[urlgr-A]

Nice work there!  Strangely enough, I am right now working on a DIY Stax plug, which should fit your socket yes? 
I will post some pics shortly.
 
urlgr-A

 

[kevin gilmore]

you should still put in the hole for the center pin just in case you want to
run old headphones.

 

[chinsettawong]

  Nice work there!  Strangely enough, I am right now working on a DIY Stax plug, which should fit your socket yes? 
I will post some pics shortly.
 
urlgr-A

Of course the Stax plug fits my socket perfectly. 

 

 
 
 

  you should still put in the hole for the center pin just in case you want to
run old headphones.

 
Yes, sir!  I'll remember to do that next time.

 

[Congo5]

  Merry Christmas to everybody!
 

 
 
Those look Nice! 
 
   Today I tried UDPE and it does not machine nicely for me, very stringy
or I am using the wrong bit.
Want to try Delrin.

also have been listening to the JFloat's and just can not seem to want to wear them
although except for low bass the do sound good.

this is made with an XLR connector and castable urethane

 

[kevin gilmore]

you mean hdpe?
 
delrin works ok.
 
ptfe works much much better, use carbide bit and 3000 rpm

 

[Congo5]

  you mean hdpe?
 
delrin works ok.
 
ptfe works much much better, use carbide bit and 3000 rpm

UHMW ?
 
was sold to me as ultra high density polyethyline
 
Ok --thanks on the teflon recomendation

 

[n3rdling]

You might also want to try a single flute bit.  Works cleaner with plastics at least.

 

[kevin gilmore]

polyethylene melts at a very low temperature, so doing that correctly
requires careful selection of bits, speeds, and more importantly water
cooling.
 
Teflon is bunches easier and also more expensive
 
Delrin also works easier

 

[lamode]

Respect for such an ambitious project! It's great that you are driving the cans direct from the tube. Would be very interesting to hear these!

 

[Oktyabr]

Delrin, in my experience, has a very quick "flash point".  One second it's hard and tooling nicely, the next second, just a degree or two warmer, and it runs like candle wax.  YMMV.

 

[jgazal]

It seems that stators are well addressed with PCB’s, but I have seen an antique electrostatic project which stators are made of hardened steel wire.

Then I was reading an interesting article in Scientific American about the first human propelled helicopter, which was coupled with a liquid crystal polymer belt, called Vectran. While I was searching the physical specifications of such fiber, I found some metal clad fiber made of similar polymers. For instance: Not-So-Heavy Metal: Electrical Conductivity in Textiles.
 
Is it possible to use such metal clad fiber to build stators?
 
I was thinking a perforated frame to braid a continuous spool of such metal clad fiber while keeping enough gaps to stay acoustically transparent.
 
What tension would be needed to make a reasonable rigid stator with such fabric?

 

[chinsettawong]

Hi jgazal,
 
You can of course use any conductive material to make a stator.  However, the more important things are the flatness and rigidity.  If you are sure that you can do a good job with the fabric wires, I would say that it'll certainly work.
 
For ESL, many people like to build thier speakers using electrical wires.  You need to build a jig to hold the wires and stretch them.  It's not an easy job.  Also you'll have to consider the thickness of the insulator of the wires as it will affect the spacing between diaphragm and stator.
 
Anyway, if you like to give it a try, go ahead.  Please report back what you've found out. 

 
Happy New Year!
 
Wachara C.

 

[n3rdling]

Wire stators are a legit alternative to metal plate/PCB.  Acoustat used tensioned wires in their ESL speakers back in the day.  Stax used a copper mesh for the SR-Omega stators.  For a given spacer thickness, wires are a little less efficient, but they are much better at preventing arcing since the wire has a round edge facing the diaphragm.  A cool DIY project would be a stator made from magnet wire - cheap and already insulated for you.

 

[jgazal]

Thank you both! 
 
I believe the mentioned metal clad fiber (mcf) is not available for consumers, unless someone orders a very large batch. 
 
What I find interesting is that the manufacturer can add insulation and tailor the clad conductivity. 
 
I had in mind a stator like this, with “wire docks”:
 
 

 
Then just “sew” the stator.
 
I drew extruded edges in each tunnel, to evenly spread the tension along the wire and to avoid damage in the insulation when pulling both ends.
 
I just do not know how hold/clamp the mcf at both ends to keep it tensioned.

 

[urlgr-A]

Hi jgazal.
Happy New Year to you.
That is a great idea. 
Are you proposing just a parallel set of conductors or a mesh pattern? I do not know what a single set of parallel conductors would do to the sound but you might have issues with modal resonances unless the conductor wires are very tight - but you already mentioned that didn't you?
 
How about threading a circular or oval stator design in the same way that a tennis racquet is strung? 
One could use flattened wire conductors instead of round section to increase the stator 'non-hole' area  without increasing stress on the stator frame.
 
I don't know whether the mesh stators used in the Stax SR-Ω are under tension  but they are reinforced with a star-shaped support made of resin or aluminium.  Your design may remove the need of any support  

. 
 
http://wiki.faust3d.com/wiki/index.php?title=SR-%CE%A9