[jSatch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flamerz My bad, I thought the HLMs were Nitros. I think I will test out about five different plugs, once I receive my iM716s. Not sure when I'll get those though, as I believe Amazon is backordered on them. I might be receiving them in a week or so, or I might receive them in July.

Great, looking forward to hearing about the other plugs.

I think you'll like the iM716s. I might suggest burning them in for about a week. They should flesh out a bit.

July sounds like a misprint. Give them a ring.

 

[jSatch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by feddup I'm still not sure the howard Leight plugs I got at CVS are the MAXs. They look the same but after freezing, drilling and drying out they end up being smaller in diameter than the Shure foamies or the Westone complies. I don't know if I did something wrong or what. The Shure foamies are barely large enough to stay securely so I doubt I want to go smaller. I certainly don't want to order 200 plugs until I'm sure. I am sure my memory foam pillow is very soft and comfy but that doesn't mean the plugs are big enough to stay securely.

But what I found good with the Maxes is that the flanged, or more correctly flared, end works well with my ear canal. That the remainder may be small should be less significant in obtaining a good, sound-opaque seal. flamerz will, hopefully, report on the EarSoft FX, another contoured (tapered tip, flared end) urethane plug. May be another choice for us big ear guys. Nice trademark yellow color of E-A-R again too.

The E-A-R Memory earplugs appear to be a composite of memory foam and possibly PVC, not just memory foam. Sort of like the E-A-R Classic PVC plug impregnated with memory foam. I think that a pure memory foam composition would be cost prohibitive for what is essentially manufactured as a one-time use and discard earplug. But yes, the size may be questionable for you as this was designed for mid-sized earcanals. If you've tried the E-A-R Classics and they fit well, these 'should' be OK too. For me the Classics fit pretty well, but the SQ lagged that of the polyurethane plugs. I think here the memory foam impregnation fills the open-cell PVC composition problem of the original Classics. Just my guess. But then again, these plugs are not nearly as rough as the PVC Classics, so I may be completely off. Again.

Later-

 

[jSatch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GravY um when you instert those foamies in the ear your ends are going to close up... you should trim them back..

Good eye GravY. The tubing can just barely been seen in the picture. A dark spot at the top of the opening.

I generally push back the front of the tip until it's very close to the tube before rolling (compressing) the foamie.

Or, I could just taper them back a touch, as you mentioned. Just lazy.

 

[jSatch]

Update:

I'm back with the Red-Hots (Howard Leight Max earplugs) after some time with the new Memory Foamies.

More comfortable seal, slightly better SQ. Worth making the Red-Hots, if you don't mind the little extra work, and a couple throwaways in the beginning.

What makes the Red-Hots so nice is the cushy, soft urethane foam. That it is so soft makes it a little more of a challenge to work on, but after extended periods of listening time the Red-Hots are less noticeable in my ears.

Anyone else trying any DIY foamies out there?

 

[flamerz]

Ah, I almost forgot about this thread. I'll start my project up once I get more money. But for now, I can't afford the plugs.

 

[firahs]

I made some using the Howard Leight MAX ear plugs (50pr ~$12)

First, I tried my dremel tool to make the hole; I think that the bits supplied with the dremel are meant for wood or material that is much stronger than foam since it ate up 2 pairs (throwaways

)

So, I figured that drilling a hole was not going to work. Then I tired burning a hole.

#17 wire nail heated with a lighter...worked to put a small hole through the foam, and cauterized it in the process...which will probably help with longevity (keep moisture out).

Then I slipped the plug onto a chopstick and followed it with 1/8" vinyl tubing. Then I transferred the plug onto the vinyl tubing and let it reshape itself. Afterwards, I trimmed the tubing so that it would not scratch my ear canal.

Here are the results...I only had to waste 3 pairs

 

[GravY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by firahs I made some using the Howard Leight MAX ear plugs (50pr ~$12) First, I tried my dremel tool to make the hole; I think that the bits supplied with the dremel are meant for wood or material that is much stronger than foam since it ate up 2 pairs (throwaways ) So, I figured that drilling a hole was not going to work. Then I tired burning a hole. #17 wire nail heated with a lighter...worked to put a small hole through the foam, and cauterized it in the process...which will probably help with longevity (keep moisture out). Then I slipped the plug onto a chopstick and followed it with 1/8" vinyl tubing. Then I transferred the plug onto the vinyl tubing and let it reshape itself. Afterwards, I trimmed the tubing so that it would not scratch my ear canal. Here are the results...I only had to waste 3 pairs

Looks good, from my experience of making many many pairs I would cut the plug alittle longer so that it meets up with the housing, this will give you more plug between the tip and the oustide world.. makes for a better seal

Be careful with the tubing you slid those over, even more so with them being that small, when they warm up inside your ear they could slip off and get stuck when removing the headphones.. I would rough up the vinyl tubing to give the plug alittle more to grab on to.. its not fun having to dig those out of your ear, I've had to do it once..

 

[jSatch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by firahs Here are the results...I only had to waste 3 pairs

They look nice firahs, so how do they sound relative to the stock foamies?

 

[firahs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jSatch They look nice firahs, so how do they sound relative to the stock foamies?

They sound about the same...maybe a little better. They're much more comfortable though...another thing that I noticed with the yellow shure foamies is that when they get old or when I sweat while working out with them, the glue that holds the plastic acoustic tubing to the yellow foam releases, rendering the entire foamie useless. With the foamies that I made, the hole is so much smaller than the vinyl tubing that the "squeeze" is enough to keep it secure. And I think that is the key to make good foamies. The pressure of the foam on the tubing has to be greater than the pressure of the tubing on the IEM, otherwise you're going to get foam stuck in your ear

About making the foamie the entire length of the tube...they work just like these after trying, except these are a lot easier to put in.

 

[jSatch]

Firahs, glad they sound of equal or batter quality, that's really what it's all about.

Increased comfort is a real plus too.

Thanks for the feedback!

Now that you still have 46 more pairs to go, care to try the freezing and drilling method? I'm just curious how it compares with the hot-nail approach.

May be safer as well.

Good luck, and happy listening-

 

[simplemind]

"Freezing, soaking, burning, grinding" yuckypoo!
I'm telling you guys that the rotary punch method I mentioned before is soooo easy and works like charm.

 

[jSatch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by simplemind "Freezing, soaking, burning, grinding" yuckypoo! I'm telling you guys that the rotary punch method I mentioned before is soooo easy and works like charm.

Ha, ha, ha. Very funny.

Thanks for logging back in simplemind.

Sorry, but you hadn't mentioned which earplugs you were using with the leather punch.

From this and the previous thread, “Make Your Own Shure and UM2 Foamies!” started by noorudeenshakur, the consensus appeared that whereas such compression methods worked quite well for the dense PVC compositions, but were problematic with the very soft urethane plugs. Although, dvallere had very nice results using a Japanese screw punch with urethane plugs. For me, however, this punch was too expensive for this purpose.

Yeah, I'd prefer your method to freezing and drilling. Yuckypoo, as you say. But that is if I can get it to work with the urethane plugs.

So, what earplugs have you tried with the leather punch? Any pictures?

Thanks simplemind!

Cheers-

 

[GravY]

go back to page 3 and check out my post.. using a simple scratch awl you can make a pair in about 2 min, thats from start to in your ear..

 

[GravY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by firahs They sound about the same...maybe a little better. They're much more comfortable though...another thing that I noticed with the yellow shure foamies is that when they get old or when I sweat while working out with them, the glue that holds the plastic acoustic tubing to the yellow foam releases, rendering the entire foamie useless. With the foamies that I made, the hole is so much smaller than the vinyl tubing that the "squeeze" is enough to keep it secure. And I think that is the key to make good foamies. The pressure of the foam on the tubing has to be greater than the pressure of the tubing on the IEM, otherwise you're going to get foam stuck in your ear About making the foamie the entire length of the tube...they work just like these after trying, except these are a lot easier to put in.

I would try different size foamies.. the seal should be miles ahead of the stock foams..

 

[jSatch]

In the continuing saga of aural bliss and foamies-

I tried the E-A-RSoft FX. A very nice, very soft, tapered-tip urethane plug. It is in the trademark E-A-R yellow, neon yellow actually (Not neon green as in the picture, sorry.)

I lopped off about a third of the plug after freezing. I cut off the tip-end hoping the slightly wider base-end would fit my larger ear canal. The tips maintained the compliancy, and as you can see, the shape (sans the tapered tip) of the original earplugs.

These are very soft and comfy. They fit my right ear perfectly, but not my (larger) left ear as well. Too bad, like the Hearos Super Soft, these are really a pleasure ‘in-ear’ for long periods. So, for those people with normal ear canals, this is a really nice choice. For small to medium ear canals I would try cutting off the base-end and leaving the tapered tip-end for optimal comfort and better seal.

They look really cool too. Much better than my picture.