DIY Ribbon speakers ??

[ROVSING]

Thanks for the answer Michael, i have read your sites about the the ribbon tweaters, nice that you share your work with other diyers.
i will go on with my prototype then...

 

[Spasticteapot]

Just as a side note...

It occurred to me when re-building my ribbons that the supplier of the Kapton/Aluminum ribbon is completely happy to sell his ribbon material to the DIY community.

So....if you are hard up to build a ribbon...then there is a source for quality ribbon material with aluminum traces already manufactured. I beleive the material is in 1000 ft rolls and is 10 inches wide (meant to be trimed off), so you can buy it by the foot I assume.

For whatever its worth...

Cheers,


Ribbon Project

Where, exactly, can I get the kaptop/aluminum film? I'd like to try some ribbons, and it looks like a much more sanity-friendly way to go about it.

 

[DFroehlich]

Hello Michael,
Very nice work on your ribbons.
Where did you get the 6 micron foil ?
greetings, Dirk

 

[LineSource]

Where, exactly, can I get the kaptop/aluminum film? I'd like to try some ribbons, and it looks like a much more sanity-friendly way to go about it.

A non-polarized capacitor can be cut open to remove the metalized film. If you look at audio crossover caps you will find metalized film with kapton or mylar base films. The aluminum metal is sputtered on and is just a few microns thick. You can also find audio crossover capacitors with separate foil and film layers rolled together. This can be a source of thin aluminum foil. TYPICALLY, a low voltage capacitor will use a thinner film.

If you want an all metal ribbon home packaging aluminum foil is typically 25 microns thick, a little heavy for a speaker but a good training material. You can also find 12 micron aluminum foil from in some stores. Many production tweeters use 8-9 micron foil.

If you use a pane of glass as your cutting board you can spray it with water to hold down the film while you cut it with either a razor or rolling blade.

 

[MichaelGaedtke]

Hello Dirk,
I bought a small quantity of the foil from a manufacturer for capacitors some time ago. But be warned: Handling of the thin foil is very (!) difficult and I didn't find that measurements did justify the extra effort - look at my page for more details: (http://www.michaelgaedtke.de/SubMenu_Lautsprecher/Ribbon_1.htm)

 

[Spasticteapot]

I was actually hoping to use some of the film used to repair BG and Carver ribbons, as it has many fine aluminum traces. Wired in series, it results in a much higher impeadance ribbon.

 

[cotdt]

the 11um thick grocery store aluminum foil seems to work just as well. you lose 1-2 dB in efficiency but the frequency response becomes smoother.