Needed a Mic, Builded a Mic

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zayance

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Feb 25, 2009
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Location
France/Swiss
Hi Guys, so here is my DIY Mic body beeing finished, most of the hard labor has been done for a while actually  ::), still need to drill some holes had to finish the grill, and i did that today, by hand, pretty happy with the result, i just need to add a fine mesh at the back, and epoxy glue or solder paste, as seen on Youtube Neumann U87 build, we will see.
The body has been made by a very good friend of me that helped me out with this one, he is a great Lathe and Mill worker, no CNC here, the process was not that hard having such a guy with me, really, thanks to him, but some tools were a little old for that kind of job, or not adequate, but everything went ok so far no surprise, and my drawings were ok  :).
All the material was taken from spares in my friends place, boy he had it all  ;D.
I opened some Mics here and there to get myself an idea of how to, and did some research on prodigy and everywhere that could lead me to here. Didn't wanted to make it look like a Mic that was on the Market, so there was a little, and i say a little thinking around that, because all in all it's still looking like a Microphone no?  :D :)
The nylon part is done by me, not bad for a rookie  ;).
PSU is from Modushop, the Aluminium handles fixings are done by me, with the attentive eyes of my friend, i was getting a lesson on the Mille :), it was a while i haven't worked with that kind of machine, funny how things gets back as driving a Car.
Thanks to Franck for the front and back panel.
I actually wanted to propose this design here in a small quantity about a year ago, but the quotes i had from Germany and France were a little too high for making this worth, maybe one day who knows, but i've learned a lot in the process, and i'm very very happy with the result, so what else?
Yes one thing, get myself two of Skylar's Mic body  ;D, man you rock, i admire your perseverance, can't wait to build one mic on your Bodys.

Anyway here it is, thanks to Zebra50 for his help, to Gustav for the project, Franck for the engravings, and to all of you guys in this Forum that motivated me in a huge manner, because i've never tought of building such a thing two years from now, so thanks to Prodigy forum and members.

grillwork.jpg

grillclose.jpg

insidegrill.jpg

micgrillclose.jpg

micfrontguts.jpg

micgutsside.jpg

psumic.jpg



 
brilliant!

skylar's bodies do look amazing... but you gotta love the one off, hand-crafted look of this mic too!

also, the power supply looks as good as anything out there - i really like it.

what circuit? what capsule? how do you like the sound?
 
brilliant!

skylar's bodies do look amazing... but you gotta love the one off, hand-crafted look of this mic too!

also, the power supply looks as good as anything out there - i really like it.

what circuit? what capsule? how do you like the sound?

Thanks a lot.
Circuit is G7, Capsule is Thiersh Blueline, so far i've tested on my little test rig, not in studio yet, but while listening back thru Beyerdynamic headphone, i really liked the warm in your face sound with a nice sparkling medium, no harsh "ssss", very nice, i could hear a tiny hum at the back, still need to solder the grill and check all of that, but this little sound check made me smile in a good way, after all that i'm sure i'll be more than impressed, will report back when all will be done.
I will test some other components capsule etc... the mic body it's pretty easy to work with, i've tought about the way to fix things inside the mic in that matter.
 
nice. how much did that capsule end up costing?

EXPENSIVE  :eek:  :'(, but as usual, quality costs  ;), 349.68EUR, including PP fees, Holder and shipping, and they had a price break of 10% on the Bluline  :D, 25% on the redline, at that time, IIRC.
 
that's about what i would expect... from all reports i've heard those capsules are worth it!  Smiley

Well, i'm the kind of guy who is ok to pay a little more for good quality, and the Thiersh service is very good, very nice people, i had lost one of the set screws a month after buying the capsule, just mailed them and they got me a set of them for free shipping at their charge, seems nothing but screws, but these days that kind of service is Golden, and when this baby will be done, i'm sure the sound will be as good, so yes worth every penny  :)
 
That is an absolute beauty! Good work on the grill, it looks really professional.
Wink

Thanks to you my friend, yes the grill went great, i did it very quickly actually, funny how sometimes things are easy when everything seems to make them hard, still need to add a tiny mesh at the back and i want to try solder paste in an hoven, but don't want to mess things up, again maybe one of the things that seem to be hard ::)

PS: Any idea of what type of solder paste i could use? I have an idea but would love to have some more knowledge from you guys :)
 
I'm interested to know how you did the nylon part?

On a Lathe obviously, with my friend watching that i don't kill myself :D and choosing the right tools for the job to be done nicely, and speed etc...., i moved very slowly  :), did screw up one of them tough, but i was feeling more confident working on Nylon than Aluminium and Brass on a lathe, the brass body was a tube, and you must be carefull when working on a tube  :), so...

Here are some close pictures for you to have a look, since it was a prototype, it's not as clean as if it was for production, and if you watch the body and Grill basket they will be tighten in tapped holes in Nylon for this mic body, i wanted to add brass inserts for if it was the real deal made by a compagny, yes this adds up also, not as much as everything else but still, and in Dulrin Material.
So my friend and i did a simple tool for beeing able to drill the holes in the Nylon, cause we didn't had no 3 / 5 Axe CNC Machinery  :) while beeing able to drill the sides for the Basket screws, without moving too much and this on a mill , if you know what i mean?, this tool will be in a divider plate (don't know the exact english name) so to work in degrees.
If this can help?

Yes the Body Tube is thick  ;D
nylonup.jpg

nylondown.jpg

tool.jpg







 
Allright finally got my hands on some descent fine brass mesh, and finally finished that headbasket, it went all good, i've epoxy glued because soldering would have been too much of a hassle for one mic, and solder paste costs some money so....

Anyway mission accomplished, a little polish and voila  :)

assembly.jpg

frontviewi.jpg

insiden.jpg

allc.jpg
 

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