casting out of whatever material you desire as long as it has a liquid stage. You do this by creating a vacuum chamber, placing the mold into it and drawing the casting material into the mold by creating the vacuum. You also de-air the material in the vacuum first to insure no air bubbles in your casting. I think a vacuum pump from Harbor Freight for air conditioner service and a bell jar isn't that much so the set-up should be a reasonable cost.

Plus you could use the setup more than once, if I am not mistaken... I wish there was a video of this or something. Id love to see how it works!

 

[Billyk]

Yes you could use this to make lots of stuff. It's a cool process I learned about 30 years ago when I was working for a small shop that made ultrasonic transducers that were used in hospital for prenatal monitoring.
Very straightforward process. You mix up the silicone, place it in the chamber, draw a vacuum so it removes all of the air, eliminating bubbles. Pour a cast of what you want to mold and let it dry. Carefully split the mold and remove the casting. Here is the cool part. put your mold together and make a hole in it to allow a piece of tubing to fit in it in a way that the casting material can enter the void. Put the tubing in that hole and place the whole thing in the vacuum chamber. You will need to figure out how to get the tubing out of the chamber while allowing you to pull a vacuum. I had a hole in the bottom of the chamber and I sealed it with wax and vacuum oil. So now you have your mold with the tubing in the chamber, the tube leads out of the chamber. Put the end of the tube that is out of the chamber in the de-aired (do that first, forgot that part) casting material. Now when you pull a vacuum on the chamber it will draw the casting material into the mold. If all goes well you will have an accurate casting with NO bubbles.

Hope I explained it well!

 

[RubbberDucky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billyk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes you could use this to make lots of stuff. It's a cool process I learned about 30 years ago when I was working for a small shop that made ultrasonic transducers that were used in hospital for prenatal monitoring. Very straightforward process. You mix up the silicone, place it in the chamber, draw a vacuum so it removes all of the air, eliminating bubbles. Pour a cast of what you want to mold and let it dry. Carefully split the mold and remove the casting. Here is the cool part. put your mold together and make a hole in it to allow a piece of tubing to fit in it in a way that the casting material can enter the void. Put the tubing in that hole and place the whole thing in the vacuum chamber. You will need to figure out how to get the tubing out of the chamber while allowing you to pull a vacuum. I had a hole in the bottom of the chamber and I sealed it with wax and vacuum oil. So now you have your mold with the tubing in the chamber, the tube leads out of the chamber. Put the end of the tube that is out of the chamber in the de-aired (do that first, forgot that part) casting material. Now when you pull a vacuum on the chamber it will draw the casting material into the mold. If all goes well you will have an accurate casting with NO bubbles. Hope I explained it well!

I am getting totally confused between Casts and Molds and how we would use the Impression from our ear.

Bear with me, I am a slow learner, haha!

 

[Billyk]

Sorry to be so confusing...
What I mean in my descriptions is this. We start with an impression of our ear canal (probably from a kit or an audiologist), from this we make our mold, once we have a mold we then make the casting. The casting should be identical to the impression but out of the material we want to make our IEMs from. I am sure I am leaving out details like how to make a mold that leaves a hollow for the transducers, etc.

 

[RubbberDucky]

Its ok, I was just confused on the definitions of the words and how you were using them. Ive never done any molding or casting...

That part might be a little tricky, but I suppose we could drill out the spaces, at least for a single driver.

I wonder if we could use this process with acrylic, I dont know how to get it in a liquid stage, etc.

 

[Billyk]

It would be liquid before you added a catalyst/hardener. Check out these folks.

 

[RubbberDucky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billyk /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would be liquid before you added a catalyst/hardener. Check out these folks.

I see now... That's a cool site. It would be interesting to make the molds out of different materials. I wonder why they use acrylic.

 

[Bilavideo]

They use acrylic because it's hard and clear. Acrylic is the material of choice for a glass substitute. It's the most sought-after plastic for imitating crystal and other high-quality glass. It just looks awesome.

 

[Bilavideo]

HOMEMADE CABLE

I'm not patient enough to braid my cable, but I bought several colors of wire (22 gauge I think) off of a seller on Ebay. I took four such wires and made a four-wire cable which is multi-colored, light and extremely strong. I estimate the cost of this four-wire cable to be about $6. Add to it the cost of a right-angle connector and we're talking about $8 plus elbow grease. The home-grown cable brings means that, with the right driver, a sub-$50 BA monitor is possible.