i want to design a speaker driver myself for the first time. It is said to be 12 inch

I want to design a speaker driver myself for the first time. I'm currently in the process of designing a CAD. It is said to be 12 inches tall and have a possible high xmas. At least 1 cm. What exactly do I have to pay attention to with such a construction? Any tips?
 
They often say "everything´s in the Net"
Really?

Tons about cabinet design, crossovers, etc. buy very very little about actual transducer design, if that´s what you want.

For good "basic principles" data, read Olsen´s and Beranek´s books.

Yes, they are 40´s and 50´s books :eek: , go figure.

Modern books assume you are working with a ready made, off the shelf speaker, go figure :confused:

They may help you measure and use them, hardly design from scratch.
 
Building the transducer itself from scratch is a tall order. Don't knw why you'd want to reinvent the wheel.
Mmmmmhhhhh, does DIYing ring a bell? :D

AFAIK that is the main purpose of this whole Forum, otherwise it would be reduced to commenting on ready built amplifiers and speakers, DACs and other stuff :D

As a side note, I make my own speaker drivers from scratch. :)

From scratch here means starting with raw cold rolled steel sheet, 1018 steel plate in various thicknesses and 12L14 cold drawn steel bar in various diameters.

Any size between 4" Tweeters to 15" woofers with some 18" ones now and them, these with sandcast aluminum frames.

Not reinventing the wheel by any means but making models unavailable in my market and for burger price which gives me a great flexibility and cost advantage, only problem being that minimum batch is 100 of anything,except 18" which can be made in 20-25 lots.

Others are stamped and renting hydraulic press time has a fixed minimum price.
 
EDIT:
answering in a more practical way:
12 inches tall and have a possible high xmas. At least 1 cm. What exactly do I have to pay attention to with such a construction? Any tips?

If you want to build a couple (I mentioned above that for real-from-scratch you must think 100-up lots) the easier-practical way can be:

1) get a cast frame 12" speaker you like, *only* to disassemble it and reuse that frame for your own.

2) choose a magnet size.
I suggest 147mm diameter by 18mm or 25 mm thick.
Stack 2 of them for every speaker to have ample free space for your high x-max requirement.
The way to use "just one" per speaker would be to have a bumped back plate, but that´s outside homebuilder capabilities.

3) choose top and bottom plate thickness, suggest 8mm or 9.5 mm (3/8" nominal)

4) get a voice coil which allows 10mm either way so, say, 28-30mm winding length.

5) I suggest 2" nominal diameter

6) metallurgical work: you´ll need (for each speaker) a set of top and bottom plates.
Have them laser/waterjet cut from 1018 plate (1008 would be better but is VERY hard to find unless you order 5 Tons of it) to rough dimensions, then have them lathe turned to exact size.

You´ll also need a proper size polepiece, turned from 12L14 steel nominal 2" diameter cold drawn bar.
Suggest you ask for a venting hole in each, some 12 to 14mm diameter is fine.

Plates will need proper drilled and tapped mounting holes to fix them to cast frames, and zinc plating to protect from corrosion.

Polepiece is joined to back plate by pressing it (with a hydraulic press) into a "barely adequate" hole turned in, so it firmly stays there.

Ceramic magnet(s) plus top and bottom plates are joined by industrial Epoxy adhesive.

Some use a Cyanoacrilate type, personally I do not trust it as much.

You´ll also need a custom made separation ring, say 8-10 mm thick, turned out of Aluminum , to further separate magnetic assembly from cast frame, to allow for extra X max displacement, not considered in donor speaker design.

7) you´ll need to magnetize your speaker, you´ll need to find a speaker Factory or a very well equipped speaker reconer who has a magnetizer.

8) once you have your assembled and magnetized speaker "body", you are free to experiment with voice coils, cones, suspensions, edges, etc.

PS: there is an excellent thread in this Forum by a Member who made his own , I think it used a Field Coil magnetic system, search it, lots of pictures and excellent data shown.
His speakers turned out an impressive feat of Engineering..

EDIT 2:

Impressive work:

Project Ryu - DIY Field Coil Loudspeaker
basically what I am describing above (including use of a cast frame) but with a field coil system instead of ceramic rings.

and an even more "skilled craftsman/artist" type one

Creating a Field Coil Driver & Loudspeaker

now you know what are you getting into :D
 
Last edited:
EDIT:
answering in a more practical way:


If you want to build a couple (I mentioned above that for real-from-scratch you must think 100-up lots) the easier-practical way can be:

1) get a cast frame 12" speaker you like, *only* to disassemble it and reuse that frame for your own.

2) choose a magnet size.
I suggest 147mm diameter by 18mm or 25 mm thick.
Stack 2 of them for every speaker to have ample free space for your high x-max requirement.
The way to use "just one" per speaker would be to have a bumped back plate, but that´s outside homebuilder capabilities.

3) choose top and bottom plate thickness, suggest 8mm or 9.5 mm (3/8" nominal)

4) get a voice coil which allows 10mm either way so, say, 28-30mm winding length.

5) I suggest 2" nominal diameter

6) metallurgical work: you´ll need (for each speaker) a set of top and bottom plates.
Have them laser/waterjet cut from 1018 plate (1008 would be better but is VERY hard to find unless you order 5 Tons of it) to rough dimensions, then have them lathe turned to exact size.

You´ll also need a proper size polepiece, turned from 12L14 steel nominal 2" diameter cold drawn bar.
Suggest you ask for a venting hole in each, some 12 to 14mm diameter is fine.

Plates will need proper drilled and tapped mounting holes to fix them to cast frames, and zinc plating to protect from corrosion.

Polepiece is joined to back plate by pressing it (with a hydraulic press) into a "barely adequate" hole turned in, so it firmly stays there.

Ceramic magnet(s) plus top and bottom plates are joined by industrial Epoxy adhesive.

Some use a Cyanoacrilate type, personally I do not trust it as much.

You´ll also need a custom made separation ring, say 8-10 mm thick, turned out of Aluminum , to further separate magnetic assembly from cast frame, to allow for extra X max displacement, not considered in donor speaker design.

7) you´ll need to magnetize your speaker, you´ll need to find a speaker Factory or a very well equipped speaker reconer who has a magnetizer.

8) once you have your assembled and magnetized speaker "body", you are free to experiment with voice coils, cones, suspensions, edges, etc.

PS: there is an excellent thread in this Forum by a Member who made his own , I think it used a Field Coil magnetic system, search it, lots of pictures and excellent data shown.
His speakers turned out an impressive feat of Engineering..

EDIT 2:

Impressive work:

Project Ryu - DIY Field Coil Loudspeaker
basically what I am describing above (including use of a cast frame) but with a field coil system instead of ceramic rings.

and an even more "skilled craftsman/artist" type one

Creating a Field Coil Driver & Loudspeaker

now you know what are you getting into :D

Thank you so much, everything was very helpful :)