[Big Bill]

Congratulations Ed!

 

[Limberger]

The Jaben alumod looks so tempting. If I had the tools and time, I would love to make my own shells, but alas, I am but a lowly college student.
This is now going to drive me nuts for the next couple of weeks... I probably shouldn't have bookmarked the Jaben site...

 

[sharkz]

For those interested, I was able to successfully dye Sennhesier pads.
 
Basically I used RIT liquid dye. I filled a smaller disposable tupperware container with hot water from a kettle. I put dumped some salt (several spoonfuls) and about half the container of liquid dye. I then put a few spoonfuls of white vinegar in. I then put the pads in and let them submerge, squeezing them full of dye every few minutes. I also added hot water every 10 minutes or so for about 45 minutes.
 
After 45 minutes in their dye bath, I then squeezed the pads out and washed them under cold water until no more dye came out. The last step was to fill my original container (washed out of course) with a tiny bit of laundry detergent and squeeze the pads in that a few times (more dye coming out) until the liquid coming out was mostly clear. I then rinsed them for several more minutes and dried them.
 
So far so good, no dye bleeding and nice, dark black pads. Looks much better with my wood shells than the yellow pads.

 

[hi-fiber]

can those round mesh grilles be made up from a cheap microphone windscreen?
 
man! i hate ideas... they run around your head for quite a while and makes me concentrate less on my day job.

 

[Big Bill]

Quote:

For those interested, I was able to successfully dye Sennhesier pads.
 
Basically I used RIT liquid dye. I filled a smaller disposable tupperware container with hot water from a kettle. I put dumped some salt (several spoonfuls) and about half the container of liquid dye. I then put a few spoonfuls of white vinegar in. I then put the pads in and let them submerge, squeezing them full of dye every few minutes. I also added hot water every 10 minutes or so for about 45 minutes.
 
After 45 minutes in their dye bath, I then squeezed the pads out and washed them under cold water until no more dye came out. The last step was to fill my original container (washed out of course) with a tiny bit of laundry detergent and squeeze the pads in that a few times (more dye coming out) until the liquid coming out was mostly clear. I then rinsed them for several more minutes and dried them.
 
So far so good, no dye bleeding and nice, dark black pads. Looks much better with my wood shells than the yellow pads.

I cant thank you enough for sharing this with us Gary! Please let us know if they begin to bleed at all??
 
Thanks again, Bill!
 

 

[sharkz]

Will do. Feeling pretty good about them now, the coloring doesn't look dyed at all, they are indistinguishable in color from my bowls or comfies. I am not real worried about bleeding either because I rarely listen in situations where I am wet or sweating heavily. After leaving them on wet paper towels and squeezing them out before, there was no color run off at all. I think the laundry detergent pulled out the lose dye and locked the rest in, I think that is one of the keys of dying these pads that people were missing.

 

[Bilavideo]

 

The Jaben alumod looks so tempting. If I had the tools and time, I would love to make my own shells, but alas, I am but a lowly college student.
This is now going to drive me nuts for the next couple of weeks... I probably shouldn't have bookmarked the Jaben site...

I checked it out at the Jaben website.  It's a very pretty design and for $99, you're getting it at a reasonable price.  That said, you should not shrink from making your own aluminum mod.  Everybody has their own idea of the perfect shell - even the perfect aluminum shell.  How thin do you want your aluminum?  Do you want the driver that far from your ear?  This Jaben design is quite professionally done but it represents one of any number of possible visions of what an aluminum shell should look like.  If you want to make the mod, do it.  Bring your own vision to life.
 

 

[Limberger]

 
Quote:

 

I checked it out at the Jaben website.  It's a very pretty design and for $99, you're getting it at a reasonable price.  That said, you should not shrink from making your own aluminum mod.  Everybody has their own idea of the perfect shell - even the perfect aluminum shell.  How thin do you want your aluminum?  Do you want the driver that far from your ear?  This Jaben design is quite professionally done but it represents one of any number of possible visions of what an aluminum shell should look like.  If you want to make the mod, do it.  Bring your own vision to life.
 

I don't know how thick I would want it. I would think some sound signature would change with thickness.  Thickness would also determine how heavy the final product would be.  I like how the Jaben ones are able to take the driver with the plastic still attached so that the driver need not be liberated.  I like the general shape of the Jaben's and the grado shell in general, but could definitely see just rings working very well as they could look very sleek and would probably be a bit lighter.  What are the benefits of having the driver close vs far? Then the issue of pads comes into play.  So many variables......which means so much testing....which means so much listening to music!  Hooray!

 

[kite7]

eclein, you may want to take note of this if you don't want to scratch your wood unintentionally. You should avoid moving the cup holder parts to the extremes (far inward or far outward) as well so you don't have to modify anything. A long time ago when I had Woody SR225 I didn't realize this
 
 

 

 

[kitesrfun1]

so after i vented the driver i noticed a buzzing/rattle in one of the cups. i tried sticking bluestix (blue tack or sticky tack) to the magnet and nothing happened. do i really need dynamat for this?

oh and there definitely is something loose in the cup when i shake it. should i proceed to dissect and liberate the plastic housing to pluck it out?


 

 

[Bilavideo]

 

eclein, you may want to take note of this if you don't want to scratch your wood unintentionally. You should avoid moving the cup holder parts to the extremes (far inward or far outward) as well so you don't have to modify anything. A long time ago when I had Woody SR225 I didn't realize this
 
 

 

A more elegant solution may be to simply replace the plastic gimbal crescent with a slightly larger aluminum ring, with a hole drilled through the top so it can accommodate the gimbal rod.  Fortunately, I have just such a ring.  I'll send it out to you so you can perform the appropriate surgery.  All the big Grados - from the RS2 up - chuck the plastic in favor of aluminum.  
 

 

[Melvins]

So the normal solution would be to pull out the plastic pin (as Bill shows in his videos)? Correct?

 

[etteoh]

Quote:

 

A more elegant solution may be to simply replace the plastic gimbal crescent with a slightly larger aluminum ring, with a hole drilled through the top so it can accommodate the gimbal rod.  Fortunately, I have just such a ring.  I'll send it out to you so you can perform the appropriate surgery.  All the big Grados - from the RS2 up - chuck the plastic in favor of aluminum.  
 

 
Actually Bill, only the RS1 up has the full moon aluminium gimbals. The plastic one is still being used on the RS2. Regarding the aluminium gimbals, what diameter/measurements did you use to make them?
 
 

 

[Bilavideo]

 

So the normal solution would be to pull out the plastic pin (as Bill shows in his videos)? Correct?

When I first started experimenting with shells, I made them big and bold.  I didn't worry about fitting them to the C clamps.  They were robust.  You could mame somebody with one of those early shells.  In time, I got feedback from friends who said they'd like to see them scaled down a bit, so as to use them in the gimbals.  As I did, I found the shells to become more fragile.  It's tough because you have to clear 2" to slide them over the plastic inners but you have to stay within 2.5" to get them into the C clamps.  Wood being more porous and spongey than either plastic or aluminum, I found the 1/8" shell walls unpleasantly thin.  I suspect that one reason Grado put a thicker ring at the end of the SR2 and SR1 was to brace the emaciated walls for some shock resistance.  The thicker 1/4" ring at the mouth of these headphones gives the impression that you're getting a thicker shell than you really are.  It's certainly more pleasant to look at.  It's really the seedling of the later hammerhead on the mushroom top of the GS1000.  With the drill press, I've found that using a 2 3/8" hole saw (which actually produces an outer wall of 2 1/4") to be the best fit but I've also cut slightly thicker shells, using the 2 1/2" hole saw.  These latter shells still fit within the  C clamps because they cut an outer diameter of 2 3/8".  One trick is to enlarge the holes for the lateral pins connecting the cups to the C clamps.  Doing so allows greater ease as the clamps are brought closer in.  This has allowed me, on some projects, to get away with larger shells, even if the clearance is, as you've noticed, a little more hairpin.  On the other hand, such shells are thicker and a little more able to handle some knocks and bumps.
 

Actually Bill, only the RS1 up has the full moon aluminium gimbals. The plastic one is still being used on the RS2. Regarding the aluminium gimbals, what diameter/measurements did you use to make them?

My mistake.  Thank you for correcting that.  I wondered, while I said it, whether Grado did something to lessen their resemblance to the more expensive RS1s.  So far, I've made aluminum gimbals with 3" rings, but that was for the aluminum project, which is unapologetically big and brash.  After comparing other aluminum shell designs, including the PS1 and the HP1000, I've decided that on my next aluminum project, I'll let the inners rest at 2", with rear chambers at 2 1/4" and with three points (the front lip, the middle ring and the end "hammerhead lite") at 2 1/2".  This "middle ring" of which I speak is the gimbal that will replace the old plastic gimbal.  Having already moved in that direction, I have ordered the materials to make  2 1/2" aluminum rings.  Knock on wood.  Such rings will be useful for both types of shells - aluminum and wood.  I had previously envisioned using wood on wood Grado mods, but - as my son points out - aluminum has a structural strength that wood of that diameter simply doesn't have.

 

[etteoh]

Time to add a couple of pics of my woodies
 

 
Those aren't aluminium gimbals - they were sprayed back then to match the brush metal shells of my SR325is. They seem to be doing ok with the cocobolos too so I decided to keep them this way.
 

 
Hanging on a cup holder The side of the wood got a bit damaged when I was replacing the screens. These are from my SR325is and they are tough as hell.
 
 

 
Maybe it's just me, but I actually kinda like the silver against the cocobolos. Hopefully one day I will be able to get some real aluminium ones to replace these.