Cyclops Loudspeaker Photo's

This is Cyclops. My first loudspeaker project.

And........

Finally......

Hartono,

I made cyclops during my foundation year at art college and was able to make full use of the sculture studio and materials. The stuff I ended up using was concoction of plaster of paris and "sculptamold" mixed in dilute PVA.

"Sculptamold" is simular to papier-mache only much easier to use,it dries in about 30mins. Plaster of paris by its self would have made cyclops far too heavy and brittle.As it is, I can lift and carry cyclops.The concoction turned out to be very stronge and has so far showed no signs of deteriation.
"Scultamold" really is a very versatile product which I think loudspeaker builders could make great use of.



Cilla

Cal,
Yes. The material was applied by my own fair hands over a mould that I had to make first.

The baffle is in 2 sections: 5ml ply and 15ml cork. The ply was first stuck to the chamber using "no nails glue",the cork was stuck down using a rubber based glue; the whole thing was then secured with screws.The cork makes a marvellous surface for the drive unit, its giving nature creates an air tight seal and has great damping properties.


Hartono,

Thanks for the compliment.



Cilla

Brian,

Just the one.......I'm a monomaniac.

I subscribe to the "Humpty Dumpty" philosophy:

"If what was once whole is fragmented then no amount of ingenuity will recreate the original wholeness".






Cilla

Cal,

Making the mould was the hardest bit of the project.

First off, I made a skeleton of the horn out of wire meshing. This consisted of many cone like pieces nestled together to produce the required profile and expansion rate, when I was satisfied it was fine, I wrapped the whole thing up in strips of paper that were well soaked in dilute PVA.Then.....when the paper had fully dried and became hard, I decided on using papier-mache to create the final form and structural integrity.The advantage of papier-mache (at least in this case) is that it shrinks,so it would create a nice tight skin. Unfortunately,papier-mache can only be worked wet into wet.The thing would have been too unwieldy to cover in one go, so I cut it into sections.

The sections took days to dry out, but I was very pleased with how they turned out.



Finally it was then a simple matter of rejoining them; then.....BINGO! a mould.


Cilla

Cal,

Actually I did produce a mould. There are two types: "Positive" and "Negative".
A cast made from either,will produce its "opposite". I think you'll find I made a
"Positive" mould.

Believe me, we in England know a great deal about mould.



Cilla