[DCinLBV]

It was a long week of waiting. I actually used a thin layer of vasoline on my units while they cured those 5 days. It's easy to remove, and a good barrier film. The resin I used had a protracted cure time and I did not want to seal them with the polish while they were gassing off.

 

[marozie]

I finally got the cable from Westone. It's really nice, I would definitely recommend it. I had to modify the connectors a bit to get them to fit. They were a bit too narrow, so I splayed them open into more of a Y shape:

 

[brotherlen]

amazing work.

 

[SilverCans]

End up coating them in clear nail polish? Done any extensive listening, your thoughts please

 

[marozie]

Yes, I've coated them in clear gloss acrylic nail polish. I actually had a pretty bad allergic response to the urethane. Turns out there's a chemical constituent of urethanes called aliphatic isocyanate that is a potent antigen and once you've been sensitized to it you can have a fairly severe allergic response upon subsequent exposure. It's so severe that once you've been sensitized to it you can never work with it again. Apparently this was a big problem in industries that use urethanes where workers are chronically exposed to it, so there's quite a bit of research out there about it. Now, granted this stuff had a warning on it that it could lead to "skin irritation," but that's a far cry from "exposure can lead to permanent sensitization that could result in fatal allergic response." IMHO. So, I would suggest that urethanes never be used for this kind of application. I looked up the stuff that Drew used, Ding-All Ultra Clear. It's a polyester resin that contains styrene, a carcinogen. Again, I think that if they're coated in something like nail polish they're most likely safe, but man, it's quite a gamble. It would be nice if someone could find out specifically what commercial IEM/hearing aid manufacturers use, where it can be purchased, who makes it, etc. Guiseppe must be privy to this kind of information.

But they sound amazing -- worth dying over? maybe.

I can't recommend this setup enough. CI makes it sound like there are subwoofers in my ears. It's the kind of low end response that you always think you can never get out of a canalphone. DTEC has a really robust mid frequency response that is full and punchy, WBFK produces crystal clear highs that are always detailed and never harsh. It's unbelievable the balance that these achieve. I think I prefer them over all of my full size cans. The only thing they lack is soundstage. They certainly don't sound as spacious as open full size cans. I read on some website, it might have been Westone, that they can put in an extra acoustic tube that functions as a port, it's dampened but open to the outside. It's supposed to produce more of the open sound you get with open back phones. Seems like something worth exploring.

 

[SilverCans]

take a look at this:

http://www.henkel.com/us/content_dat...d_Brochure.pdf

Molding Compound targets hearing aid applications., Henkel Loctite Corporation

looks like loctite makes something

 

[piotrus-g]

Look what I've found
SwivelComm Style No. 19 Mold Insert | Westone
Fabrication Materials what do you think about "pro float ear protection" it can be quite good for IEM application i guess

 

[marozie]

Hey, good work guys! The Loctite ResinAid 3596 is perfect! The only problem is I don't think it's available in the retail market. I did a cursory seach of Loctite distributors and couldn't find any that carried it. A few possible avenues to go down: 1) contact Loctite/Henkel and find out if it's available in retail; 2) contact a Loctite distributor and ask specifically if they carry it or could get it for you; 3) reach out to Guiseppe. Maybe he'd be willing to supply us with the materials that he has access to as an audiologist. Also, the Loctite/Henkel website talked about a piece of hardware specific to these products because some of them are UV cured. I assume that hardware isn't "necessary" but it might be worth looking into as well.

The "Pro Float Floatable Ear Protection" material sounds promising. I guess it would depend on how flexible/rigid it is. If it's really soft you'd run into the same problems as you would with the Smooth On Lifecast material, namely the shifting of internal components and degredation over time.

I was also thinking, what about just using acrylic nail polish to pour the entire mold? I don't know how well it would harden through since it's designed to be applied in thin layers. But I think I'm going to pour a test mold with it and see what happens. Even if it takes several days to fully cure, it's readily availble, hard acrylic, and perfectly safe.

 

[SilverCans]

Thanks! Let us know what you find on the Loctite. Yeah they mentioned as long as it is exposed to sufficient light it will cure so that machine probably isn't needed.

Regarding the nail polish, I thought about that but I don't think it would cure. Maybe bake it at 120deg in an oven (hopefully the drivers would be able to withstand that). Then again, the nail is a different animal from skin. I don't know how safe it is for skin as its much more porous than the nail, don't know, maybe its fine.

 

[piotrus-g]

UV cured materials shouldn't be a problem i think. You know that you can put a few UV LED together and make it cure fast.

 

[marozie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverCans /img/forum/go_quote.gif Then again, the nail is a different animal from skin.

Yes, but you have to think of this from a safety perspective. I'm a research biologist at a pharmaceutical company so I can give you my perspective as someone who's been involved in toxicology and safety studies. Safety in regards to toxicity is always a huge concern when drugs are being developed so you generally want the largest safety margin possible. In pharmacology the safety margin is the difference between the therapeutic dose and the dose as which you start to see toxicity. Imagine if the safety margin for aspirin was 2 fold, how many people do you think would die or get sick from accidentally taking twice (or more) the recommended (therapeutic) dose? Whereas if the safety margin is 1000, 2000, 3000 fold somebody would purposely have to consume the entire bottle of aspirin to achieve a toxic dose, it's unreasonable to think that this could happen by mistake. If a company released a drug that had a 2 fold safety margin they would get sued left and right because any lawyer would make the case (and win) saying that it's unreasonable to assume no one could accidentally take twice he therapeutic dose by accident. So translating this to nail polish, is it reasonable to think that someone could apply nail polish to the nail without getting any of it on the cuticle or skin that surrounds the nail? Not really. So a company would never produce a nail polish (in my opinion) that resulted in any kind of irritation or toxicity to the skin because the safety margin between getting some on your skin and not getting some on your skin is so small that it's unreasonable to assume that it couldn't happen. Let's put it this way, if I were in charge a developing a new nail polish I would never move anything forward that could produce any kind of toxicity via dermal contact, it would have to be 100% safe.

 

[marozie]

Here: SafeNailPolish.com. "Safe Nail Polish Is A Reality! The Original & Real Safe Nail Polish. Strong, Odorless, Non-Toxic & Hypo-Allergenic - It's Water Based, and lasts like conventional polish!"

It's a miracle.

 

[SilverCans]

with a name like SafeNailPolish, its got to be safe!

P.S. please let us know what you find on the Loctite stuff i mentioned earlier

. Something tells me it isn't going to be cheap though, but that is just a hunch.

 

[marozie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverCans /img/forum/go_quote.gif Regarding the nail polish, I thought about that but I don't think it would cure. Maybe bake it at 120deg in an oven (hopefully the drivers would be able to withstand that).

I don't know if putting a mold filled with nail polish in an oven is such a good idea since most of the solvents in it are highly flammable.

A vacuum chamber would be ideal.

I emailed Loctite, but I'm not hopeful. I've done all sorts of searches for the specific Loctite products, hearing aid supplies, audiologist supplies, hearing aid resins, etc, etc, etc. None of this stuff is sold retail.

I poured a mold with nail polish so I'm curious to see how that turns out. After a couple hours I can already tell you that shrinkage is a problem not just for men: it has reduced about 30-40%...

What else can we use??? This is driving me crazy!!!

 

[SilverCans]

lol

I know this is nuts. I'll call around tomorrow when have a few minutes at work. Got a few couple in mind. Then again my work schedule has been nuts as of late so I might not get to it; will try.