DIY Foam Plug - Foam cutting?

JDUBS · « **on:** 21 Jun 2011, 05:34 pm »

Guys

I'm buying some foam off of Earl Geddes to make plugs for my Yorkville Unity speakers. The horn section of the Unity's is 15" at the mouth, 11" deep to the 1" compression driver.

Earl is selling me 2x section of foam, measuring 11" x 19" x 30", each. I need to cut these down into two cones to fit my horns.

Does anyone have any recommendations on foam cutting? It seems like the hot wire method get's a lot of praise.

Thanks fellas.

-Jim

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Jun 2011, 06:28 pm »

Hot wire is typically smoother if you plan your movement and the wire is strong and stiff. Otherwise you can veer off course and mess it up.

For thinner cuts I use a $9 electric steak knife from Walmart with the counter-reciprocating blades.

jtwrace · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Jun 2011, 07:16 pm »

There is a huge thread on diyaudio regarding this and Dr. Geddes is involved.

JDUBS · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Jun 2011, 08:39 pm »

Thanks Big Red Machine.

jtwrace, can you shoot me (or post here) a link?

-Jim

jtwrace · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Jun 2011, 10:15 pm »

Pretty sure it's in this thread. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/103872-geddes-waveguides.html

Post #5283 is one too. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/103872-geddes-waveguides-529.html

There is a lot of talk about it in the thread as I recall.

JohnR · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Jun 2011, 10:18 pm »

540 pages

won't be hard to find

This might help: http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com/2011/03/waveguide-foam-mod.html

jtwrace · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Jun 2011, 10:22 pm »

Quote from: JohnR on 21 Jun 2011, 10:18 pm

540 pages won't be hard to find

Quote

This might help: http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com/2011/03/waveguide-foam-mod.html

Thanks for posting this link. I'll have to read it myself.

JDUBS · « **Reply #7 on:** 22 Jun 2011, 03:36 am »

Quote from: JohnR on 21 Jun 2011, 10:18 pm

540 pages won't be hard to find

This might help: http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com/2011/03/waveguide-foam-mod.html

JohnR, thanks for the link. Actually, a bigger thanks is owed as that's a pretty sweet overall website that I didn't know existed!

The diyaudio.com thread that was linked is big and unwieldy and deals with a lot more than just the foam plug. I've been through it (or a lot of it) before. There are a few good tidbits in there, though.

Earl receommended, to me, the hot wire method as being the "best" but not easily executed. I need to do some more research prior to hacking into this stuff.

-Jim