I have always liked the idea of Blu-Tak, but have found a relatively inexpensive alternative. In museum work, sometimes we use a putty for temporarily mounting a small photo or even a piece help keep a frame more stable. The cost is 1/3 of Blu-Tak. Yes, it can be used as a gasket for speaker drivers, as long as you have made the 'gasket' equal thickness all the way round.
Possibly, in some cases, a caulking cord material is good, but beware, it can dry out and fall off in time. I remedied this effect by adding a very small amount of very light oil and kneaded it in well. Good as it seemed to be, I stuck with the mounting putty.
Possibly, in some cases, a caulking cord material is good, but beware, it can dry out and fall off in time. I remedied this effect by adding a very small amount of very light oil and kneaded it in well. Good as it seemed to be, I stuck with the mounting putty.
Yes, inductors and capacitors are large components, each layer is a component if 'sliced'...
And behaves different than a 4mm 10 uf25V capacitor, the structure, I mean, so it still holds true this:
Could that be used to "glue" thin plywood to the outside of my current speakers, thus creating a damped panel ?
I sometimes use babybelle red cheese wax to temporarily mount stuff. I might "pot" the inductors of some speakers under construction in epoxy resin before mounting them - I'm hoping that this will reduce their tendency to buzz. I think some people have filled crossovers with sand.
The possibility (if any) of damping action could only be determined by experiment. I don't want to encourage you to slap it on your current speakers!
The Granville product only comes in small tubes, but there are other acetoxy cure silicone sealants that are available in cartridges. For example:
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/sealants/3410955?cm_mmc=UK-PLA-DS3A-_-bing-_-PLA_UK_EN_Catch+All-_-Mechanical,+Fluid+Power+&+Tools-_-3410955&matchtype=e&pla-4574999185500285&cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=554644865&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=o&cq_plt=gp&gclid=ace9f1396d0217643d1a94d6365592dc&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=ace9f1396d0217643d1a94d6365592dc
If have the availability to clamp the entire panel, then one product to consider from Parts Express is a 'paintable' coating that is thick. When I did this I used the coating for all but the edge and then transitioned to TiteBond glue. Again, it is essential that have a way to apply pressure over at least most of the panels being glued. Tension can be partly released after the adhesives have spread, at least in the center and surrounding section where the damping compound was applied. In the end this provides a constrained damping layer that turns out to be quite effective.
I liked this very much.
Please note that the wax makes a sense since it is a (great) "deaf" (sorry if the term was inappropriate, I hope you know what I mean) material not elastic at all, so it does work great in the application you described. IMO
On contrary, silicon is an extremely elastic material, it is almost incompressible and IMO it has a its own "sound" that returns to whatever it is applied to. *
I would really love it if you possibly could give it a try and report your results here.
Edit to add: * so IMNSHO it would not be suitable to do what you want to do.
The butyl material does, and I suggest you try it, there are also sheets in addition to the mentioned cord.
https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Sheet-Butyl-Thick-x12/dp/B01N808EQF
I chose it in a hurry just to show you, but you can choose better if you want.
They call it butyl "rubber", but it really has nothing to do with real rubber, it's just something else.
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Great.
It is a really appropriate use.
Right now I'm just wondering if it was an organic substance, in which case it would perhaps be inadvisable because we don't know its long-term reliability, since it could degrade over time.
Given the field you describe I think you'll like butyl material a lot and it will be able to replace wax in a great way, presenting only further advantages over it.
It is a really appropriate use.
Right now I'm just wondering if it was an organic substance, in which case it would perhaps be inadvisable because we don't know its long-term reliability, since it could degrade over time.
Given the field you describe I think you'll like butyl material a lot and it will be able to replace wax in a great way, presenting only further advantages over it.
Please consider the above as correct quoting of my earlier replies.
In addition I found a further list of features
https://www.globalselfadhesiveproducts.com/product/sound-deadening-butyl-sheets/
Please note that a butyl sheet is not exactly self-adhesive stuff, but it has a "good adhesion character".
Acid-curing silicone (smells of vinegar) is utterly unsuitable for electronics, it corrodes everything it touches. But there are other silicones that don't use that chemistry, those are the one's for pcbs.
I learned that the hard way, using some hobby silicone glue which quickly ruined the PCB.
Zip ties threaded through holes of a PCB is a long-term reliability problem because PCBs will bend and give over time, even 3mm thick ones. Also learned that the hard way...
I'm using WEICON Flex+Bond:
https://www.weicon.de/en/flex-bond-permanently-adhesive-and-sealant/10012994
https://www.weicon.de/en/flex-bond-permanently-adhesive-and-sealant/10012994
I haven't had any problems so far. I place the head of the ziptie on the underside of the PCB so the tail goes straight through the board into the head with no curvature. Granted, the other hole does have a 90 degree turn, but one needn't Schwarzenegger the tie to keep the component stable so the turn can be relatively gentle. YMMV, of course.
I've repaired PA speakers where the PCB tracks had partly broken because of the flexing PCB... and because the big components weren't fixed properly from the loosening tie force their leads also broke, from the vibration... after like 10years of constant duty/abuse and being hauled around all the time. Therefore, YMMV ;-)
Road warrior, eh? You're gonna like this one.
Around 1986 we got in some early Peavey 3020 systems: 2 15 inch (38 cm) woofers, 2 10 inch (25 cm) low mids, an upper mid horn, and a supertweeter, all driven through a huge passive crossover. They worked pretty well for the first few months, then one started developing a horrible crackling sound that sounded like dying supertweets. Open it up, swap out the diaphragm, alles ist gut.
But nooooooo, it came back from the next gig with the same problem -- and one of its brethren also started crackling. The input connectors checked out fine, and after chasing everything else I started swapping components in the crossover. I finally took out the last inductor in parallel with the supertweeter. Huh. Sounded okay. Put the inductor back in. crackle crackle. Repeat, same result. By all of Cthulhu's wriggling tentacles, how does a bypass inductor screw up a crossover? A gander through the large magnifying glass showed the culprit: the wire going to the centre of the coil showed a tiny dark spot where it intermittently short-circuited against the outermost layer.
We gave Peavey a heads-up and they sent us enough of those inductors to replace that part in every box we had. Never had that problem since.
Capacitors shorting out, sure. Resistors burning up, fine. That stuff is normal. But a freaking choke shorting out was, and still is, bizarre.
Around 1986 we got in some early Peavey 3020 systems: 2 15 inch (38 cm) woofers, 2 10 inch (25 cm) low mids, an upper mid horn, and a supertweeter, all driven through a huge passive crossover. They worked pretty well for the first few months, then one started developing a horrible crackling sound that sounded like dying supertweets. Open it up, swap out the diaphragm, alles ist gut.
But nooooooo, it came back from the next gig with the same problem -- and one of its brethren also started crackling. The input connectors checked out fine, and after chasing everything else I started swapping components in the crossover. I finally took out the last inductor in parallel with the supertweeter. Huh. Sounded okay. Put the inductor back in. crackle crackle. Repeat, same result. By all of Cthulhu's wriggling tentacles, how does a bypass inductor screw up a crossover? A gander through the large magnifying glass showed the culprit: the wire going to the centre of the coil showed a tiny dark spot where it intermittently short-circuited against the outermost layer.
We gave Peavey a heads-up and they sent us enough of those inductors to replace that part in every box we had. Never had that problem since.
Capacitors shorting out, sure. Resistors burning up, fine. That stuff is normal. But a freaking choke shorting out was, and still is, bizarre.
