[chinsettawong]

Just completed my first pair of ES drivers.  

Do they make noise?  Yes, they make noise which definitely resembles music.  In fact, they sound quite OK, considering everything that went wrong in the process:

--Most of my problems were due to slop and mis-calibration in my DIY CNC router.  I tried routing the copper clad board to the correct thickness for the spacers and discovered that my bed was not level (or rather, the gantry wasn't even with the bed), which meant the spacers were pretty mangled.  They were different thicknesses at different spots and had an uneven finish.  This was so bad that they somehow didn't properly insulate the diaphragm from the stators.  I decided to just put electrical tape around the edge of the spacer / diaphragm unit and call it a day.  

--The diaphragm was not sufficiently stretched, or maybe not sufficiently glued, so it pulled back in to the center and creased in spots. I used 3M 77 spray adhesive.  I have contact cement, but am loathe to use such a nasty chemical when I can avoid it.  Guess I shouldn't avoid it next time.

--I used a microphone cable for each driver (2 twisted pairs and a shield) -- put the bias through two of the wires (one from each twisted pair) and used the remaining wires for the signal.  Thoughts on this type of wire?  Use of shield?

--I used anti-static spray that expired in 2001 for the diaphragm coating.  

--I made a connector with 3-pin XLR cable pins and a piece of wood to make the connector.  Seems to have worked alright, but obviously not ideal.
Tart

Anyway, I have the thinner spacer material on order.  For now, I am just glad (and surprised) that they work at all.  Thanks for the help, all, and will post back when I've made prettier drivers and housings.

Oh, and could anyone give me a quick comparison of rectangular ES drivers vs. round / oval drivers?  I would love to make some rectangular ones, simply because slop / backlash on my CNC would be much less of an issue.  How does the sound differ?

Congratulations on your good start. Looking at your pictures, I smile to myself thinking about the very first day I fire up my first pair of DIY headphones. They're pretty much in a lot worse case than yours. I didn't have any idea of what I was doing. My bias voltage was over 1000V and yet they didn't make any sound.

About the shape of headphones, IMO, the shape doesn't matter. You want the largest diaphragm area you can make. The area does make a huge difference.

If you want to make them rectangular shape, go ahead. I don't see any disadvantage of that at all. In fact my Float clone is rectangular and it sounds fantastic.

Good luck.

Wachara C.

 

[n3rdling]

3M Super 77 was one of the adhesives I tested.  Poor results.  Like you said, it bubbles up and makes the diaphragm lose tension.  3M 90 did better but it comes out in a thick stream so it's not easy to apply.  Contact cement blows them away though.  Any pics of your CNC?

 

[chinsettawong]

I have mentioned it many times that contact cement is the only way to glue your diaphragms.

 

[davidsh]

I can't help marvel over the simplicity of e-stat drivers. What seperates flagship material from something like a humble, basic lambda in your opinion?

 

[arnaud]

Looks can be deceiving, maybe it's possible to get something working, but there are so many variables in the design (and it's far from just the electrode) that it's a feat to make something great sounding and in a consistent manner.

 

[chinsettawong]

I can't help marvel over the simplicity of e-stat drivers. What seperates flagship material from something like a humble, basic lambda in your opinion?

In my opinion, Lambda series are very good headphones.  Even the entry level SR202 or SR207 are very good already.
 
In terms of sound quality, it's very difficult to say if the flagships are that much better.  I think it's up to a personal preference, if you don't consider about the cost factor.
 
Wachara C.

 

[chinsettawong]

I've almost forgotten that I made this pair of HE-6 to electrostatic conversion.  I'm listening to them right now. 
 

 
If anybody has a pair of broken HE-5 or HE-6 laying around, I highly recommend that you try this conversion. 

 
Wachara C.

 

[musicinmymind]

  I've almost forgotten that I made this pair of HE-6 to electrostatic conversion.  I'm listening to them right now. 
 

 
If anybody has a pair of broken HE-5 or HE-6 laying around, I highly recommend that you try this conversion. 

 
Wachara C.

 
I have and HE-400, which am not using much as I have HE-6 now. Not able to sell them as prices has come down a lot, I paid $400 and if I sell now may be lucky to get 250$.
 
Can you please suggest how to attempt this conversion, look interesting, willing to try for fun part of it. 

 

[chinsettawong]

Hi musicinmymind,
 
A friend of mine sent me this pair of broken HE-6 that he didn't want it anymore.  I took out all the parts inside, made the inside measurements, drew all the parts, and made the parts using my CNC machine.  If you have access to a CNC router, you can do it.
 
If your HE-400 aren't broken, don't do it.  My biggest headache when making headphones is to make a decent and good looking headband.  I basically just use the HE-6's cups and headband for my DIY headphones.
 

 
By the way, the diaphragm diameter of these headphones is as big as Stax SR-007.  
 
 
Wachara C.

 

[OnyxOcelot]

  Any pics of your CNC?

Sure. It is large, but I only tend to use the first third to half of the table. Still fraught with issues -- mostly stemming from a mediocre stepper driver system, somewhat under powered steppers, and the use of threaded rod rather than proper acme screws.  Nevertheless, it does seem to make parts with a fairly high degree of repeatability and accuracy.  Certainly better than I could do by hand!
 

 

[DouglasQuaid]

I have a supply of 3m 8001 static cleaner at the lab.  Is 1x10^11 too high of a resistivity for a diaphragm coating?  I see most of the solvents used in this thread are closer to 10^6-10^9.  If it's too high, I'll just buy something more effective.

 

[chinsettawong]

Yes, the resistance looks to be too high. 

 

[wakibaki]

 
Still trying to put a pair of phones together. I just have to spray the stators with insulation, stretch and glue the diaphragms, dismantle and rebuild everything with moisture membranes and the cable in place.
 
I went with this very simple adjustable headpiece, it's a bit heavy, needs some bits slimmed down, but it's at least functional for a first experiment. The headband is velcro, the earpads velour from ebay.
 
Of course I still need to build some kind of amp.
 
w

 

[n3rdling]

Those look cool.  Can you link to those earpads?  Also, I thought you were going to make those with wire stators instead of plate stators.

 

[chinsettawong]

 
 
Still trying to put a pair of phones together. I just have to spray the stators with insulation, stretch and glue the diaphragms, dismantle and rebuild everything with moisture membranes and the cable in place.
 
I went with this very simple adjustable headpiece, it's a bit heavy, needs some bits slimmed down, but it's at least functional for a first experiment. The headband is velcro, the earpads velour from ebay.
 
Of course I still need to build some kind of amp.
 
w

 
Nice to see your progress.  The headband looks unique but seems a bit heavy though. 
 
Wachara C.