RE20 foam source.

[zebra50]

For those in the UK, I'm happy to report that their is one again a good supply of EV parts. I've just received some foam and clips from...

http://www.electrovoice-sales.co.uk/store/EV_Spares.html

They seem like a good, reliable supplier.

Cheers!

Stewart

 

[BYacey]

A little off of the original subject but I have an RE20 that needs a new capsule. I tried contacting EV a while ago to try and get a new one, never heard back from them. The voice coil is broken in the capsule and impossible to repair because of the Magnetic Field. Any suggestions?

I had a similar situation back in the 90's. The black plastic button underneath the diaphragm came unglued. EV told me to send it in as it has a lifetime warranty. The replaced the entire capsule, a and all it cost me was the shipping.

It sounds like things have changed.

 

[dfuruta]

I just posted a thread over at TapeOp about replacing the foam:  http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=81171 (my apologies if this is poor etiquette!).  I got the foam from Bosch.  In the US, Full Compass also carries replacements.

 

[deveng]

I'm repairing a 25 year old RE20 with deteriorated foam.  I carefully cleaned away the loose particles and noticed some foam inside the "ports" on the side of the capsule.  It looks like the larger cell foam that is used in the headbasket.  I certainly don't want to insert any tools in this port to clean out foam unless I know what's in there! The last time I used the mic it was working fine.  I've got the 3 new standard foam parts and ready to replace but need to know what to do with this. 

Is there a piece of foam below the diaphragm that deteriorates?
If you zoom into the picture to the hole at top center you can see the foam I'm talking about.

 

[deveng]

bump?
MicDaddy?

 

[deveng]

Since no response to the "port" foam question, I went ahead and cleaned and replaced the foam in my RE20 (left the ports alone).  Since all the foam was destroyed the capsule sunk down into the body.  Now my question is, how high into the headbasket is the top of the capsule supposed to sit with the new foam?  The replacement foam for the headbasket is not as tall as the headbasket itself.  Is the capsule supposed to sit up against the headbasket foam insert? Does anyone have a picture of a new/good RE20 capsule position?

I have it done but can pull it apart easily to position the capsule, just need to know the proper height!

Thanks in advance

 

[zebra50]

You should have two bits of foam there. A tubular section that goes round the capsule, and a coarse fat cylinder that sits at the business end of the mic, on top of the capsule.

The cylinder will more or less set the height of the capsule.
Stewart

 

[deveng]

Stewart,

Thanks, that's just the info I was looking for.  I set the capsule height to do just that as it made sense.  But since this places the top of the capsule above the top edge of the body, does the tubular foam that surrounds the capsule assembly go all the way up and flush with the top edge of the capsule (but not above it)? 

Regards,
Jeff

 

[zebra50]

Yes, that sounds right.

 

[deveng]

Thanks for the response!  I'll have to take it apart again to shift the tubular foam up a bit.  Pretty easy now that I've done it once.  Just good to know that I'll have it back to original. 

Interesting note.  Most of the DIY re-foam pictorials online show the capsule (and foam) far too low in the body.  When done this way the course open cell foam in the headbasket floats loosely with too much slop.  Also,  the distance from the business end to actual capsule is changed.  It does make sense that the top of the capsule should sit up to the headbasket foam (but not tight enough to push in the fabric capsule cover) and the tubular foam would run up to but not past the top of the capsule.  I'll take a picture of this when I pull it apart again and post here.

Regards,
Jeff

 

[deveng]

Here's the pics of the capsule height when installing new foam.  After placing the foam in the headbasket, I measured the distance from the bottom of the foam to to the thread stop on the headbasket.  It was 18/32".  Positioning the top of the capsule up from the thread stop on the body 18/32" places it so it will just touch the headbasket foam when screwing it down on to the body.  This may be slightly different on other RE20's and your foam so I'd measure first.  When you screw on the headbasket with a light behind it you'll see the headbasket foam just sit on top of the capsule without compressing it or the fabric cover when the basket is seated all the way. 


Now to test it out.  Capsule worked fine before, just loose so I expect it should work.

Regards,
Jeff

P.S. Mic works fine.  Re-foam was a success.

 

[beatnik]

this place supplies replacement parts including new capsules for re-20 and similar in case anyone is interested

http://www.10outof10.co.uk/acatalog/Microphone-Spares.html

 

[thecr4ne]

Just replaced the foam on a PL20 I recently picked up, which had no foam. Upon disassembly I discovered previous, uh, person, wrapped about 1/8" thick layer of electrical tape (yeah) around the element to keep it from moving around.

Anyway, thanks to folks in this thread and the TapeOp thread linked above, I was able to source new foam directly from Bosch and got the pity rate of $5 shipping since it's just foam. Ordered 2 sets and spent $40.21 total. The disassembly and re-assembly was cake and it's now back as it should be, sans electrical tape.

Cheers.

 

[Whoops]

I recently replaced the Foam in 2x RE20 microphones and was able to buy the original replacement foam from my local Electro Voice dealer

 

[dmp]

Full Compass

 

[GeorgeToledo]

Last time I looked into it a couple years ago, there was one replacement set for the oldest production and then a different set of foam for the more recent mics, both available via EV/Bosch.