Stitch
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2008
- Posts
- 699
- Likes
- 13
My first headphone related mod, yay.
I work in shifts as a service and maintenance tech and this week was night shift. The entire week has been smooth and easy with almost zero machine failures so we had very little to do besides watching discovery on tv and surfing the internet. So I decided to put that time to some good use.
Since I got the headphone stands I have been looking to make the bottom of the feet anti slip. I could have just slapped a piece of rubber on the aluminum foot but I didn't want to alter the foot itself. So I thought to make a plastic form that fitted the foot and paste a slap of rubber underneath that. Problem, there was nothing that was large enough.
In the workshop I found some plastic circle pieces with a smallest diameter of +/-85mm and a large diamater of 110mm and a hight 20mm. Perfect alternative. So I made a totally new foot.
The entire process is pretty straightforward but I still want to share it
The material was relatively soft so easy to work with, but also easily damaged.
The photo's are made with my cell, so not really that good but it should suffice.
First the tools:
Ruler, in this case a aluminum strip I found lying around
Marking gauge
Marker or pencil of some kind
Scriber
Drill
Drill bits, 4,5 and 8mm
Sanding paper, coarse and fine grit
Spray paint
First I measuerd the screwholes of the original foot, 78mm in between so 39mm out of the center.
In my case the center was easy to find, it had a spot on it
.
Drew a straight line with the ruler and determined and marked the place of the holes with the scriber.
The screw are M4 so I drilled 4,5mm holes holes all the way through. The screw heads are 7mm so 8mm is more than enough to let them move freely. Careful not to drill them all the way. Its important to drill from the bottom to the top of the foot. Stop at about 5 to 6 mm from the top. Less than 5 and the screws are to long for the thread in the stem and the stems will have a space between the foot, so 6 is a safer bet. Use the marking gauge to determine this.
Be sure to check this in between drilling to make sure you aren't going to far.
Now its time to roughen it up a bit so the paint sticks better. Sanding with the coarse to get the rough parts flattened out and than with the fine grit to make a a bit more smooth. Cleaned it all up after your done, making sure all the dust is gone and the surface is dry and free of grease.
Find a good spot to paint it. A good ventilated area is a must since spray paint is pretty nasty on the lungs and throat. Also something to protect the surface is smart. I used an old newspaper since thats what we make, we got tons of em
Applied the paint in layers. 2 or 3 thinner layers are better than 1 thick layer. Try to put the same amount on the entire surface. Let it dry completely in between paint jobs. I also used industrial scotch brite after it dried to make for a better surface for the next layer but this isn't necessarily needed.
Now the brand new foot is done
Only thing left is the rubber underneath, which in haven't found yet.
Basically every material can be used for this. Mine was pretty soft and easy to work with. On the way home one of the two was lying lose in my bag and got scraped and scratched a bit. Have to at least sand and paint it over again.
All in all i had a fun time doing this, and it killed my time a for a few hours.
I work in shifts as a service and maintenance tech and this week was night shift. The entire week has been smooth and easy with almost zero machine failures so we had very little to do besides watching discovery on tv and surfing the internet. So I decided to put that time to some good use.
Since I got the headphone stands I have been looking to make the bottom of the feet anti slip. I could have just slapped a piece of rubber on the aluminum foot but I didn't want to alter the foot itself. So I thought to make a plastic form that fitted the foot and paste a slap of rubber underneath that. Problem, there was nothing that was large enough.
In the workshop I found some plastic circle pieces with a smallest diameter of +/-85mm and a large diamater of 110mm and a hight 20mm. Perfect alternative. So I made a totally new foot.
The entire process is pretty straightforward but I still want to share it
The material was relatively soft so easy to work with, but also easily damaged.
The photo's are made with my cell, so not really that good but it should suffice.
First the tools:
Ruler, in this case a aluminum strip I found lying around
Marking gauge
Marker or pencil of some kind
Scriber
Drill
Drill bits, 4,5 and 8mm
Sanding paper, coarse and fine grit
Spray paint
First I measuerd the screwholes of the original foot, 78mm in between so 39mm out of the center.
In my case the center was easy to find, it had a spot on it
Drew a straight line with the ruler and determined and marked the place of the holes with the scriber.
The screw are M4 so I drilled 4,5mm holes holes all the way through. The screw heads are 7mm so 8mm is more than enough to let them move freely. Careful not to drill them all the way. Its important to drill from the bottom to the top of the foot. Stop at about 5 to 6 mm from the top. Less than 5 and the screws are to long for the thread in the stem and the stems will have a space between the foot, so 6 is a safer bet. Use the marking gauge to determine this.
Be sure to check this in between drilling to make sure you aren't going to far.
Now its time to roughen it up a bit so the paint sticks better. Sanding with the coarse to get the rough parts flattened out and than with the fine grit to make a a bit more smooth. Cleaned it all up after your done, making sure all the dust is gone and the surface is dry and free of grease.
Find a good spot to paint it. A good ventilated area is a must since spray paint is pretty nasty on the lungs and throat. Also something to protect the surface is smart. I used an old newspaper since thats what we make, we got tons of em
Applied the paint in layers. 2 or 3 thinner layers are better than 1 thick layer. Try to put the same amount on the entire surface. Let it dry completely in between paint jobs. I also used industrial scotch brite after it dried to make for a better surface for the next layer but this isn't necessarily needed.
Now the brand new foot is done
Only thing left is the rubber underneath, which in haven't found yet.
Basically every material can be used for this. Mine was pretty soft and easy to work with. On the way home one of the two was lying lose in my bag and got scraped and scratched a bit. Have to at least sand and paint it over again.
All in all i had a fun time doing this, and it killed my time a for a few hours.
