microphone end-cap/guts-holder

[alk509]

Hey guys, I designed this cool bottom for tube mics using emachineshop (I'll link to it, 'cause it's a bit heavy!):

http://home.comcast.net/%7Ealkoury/Mic_Bottom_Animation.gif

It fits inside the standard 2" brass pipe sold by McMaster-Carr and others. It holds a circular tuchel, and has two holes to hold 1/4" square aluminum extrusions that hold the PCB.

It comes to like 20 bucks a pop if you get 20, though :?...

Anyway, carry on!

Peace,
Al.

 

[asm]

have you contacted any of your local machine shops that have a cnc lathe?

whats the widest point of it? i'm trying to get my small lathe up and running so i can make stuff like this and not have to pay 100$ for one piece

 

[alk509]

[quote author="asm"]have you contacted any of your local machine shops that have a cnc lathe?[/quote]

Nah, not yet... I will though. :wink:

[quote author="asm"]whats the widest point of it?[/quote]

2 inches.

[quote author="asm"]i'm trying to get my small lathe up and running so i can make stuff like this and not have to pay 100$ for one piece [/quote]

Is it CNC-able? What exactly is wrong with it?

Peace,
Al.

 

[scott_humphrey]

[quote author="alk509"]Hey guys, I designed this cool bottom for tube mics using emachineshop (I'll link to it, 'cause it's a bit heavy!):

http://home.comcast.net/%7Ealkoury/Mic_Bottom_Animation.gif

It fits inside the standard 2" brass pipe sold by McMaster-Carr and others. It holds a circular tuchel, and has two holes to hold 1/4" square aluminum extrusions that hold the PCB.

It comes to like 20 bucks a pop if you get 20, though :?...

Anyway, carry on!

Peace,
Al.[/quote]

That looks great, Al.

 

[asm]

[quote author="alk509"][quote author="asm"]have you contacted any of your local machine shops that have a cnc lathe?[/quote]

Nah, not yet... I will though. :wink:

[quote author="asm"]whats the widest point of it?[/quote]

2 inches.

Is it CNC-able? What exactly is wrong with it?

Peace,
Al.[/quote]


my lathe will turn 2" stock. wish i had it running, could try to make that part for you.
i got a clisby lathe http://www.clisbyminiaturemachines.com/LatheMetal.html

from australia, no one makes a good one in the US thats small and still well built. i didnt order a chuck from them (BIG mistake). i found a chuck here and got it for 50$ (its very hard to find a 2" 3jaw chuck for less than 150$). however, i later find that the spindle threads on the lathe are 12 tpi, and the chuck is 14 or 20 or something. PITA. so now i'm trying to find someone at my school that can turn another spindle (easy to make, its like 3 cuts) with 12tpi 1/2" end.

yeh, should have gotten the damn chuck in the first place.

it's cnc-able i would figure, just have to get it up and running first

 

[alk509]

[quote author="scott_humphrey"]That looks great, Al.[/quote]

Thanks!

[quote author="asm"]http://www.clisbyminiaturemachines.com/LatheMetal.html
[/quote]

That's a beauty! keep us posted when you get it all set up!

Peace,
Al.

 

[alk509]

Here's another thing I did:

http://home.comcast.net/~alkoury/AK78_Tube_Bracket.jpg

It's a small bracket to hold the tube socket inside the microphone.

Peace,
Al.

 

[scott_humphrey]

You know, Al, you're on your way to making a mic body kit. Add a few more parts and you could make something like one of the Blue mics:

If you ever decided to do a group order, I'll bet you'd find enough people who are interested that you could keep the cost down by ordering in numbers.

Of course, organizing something like this might be a major pain.... :green:

 

[alk509]

[quote author="scott_humphrey"]You know, Al, you're on your way to making a mic body kit. Add a few more parts and you could make something like one of the Blue mics[/quote]

I've thought about that, but cost would be too high. I don't think a lot of people would want to pay $100 for a mic body kit...

Here's a question for the more mechanically inclined: I got these 6"-long pieces of 1/4" square aluminum extrusion, and I'm wondering what the best way would be to drill a hole about 1"-1.5" deep, right through the center length of the piece on both sides? The idea is to then tap the holes to take 6-32 screws, so you can mount them on the bottom piece. Here's what I'm talking about:

I tried doing it by hand, since I don't know how to hold the piece vertically in my drill press, but it took six ruined extrusions to get the two that worked...

Thanks, guys!

Peace,
Al.

 

[asm]

[quote author="alk509"][quote author="scott_humphrey"]

Here's a question for the more mechanically inclined: I got these 6"-long pieces of 1/4" square aluminum extrusion, and I'm wondering what the best way would be to drill a hole about 1"-1.5" deep, right through the center length of the piece on both sides? The idea is to then tap the holes to take 6-32 screws, so you can mount them on the bottom piece. Here's what I'm talking about:

Thanks, guys!

Peace,
Al.[/quote]


hey man, that doesnt look to bad. nice work!
about your question. your going to have to take that to a machine shop, they will be able to do it in 30 seconds, you need a 4 jaw chuck (one that can hold sided material (not cyndricial) ) and they will run a drill bit on the tailstock end of the chuck, and hog out the material. the come back with a reamer and fine cut it to the exact depth and width.

:thumb:

 

[soundguy]

[quote author="alk509"]
I've thought about that, but cost would be too high. I don't think a lot of people would want to pay $100 for a mic body kit...[/quote]


Hey al-

Id pay that in a second. The biggest thing that has kept me from building a mic is the metal work annd I havent come up with the time to screw with retrofitting a cheap mic just yet. I would be way into purchasing premade metal for a mic, that would be totally rad. I can deal with filing faceplates, but getting everything to fit just right in a mic is a bit daunting for me.

dave

 

[scott_humphrey]

Come to think of it, I too would pay $100 for a mic body kit. With the transformers and capsules that are available now it would make it really easy to build a world class mic.

 

[jrmintz]

Hey Al,

That endpiece looks great.

I don't know how to hold the piece vertically in my drill press

I used a drill press vise and was able to eyeball it successfully. I also used 4/40-3/8 screws and never drilled deeper than 1/2" or so, both of which gave me a greater margin of error, and it seems to be plenty strong. I also used steel square stock.

:thumb:

 

[alk509]

[quote author="asm"]hey man, that doesnt look to bad. nice work![/quote]

Thanks! I made that one a while ago, but it has its own problems... Thats why i want to have the bottom made.

[quote author="asm"]your going to have to take that to a machine shop, they will be able to do it in 30 seconds[/quote]

Yeah, I already have a couple of jobs I think I'm going to take to a machine shop. Thanks for the advice!

[quote author="soundguy"]Id pay that in a second.[/quote]

[quote author="scott_humphrey"]Come to think of it, I too would pay $100 for a mic body kit[/quote]

Hhhmmmm............... :idea:

[quote author="jrmintz"]That endpiece looks great.[/quote]

Thank you, Seth!

[quote author="jrmintz"]I used a drill press vise and was able to eyeball it successfully.[/quote]

What is this drill press vise you speak of?

Peace,
Al.

 

[tardishead]

$100 for a mic body kit would be great. I would get 2 at that price.
some guys do replica U47 bodies for $1000 each

 

[Gus]

Al I see you picked a good connector a tuchel.

I don't like 7 pin XLRs as much as a 6 pin. Something I noted with The 6 and 8 pin tuchels the 6 pin is rated at 300V and the 8 pin at 160V in the mouser cat.

Does anyone know if there are higher voltage rated 8 pin versions?

 

[jrmintz]

Hi Al,

What is this drill press vise you speak of?

It's a special vise designed for the table of a drill press. I don't remember what brand mine is, but I paid about $25.00 and it really makes life a lot easier - especially for the kind of thing you're doing. You can clamp the rod at right angles to the table extending down through the hole so you can work on either end. They can be simple and inexpensive with one set of jaws or have several adjustable axes like the table of a mill. It's really a great thing to have. Here are some links I found googling around:

http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4296&HS=1

http://www.gizmology.net/vise.htm

http://www2.northerntool.com/product-1/200199324.htm

http://www.cumminstools.com/browse.cfm/4,91.html

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_improvement/tools/1274041.html?page=2&c=y

Good luck :thumb: :guinness:

 

[tubemonkey35]

Yeah Al, I'd get a body too at $100.00. I'm going to do the copper pipe thing right now.

 

[alk509]

[quote author="Gus"]Al I see you picked a good connector a tuchel.[/quote]

Yeah, screw XLRs! :wink:

[quote author="Gus"]Does anyone know if there are higher voltage rated 8 pin versions?[/quote]

The 7-pin Tuchels I'm using are rated at 300V (the ones with the center pin). They do have a 7-pin one that's rated at 150V (the ones with all the pins arranged in a circle). What do you use the 8-pins for?

Peace,
Al.

 

[alk509]

[quote author="jrmintz"]Here are some links I found googling around[/quote]

Thank you so much, Seth! :thumb:

Peace,
Al.