Occasionally, when I cannot sleep, I find myself in the workshop making something I don’t need, but it is good therapy and takes my mind off matters keeping me awake. I am retired and, while do not miss my old job, I do miss being productive.
Handheld Condenser Project No. 62024B -
This model is constructed with a new, unmarked $14 Shure Beta 57a microphone handle, a $3 grill, an electret circuit board, and $10 condenser capsule, all purchased on eBay.com sometime ago and just collecting dust in my parts closet. The capsule mount is a hand-cut PVC pipe fitting shaped to suit the purpose. The capsule is mounted on toothpicks set in holes I drilled in the PVC bit, affixed for all time with with excessive globs of CA glue. The last image depicts one of my little watchmaking desk vices which are very useful in this type of project. Every man needs at least one vice, eh?
That’s it. Nothing fancy and certainly no big deal, but it sounds OK and provides a low cost, yet effective, microphone with computer speech recognition software and (with 10dB attenuation) with an amateur radio transceiver. The photos tell the rest of the story. As always, it is gratifying to enjoy that sweet sense of personal satisfaction derived from a successful home-brewed project. A man needs a hobby, right? // James
(PS - I cannot decide which grille I like better. )
Handheld Condenser Project No. 62024B -
This model is constructed with a new, unmarked $14 Shure Beta 57a microphone handle, a $3 grill, an electret circuit board, and $10 condenser capsule, all purchased on eBay.com sometime ago and just collecting dust in my parts closet. The capsule mount is a hand-cut PVC pipe fitting shaped to suit the purpose. The capsule is mounted on toothpicks set in holes I drilled in the PVC bit, affixed for all time with with excessive globs of CA glue. The last image depicts one of my little watchmaking desk vices which are very useful in this type of project. Every man needs at least one vice, eh?
That’s it. Nothing fancy and certainly no big deal, but it sounds OK and provides a low cost, yet effective, microphone with computer speech recognition software and (with 10dB attenuation) with an amateur radio transceiver. The photos tell the rest of the story. As always, it is gratifying to enjoy that sweet sense of personal satisfaction derived from a successful home-brewed project. A man needs a hobby, right? // James
(PS - I cannot decide which grille I like better. )
