Repair of Seas Driver?

[metalman]

First things first! It's my fault! I allowed something (probably metallic and/or magnetic) to become lodged within the magent / voicecoil gap of a Seas W18NX001 driver. The driver is now distorting horribly.

My question: is there anywhere I can send the driver to be repaired? Disassembling the driver to the point where it can be repaired is beyond my ability, and I hate to have a $300+ driver become a complete waste. I contacted Solen (the Canadian distributor) and they basically responded that I am screwed (no help there). I purchased a replacement driver, but I'd love to be able to get this driver repaired so I can use it to build a center channel speaker.

Any help I can get is greatly appreciated!

Terry.

[MJL21193]

How did the foreign object get in? Between the phase plug and voice coil? Have you tried a slip of paper as a tool to hook the debris out?

[metalman]

That is my suspicion. I'll give your suggestion a try and see how it works.

Thanks,

Terry

[5th element]

Well depending on where the debris is located it could be rather easy to remove.

The phase plugs, if like other seas units, are screwed onto the pole piece and are rather easy to remove.

Look at the picture I've attached.

I've pressed the cone backwards with my fingers, doing this exposes how the phase plugs actually work.

The white arrow points towards the voice coil former, made out of aluminium I believe.

The black arrow points towards the bullet shape cap of the phase 'plugs'. As you can see they aren't solid at all as directly behind the bullet cap you can see another part of the assembly - what the yellow arrow is pointing at.

What this is is a tube if you will of copper, the material having a diameter of about 2 mm.

If you push the cones back, like I've done, you can get a decent grip on the phase plug cap. Depending on how tightly they've been screwed in, you might need to use pliers to grip it, but if you turn the plug anti clockwise, it should eventually start to turn.

Keep turning and the cap will come off, at this point you can remove the sleeve of copper tubing and if the crap that fell in, is located in this part it should just fall out.

[Dr.EM]

Interesting stuff! I've not done it, but I think I'd sooner use a rubber band to grip the plug than something like pliers which may scratch it or harm surrounding parts if they slipped. Good luck with it!

[5th element]

Originally Posted by Dr.EM

Interesting stuff! I've not done it, but I think I'd sooner use a rubber band to grip the plug than something like pliers which may scratch it or harm surrounding parts if they slipped. Good luck with it!

Yes a rubber band would be a much better idea.

[skeptic43]

If the item in there is indeed magnetic, then I suggest you try pushing something down in the gap and force the item to the bottom of the air gap - hopefully away from the functional air gap. That is, after you have disassembled the phase plug as 5th element so ably described. Sometimes a business card works or a piece of plastic 7-10 mils (1 mil = .oo1 inch) thick.

As a last (potentially expensive) resort, find a reconer who has a demagnetizer machine. Many don't because they are very expensive. With the unit demagnetized, then the item may indeed 'fall out'. Then they can re-magnetize the magnet and you'll be back in business.

[planet10]

I have successfully uses a slim tool made from cutting a strip of a business card made with decent paper... cutting into dustcaps & treating cones i have had the opportunity to fish out an errant scrap of dustcap, or dried cone treatment... metallic objects are harder since they want to stick, but i have removed those as well... if as 5th element says, there is a removable sleeve on the pole piece that should help alot.

I have also used a powerful neo magnet to draw iron filings out or off a driver (usually not in the voice coil thou.

dave

[metalman]

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions.

Getting the phase plug and copper shorting ring out was easy, as was probing with a modified business card. Unfortunately, what this revealed is that the piece of debris is lodged between the outside of the voicecoil and the magnet, rather than between the inside of the voicecoil and the pole piece. If I pull the cone outward, I can even see where a rub mark has been left on the enamel on the voicecoil wire.

However, with the limited spacing between the spider and magnet (<1 cm), I can't get a paper shim in large enough to allow me to push the debris through the gap.

Can anyone suggest any other tricks?