damping for Micro Fonkens?

[carlseibert]

Hi,

I'm building a pair of uFonkens. On Planet10's drawing, he says to line with felt or stuff with polyfluff.

The question is, which?

If I go with felt, it would be easier to do it before I assemble the cabinets.(Although it doesn't look impossible for later. There's nothing quite like the satisfying experience of working with hook-nosed tools and a dental mirror :-)

And if I do felt, exactly what kind? These cabinets are so small I'm a little concerned that I might eat up too much volume.

Has anybody out there heard them both ways?

All advice is welcome.

-Carl

[planet10]

Originally posted by carlseibert
I'm building a pair of uFonkens. On Planet10's drawing, he says to line with felt or stuff with polyfluff.

Line with felt (3/8-1/2" lowsh density. If non available then you can sub in slightly thicker polyfill but do not stuff the cabinet.

And don't use synthetic felt, it needs to be real cotton or real wool

dave

[carlseibert]

Hi Dave,

Would felt carpet padding be low enough density? I'm trying to think of where best to find a small quantity locally. Upholstery shops, maybe? Car audio places, possibly? Who would use felt padding? A fabric shop would be way too easy. Is thick felt used for blankets or something? I'm obviously not too much of a fabric person.

-Carl

[planet10]

Real wool carpet underlay has been used successfully.

Piano store might be a good place.

We have been using a lot of stuff saved from my recycling days, but have started to look for good sources. As we find them we will post them

dave

[kmaier]

I found a couple online sources... might be worth investigating:

http://www.buffalofelt.com/Sheet_Felts.aspx

http://www.environmentalhomecenter.c...LEFELT_UNDERFL

Regards, KM

[carlseibert]

Hi,

After a search of area carpet firms, I have in possession a couple square feet of itchy-looking stuff that I think will do.

I can't vouch for the fiber content, but it looks like it's mostly rough hair of - presumably- sheep. Mixed in are little bits of every sort of fiber you could imagine. there are even little bits of recognizable yarn.

If I needed more, I would probably order a decent quantity from the enviro-friendly place that kmaier suggested. There's some assurance there of a predictable supply and consistent material. It also just looks like a cool place to get low impact home stuff. Thanks for the tip!

Felt density turned out to be something of a moving target. Carpet pad appears generally to be at the low end of the range. The specification doesn't seem to be real consistent. The official way to state felt density, apparently, is by the weight of a 36x36x1 inch sample. But many products are listed by the weight of a square yard at whatever the thickness of the product may be. Seven pounds per square-yard-inch is at the low end for felt specs and carpet pad seems to be in the neighborhood of two or three pounds per square yard at about 3/8" thick. So it's in the ball park.

I'll glue this stuff in rather lightly, so I can change it if need be. I'll report back on how things sound.

Thanks again,

-Carl