Looking for capsule manufacturer to help with rapid prototyping some backplates

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soliloqueen

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Oct 5, 2020
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Location
Michigan
Hey guys! I don't have the equipment here to make prototypes. I'm looking for a partner to help me rapid prototype some weird backplate designs. Basically I'll send you a CAD file, you machine the backplate and assemble the capsule, measure it and send the results back to me and we can discuss how potentially to improve it. I cover all costs. Just looking for someone friendly to help me try out all my weird ideas. If we come up with something good, you can use it too.

Ari
 
you machine the backplate and assemble the capsule, measure it and send the results back to me

I'm not sure, but to me this sounds like perhaps you have little idea about just how much work goes into designing the processing steps for making a new capsule work - other than thinking up new backplate patterns

I have watched these processes ongoing for years in different variations, and I'm 99% sure that you are not going to extract any valuable information on capsule design from not having your hands dirty like this

Where are you located? There may be someone local to you, to help IRL?

/Jakob E.
 
gyraf said:
I'm not sure, but to me this sounds like perhaps you have little idea about just how much work goes into designing the processing steps for making a new capsule work - other than thinking up new backplate patterns

I have watched these processes ongoing for years in different variations, and I'm 99% sure that you are not going to extract any valuable information on capsule design from not having your hands dirty like this

Where are you located? There may be someone local to you, to help IRL?

/Jakob E.

I understand your concern and obviously I would hope there's someone local! I'm in Michigan if that helps. The reason I worded the first post the way I did was one of the designs is functionally identical to the standard k67 drill pattern except it implements some possible improvements in the manufacturing process that makes accomplishing basically the same design way easier and less time consuming. Being a drop in replacement for existing designs is kind of the whole point of the project so I actually need everything else to be the same except for the swapped back plates. If everything goes well potentially we could have a design that's electrically and acoustically the same but significantly faster to manufacture and would require less depth precision, which could allow capsule manufacturers to source design compatible backplates way easier and for less money

Sorry for the false starts here, I was on two days no sleep. I took a nap and reoriented myself to word this better. I'm looking to get some feedback specifically from people who regularly machine backplates on whether or not it makes the process easier or harder, etc
 
Sorry, no locals in Michigan that I know of..

You do realize that a drillpress, a cheap cnc-setup, and a lot of patience, gets you a long way? Get a handful of old and new capsules, re-build them and see where it goes. Or buy a handful of broken ones and fix them..?

There are online CNC machining services that'll cut you anything from a file - that's probably the closest you get without having tools of your own. The idea of having someone also "quickly assembling and testing for evaluation" seem to completely miss the point that assembley and tuning is the process most complex, hardest, and most important for capsule sound. Much more so than the last two percent of precision on the machining.

It's not entirely to me clear what you are really trying to achieve - is it that you think that existing capsule manufacturers are unable to do the experimenting themselves - or for some reason won't even try to better their product? Or is it because you have access to a new way of calculating micro-dynamics of airflow that could potentially help re-negotiating the compromises needed in a real-world capsule?

Or do you simply have the common intuition of "..how hard can it be..?" - if this is the case, I can tell you that I have a friend, being highly intelligent and mechanically skilled, who decided to dive into this some 20years ago - and hasn't yet surfaced from it..  :eek:

/Jakob E.
 
gotcha, I see the complication now

reminder: don't leave evaluation to others, especially don't depend on measured data - this tells you very little about what the mic really sounds like. Many subjectively important parameters like "resolution" are poorly quantitized, if at all.

Good luck, and much fun..!

/Jakob E.
 
soliloqueen said:
I'll try and see if I can't train someone with experience in assisting disabled people in this rather than the other way around. Thanks for your help

Hello Soliloqueen

being disabled ourselves some time ago we were in a similar place as you have lightly commented on.

Matthew McGlynn is the best resource we found.

http://recordinghacks.com/author/mcglynn/

https://microphone-parts.com/

Hope this is helpful.

 

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