ForceMajeure
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- Jan 19, 2014
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Hey guys!
I've been interested in making my own pair of CIEMs lately and I've spent the past few days diving head first into this massive thread, and I'd like to thank each and every one of you for contributing to this compendium of information!
Now, I have a few questions to ask before committing to buying gear and materials. These questions are mainly aimed towards the shell-making process, as I don't even want to think about the electronics until I can get a decent shell process down.
1) What's currently the go-to material for making investments? From an availability and ease-of-use perspective, it seems @Shilohsjustice's gelatin + glycerine technique is currently the most optimal. However, are there any other techniques that trade-off the ease-of-use and availability of gelatin for a better result? I've seen hydrocolloid, among other materials, mentioned a few times here and I'd like to know its advantages against gelatin. I'd honestly rather work with gelatin so I won't have to wait for stuff to ship over, but if other materials like hydrocolloid offer significant gains, then I'll be open to options.
2) Is there a resource from which I can buy the majority of my gear and materials? I'd like to keep shipping to a minimum, as I live in Indonesia and it isn't the most resourceful or easy-to-ship-to place. So, are there any one or two sites where I can get enough gear and materials to get started? So far, I've checked out lightningenterprises.com. Please let me know if there are other sites I should visit.
3) Is there a more common alternative for Dreve Fotoplast S/IO? This is a question I ask mainly because I want to spend time prototyping, creating solid acrylic copies of my impressions, and getting a feel for things before using Dreve material for actual shells. Can I use something like UV gel for nails as a temporary substitute? I'm aware that Fotoplast will yield different results, but I'd like to make it easier on myself first before I do anything super serious.
Again, incredibly grateful to everyone here for the knowledge you've built up for newbies such as myself to get started, and anyone who'll take the time to answer the myriad of questions I will undoubtedly have in the future. Otherwise, I can't wait to get started and join you guys on this ridiculous hobby we call DIY audio!
If there is one thing you should get from this major thread is that having the right material will yield the correct results. You will loose less money in the long run. Gaining experience curing non professional material will not give you the experience needed to deal with professional material as they behave differently and will lead to frustration.
The go to material to make investments is the professional colloid and can be reused numerous times, DO NOT heat it in the microwave.
You are lucky cause a year ago there wasn't one place where you could have bought the majority of things needed in one stop. Soundlink store in Aliexpress sells pro gear. You could use taobao to buy stuff also. Shipping things from the states outside the US is complicated. liquids cannot be shipped usually and shipping in itself is expensive, but you could try.
Soundlink don't have lacquer as far as I know, so you'll have to find a different source for that.
The best resins out there are Dreve fotoplast S/IO and Egger LP/H. you could try the Nice-Fit resin also (cheaper but apparently not the same quality but should be good enough).
Whatever you choose to do buy at least 100gr of resin, so you can master the process (good for around 10-12 pairs).
Don't think that because this is DIY it's cheaper than getting a ciem cause it's not...material are expensive and costs add up fast.
This is my opinion, may be others have another point of view.