[jgazal]

Happy new year to you too.
 
The tennis racquet analogy is better than my expression “wire docks”. 

 
Well, this was my first drawing:
 

 
I just do not know what is better. The way to find out is to prototype both and to assess their performance.

A mesh seems more rigid, but it is also more complex to sew and to apply tension. I speculate that it would interfere with the optimal stator/diaphragm gap, produce different acoustical reflections etc. The hardened steel wire project I have read had only the vertical axis.
 
I think the idea is compatible to square, rectangular, oval or circular stators. I just do not know what the performances of each one of those formats are.
 
And, chinsettawong, please forgive me for disturbing the thread. I know you are always encouraging people to build the transducers with readily available materials, but I just wanted share my thoughts about this exotic fiber…

 

[chinsettawong]

Hi jgazel,
 
I think you have a wonderful idea.  Just try it and let us know how it goes. 

 
Happy New Year!
 
Wachara C.

 

[jgazal]

 
How about threading a circular or oval stator design in the same way that a tennis racquet is strung? 

 

 
Not exactly a mesh. 
The vertical axis, which is more distant, applies lower force to the diaphragm. 
Space between conductors is decreased in the edges of the stator. The edge conductors could also be closer to the diaphragm if the guiding holes are perforated accordingly.

 

[n3rdling]

The mesh has to be very fine...since you have wires going in both directions, they overlap a little and so parts of the wire mesh are closer to the diaphragm and have more influence on the total force.  That's why wire stators are usually only in one direction, so there's no overlapping and all parts of the wire are an equal distance to the diaphragm.

 

[chinsettawong]

There is no point in leaving a hole in the middle of the stator, IMO.

 

[urlgr-A]

Hi all. Time for an update and question on my glacial-paced project. This is part of the first stator.
 
Each stator  consists of a perforated sheet (cut from a microwave oven door), supported and held flat by a PVC ring and a star frame made from 2 mm square brass tube.
 
My question is, does it matter if the star is electrically connected to the perforated sheet? Or is it better to isolate them from one another? They need to be joined in some way because the brass star and outer ring serve to keep the stator material as flat as possible.
 
cheers

 

[chinsettawong]

That stator certainly looks nice.  The brass star is OK to be electrically connected to the perforated sheet.  No problem!
 
Wachara C.

 

[marsupialx]

Only slightly off topic, "How possible do you think it would be to scale up the design, (pcb substrates and accompanying techniques and materials), to successfully create desk-top speakers that kick butt? I've read the entire thread and it seems like, esp. since weight is no longer an issue, one could use double sided stators with the rear copper used to solder on stiffening, such as brass tubing. Having never heard them, I don't know how far the "floats" are from being able to do unamplified singing voice type spl levels (not rocking the house) and adequate bass for a subwoofer transition (120hz to 200hz) in the near field, say two feet away. Any thoughts? By the way, absolutely blown away by what you guys are doing / have done. One more question. How successful would you expect a larger version of the "floats" would be positioned more away from the head, say 3/4 of an inch? Thank you very much. -Jeffrey Hill (marsupialx)  

 

[Q Mass]

I think I've heard of small , near field 'stats before.
I'm betting it could sound great.
 
Why bother with double sided pcb's and brass tubes?, simply glue something to the non copper side of the stators to provide stiffening.
I don't imagine it needs to be conductive.
 
(dodgy advice from cluless n00b btw)

 

[davidsh]

I'm considering making a near-field-ish set of 'stats and a step-up transformer as my physics project. Could be interesting but the materials might just be perforated metal sheets and food film depending on budget.

 

[n3rdling]

I would definitely go the perf metal route for that david.  McMaster has aluminum and steel sheets that aren't that expensive and a single sheet should be good for more than the 4 stators required.  For film, there's Mylar on ebay that isn't too expensive and will also be enough for your project.  Since the spacers will be thicker that makes things a bit easier regarding tolerances and also opens up new possibilities for materials.  I know a double sided foam tape from 3M is popular for use as a simple spacer on diyaudio.  Construction of the pair of speakers will probably be $100-150.  The most expensive part will likely be the audio transformers, probably $100-250 for the pair.

 

[davidsh]

I will have to find out about budget. I considered making the transformers myself from wires and iron cores available in the physics class. Performance will probably be horrible. Alternatively, I might consider using my srd-6 box. 
If budget is really strict I might just use food film.
Still not sure what I'll do regarding bias.
Good idea about the double sided adhessive, makes it quite a lot easier though I'm not sure the mylar/food film will stick properly to that? 

 

[chinsettawong]

No worry about using the double sided tape. It's proven to work very well by many DIYers. Well, even Martin Logan is using it for making their ESL.

You can also use cheap transfomers to make step up transformers if you are aiming to make hybrid ESLs.

Wachara C.

 

[chinsettawong]

For those who are interested in building ESL, I recommend you to check out this page.
 
Wachara C.

 

[OnyxOcelot]

  For those who are interested in building ESL, I recommend you to check out this page.
 
Wachara C.

There is also this book by Roger Sanders called the Electrostatic Loudspeaker Design Cookbook which seems quite expensive, but is probably floating around somewhere in a library or could be found cheaper than Amazon.