U47-style bodies - who can make one?

[Martin B. Kantola]

Do we want to finish the head basket with chrome or matte/sandblasted nickel?

Polished stainless steel looks really good too. Wish I could help with the head basket pictures, but I'm not anywhere close to my studio. Best I can do is to ask a friend of mine to borrow his U47 briefly for some pics in a couple of days.

Martin

 

[craptical]

DOES ANYONE HAVE PHOTOS OF THE INSIDE OF THE ORIGINAL U47 HEAD BASKET?
THIS WOULD REALLY HELP!

I might get a chance at this, what are you specifically looking for? I have matte originals and Wagner chrome top ones.

Best,

/Dave

 

[Moby]

The original may have been brazed or welded together. I tend to speculate that they were not soldered, BUT I could be wrong.
If we construct them like this: true, the cost of material would be cheaper, but the cost of labor might make this part more expensive.
It seems to me that a one-piece part would be stronger and more dimensionally stable/accurate...easier to machine with tight tolerance consistency.


DOES ANYONE HAVE PHOTOS OF THE INSIDE OF THE ORIGINAL U47 HEAD BASKET?
THIS WOULD REALLY HELP!


Now, here's a good question.
Do we want to finish the head basket with chrome or matte/sandblasted nickel?
I've seen originals in both flavors.
Maybe we could do half/half.

Ok, brazed.... Sorry I missed that word  I suggest that we have both drawings so the price will probably decide which way to go. One piece-more material 4 pieces more labor :-\
Same with head basket. If we decide to go with brass mat nickel bodies it will be cheaper if we choose same basket finnish. Also, what about aluminum? Is it any good for this purpose? It can be done with mat sanded finish and it will probably be more cheaper.

 

[stitch-o]

I found a place around me that will powdercoat for about 40-50usd a piece...
maybe a battleship grey coat?

 

[Buttercup]

Hi All!

Sorry to chime in so late in the day but I have just completed the engineering on a U47 'clone' ( requested by a customer ) which has over my life for months and is still ongoing while I sort out some snags.
It took me a very long time to get the correct ( or at least pretty close ) dimensions and without the hugely kind help of Martin Kantola and Steve Cole I would still be trying to get the thing off the gound.

I have some potentially useful drawings that I can make available ( hand drawn and not by any means perfect ) but I won't be able to do anything for a few days yet as my kids are coming to stay and our 6 month old son is teething ( no sleep for him or us!! ).

Having just gone through a huge learning curve working with a couple of engineers to get the parts made, I would be happy to share my experiences and I will try to get back to anyone who asks as quickly as I can.

I will post some pictures too as soon as I get a mo to upload them.

 

[Moby]

I found a place around me that will powdercoat for about 40-50usd a piece...
maybe a battleship grey coat?

I don't understand  ??? powder coating? Why? Also, I think that 40-50$ per body is too overpriced  8)

 

[Buttercup]

I've spent a while collecting pictures.

Here is one of a headgrille from underneath.

http://s542.photobucket.com/albums/gg416/gilesjeremy/

 

[stitch-o]

Also, I think that 40-50$ per body is too overpriced  8)

good for you!

to anyone else, it was merely a suggestion..

cheers!

 

[Skylar]

In all seriousness, powder-coating parts like these (in 100+ quantity) should cost between $0.50-$1 each.

Was the quote you got for just a couple pieces?

Many powder-coating/plating specialists have a minimum setup charge (usually $100-150), then the price per part is low (usually less than a dollar).


Buttercup,
Thanks for the underside pic. I look forward to seeing what else you've got!

 

[stitch-o]

Was the quote you got for just a couple pieces?

Many powder-coating/plating specialists have a minimum setup charge (usually $100-150), then the price per part is low (usually less than a dollar).

yes, under 5 pieces on the quote and wow! I didn't know that...

Back to the mic bodies

Cheers!

 

[azander]

Hello,

I've been watching this thread for a while now, and I just have to say that Skylars work looks great. I'd definitely be interested in joining a group buy if it happens. One thing though, would it be possible to do an integrated swivel mount? I've actually been plugging away on a C12 mic in solidworks. I'll probably start a new thread on that as I'm starting to get a little stumped with some the features. Anyways, I'm interested to see where this goes. Keep up the good work!

AZ

 

[Skylar]

I'm at clubhouse in upstate NY, great studio, great engineer (D.Goodwin) and great gear. [Just want to throw out a recommendation] We're snowed in at the moment.. 

Just got bass sounds and I have a moment with this longbody (I think) U47.

Ok, So, going from Seavote's drawing here are some dimensions (from his red numbers).

1. 4.45cm (screen face)
2. 1.6cm (Dome height.  approx, this one is a bit dented, but this is the max height)
3. 1.5cm?? (radius, this one is hard to measure, especially with this dome)
4. 0.65cm (width of vert basket rails)
5. 0.3cm (center of screw to bottom rim of headbasket, screws are 0.5cm in diam)
6. 1.65cm (base of headbasket)

Regarding the capsule height, I can't take this mic apart. BUT the most reliable/best measurement I could get was from the bottom of the screen face to the bottom of the capsule.  it is 2cm.  Just doing some math, from my measurements that would (3.175 from dale's M7), so from the base of the front screen to the top of the capsule MINUS the total height matches the eyeballing im doing for the top of the capsule to the dome.

Other measurements not called out:
Top headbasket "halo" rail width, 0.4cm.
From the bottom of the headbasket to the place where the bottom base meets (basically the tube length).  this is 14.65cm.
The pattern switch window is 0.7cm tall x 1.7cm wide (max), i'd say the radius is about 0.25cm

The screening is as follows:
front layer, 0.25cm square
finer middle layer, 0.05cm
inside layer 0.2cm

Let me know what you think, i'll be here until Monday!

I was working on updating the head basket with these measurements, but I ran into some conflicts with Martin's drawings.

-The base of the head basket (#2 in Martins drawing)
you measured 16.5mm | Martin has 16.91mm

-The top head basket rail (#1 in Martin's drawing)
you measured 4mm | Martin has 4.42mm

-The tube length from bottom of head basket to seam where bottom of tube body and end cap meet
you measured 146.5mm | using simple math on Martin's drawings, you end up with 136.61mm


I'm not sure which measurements to use on these???


Also, on the capsule height we really need to reference the CENTER of the capsule.
Some capsules and their mounting gear may obscure where exactly the top and bottom of the capsule is.
Heck, some folks may want to use non-M7/non-KK47 capsules, but maintain the original capsule height.
Measuring from the center of the original capsule lets us know where we need to put the center of our capsules.

 

[bradb]

I have a ruler here with mm as my finest gradient...

Remeasuring seems like Martin's numbers are spot on with some more resolution, go with them!

also, my body length is wrong, i have a 4 instead of a three... go with martin's


I'm shining a flashlight thru the headbasket and looks like the screw in the capsule is 3.7cm from the base of the screen face.

 

[Skylar]

Awesome!
Thank you Brad.

 

[guavatone]

Really!!!  Nice Work

Any thoughts of considering a modular capsule top a la Korby?

Whatever comes of this will be very cool.

 

[Skylar]

Really!!!   Nice Work

Any thoughts of considering a modular capsule top a la Korby?

Whatever comes of this will be very cool.

A modular top would be a really cool idea!



So, I received the Amphenol 97 connectors today--looks like those are just not going to work.

BUT, I found some other connectors that may work by SealCon.
I'm getting quotes and samples of those right now.

These connectors would provide the right width, but they're longer than the original.
I went ahead and altered the design to accommodate these connectors.
I also tightened up some of the dimensions here and there.

Okay, so tomorrow, I will try to have dimensioned drawings finished.

 

[bradb]

modular caps seem like they are going to add additional parts, contacts, complexity....

Maybe for a 2.0 version?

 

[craptical]

Ok, here we go... (pics to avoid misunderstanding and to show method of measurement, 10th of mm and 0.5 mm respectively)

40 mm to plexi base (capsule needs cleaning... hrm.)

5.0 mm

11.0 mm. Mesh looks to be soldered in place.

Inside dome height looks to be just over 80 mm from outer basket edge, measured with steel ruler. There´s slight a disforming to the top, looks like the mike has met the floor on some occasion :

/Dave

 

[e.oelberg]

just round the corner of my studio is gleyer galvanik. They do since the 50ies all the work for neumann. I spent 60€ for two mic bodies plus grills.
when I put it on the desk they allready new what to do. They have different treatments for grill than for the body, I can find out what they
do precisely, if this is an help.


nicholas

 

[Moby]

just round the corner of my studio is gleyer galvanik

I think we have a deal  Why to look further? Where did you been all this time  ;D