SpeedLimit Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 I have built my own clones of k-401 horns with wood. To put my drivers on the horns, i had to use adapters. The gaskets between horns and drivers are badly self made. Is it important to have very good gaskets, does it change the sound if the are not right done ? Pictures ... so you can see what i have done . the gaskets are white on the picture. It is a foam gasket. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 plumbing gasket is ideal --commercial/industrial large pipes ,fire hydrants etc use this type of gasket material for a seal , it comes in sheets or rolls ---usually Orange -all you need is to buy a section and make your own round gaskets -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedLimit Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 yes, but it is not easy to have them really round Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreG. Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 Other members report that gaskets from those plumbers-sets work very nicely. https://www.amazon.de/NATUCE-Unterlegscheiben-Dichtungsringe-Rohrleitungen-Wasserhähne/dp/B089YQF279/ref=sr_1_39?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&dchild=1&keywords=dichtung+set&qid=1623573252&sr=8-39 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 SpeedLimit, your homemade gaskets look very good optically but I would use rubber material and not foam. Foam is probably much too soft against the force of tightening the thread. And the driver really needs to be tightened. With foam you would quickly make metal to metal contact. Or is it a rubber-like very stable foam? I cut new gaskets for my K400 horn from a rubber pad. The 44 year old ones were crumbled, red in the picture. It is only an interim solution, new gaskets from Michael Crites are on the way but only because I ordered other items anyway. Otherwise I would stay with the DIY solution the way it sounds. I cut them not very nicely but the best I could. At least I did it in a way that nothing of the rubber interferes with the opening of the driver or horn throat and everything is effectively sealed because the tightness is very important for the radiation of the lower frequencies. And perhaps?…also regarding to avoid some sharpness of the sound? Whether the inner ring is laser sharp circular or not should not matter regarding the wavelengths up to 6000Hz max.(just under 6 cm) which is a much longer wavelength than the rubber gasket area…resp. the thickness of the pressed rubber gasket. Using the old sealing ring I turned the driver to full stop with no flexible dosage of force.. With the new sealing ring I have almost half a turn to put it firmly but gently hand-tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 BTW, somewhere I read that some users also want to seal the mouth of the horn to the baffle. I think that this is really not necessary. Since it would be more important to me that the horn is simply well screwed so that it does not vibrate. At the mouth opening of the horn there is no more pressure difference to the enviroment. The pressure difference only exists at the throat of the horn, hence the importance of the sealing ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedLimit Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 Yes , i will cut another pair of gaskets - i just have to know the right measures and thikness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 SpeedLimit, please see the photos below. My original sealing rings are compressed and no longer have the shape as fresh elastic rubber. When I get the new gaskets from M. Crites next week, I can gladly measure again. The measurements of inner and outer diameter on the sheet are taken from the old gasket in red colour.. The outer diameter should still be correct because the rubber does not expand further on the throat of the horn. My new gaskets are of course thicker than the old used up and compressed ones, the thickness seems perfectly fine as it feels when tightening. Maybe the new original ones are a tiny bit thinner. We will see. Perhaps, if you like to start right now, take 0.3 mm more or so to cut the inner diameter because, a new rubber could be compressed into the sound beam when too narrow at the beam? With a strong LED light you can see when looking into the horn from the mouth side if something rubber is in the way or not. This is the rubber pad I purchased in a DIY market to cut the gaskets from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedLimit Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 Oh it's really very friendly from you KT88. Thank you, thank you, I will try to do better with rubber than with the foam (the foam i used is pretty dense despite everything but perhaps not so good as rubber) Thank you to have told me the diameters and thje thickness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedLimit Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 I have forgotten to say that i have put 2 Eminence es2ba adapters between my atlas sound pd-5vh drivers and my wooden built k-401 horns clones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 So you can measure the new OD and take my ID? Do you have a gasket between adapter and horn throat as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedLimit Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 no gasket betwen the adapter and the horn .. my horn is in wood, i think it is not necessary to put a gasket between these 2 parts. i will unscrew the driver from the adapter during this week because i have to open the rear of the upper cabinet .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 Ok, no gasket betwen the adapter and the horn, but make sure it is really airtight. A thin gasket (enough due to the bigger surface) would give me peace of mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 On 6/13/2021 at 4:09 PM, SpeedLimit said: I have forgotten to say that i have put 2 Eminence es2ba adapters between my atlas sound pd-5vh drivers and my wooden built k-401 horns clones. New gaskets from Michael Crites. 1,6 mm thick 1,805 cm ID Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreG. Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Mine are on the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bacek Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 This is nice way to cut gaskets. https://www.ebay.com/itm/221926820295?epid=1141794114&hash=item33abde89c7:g:b40AAOSwlV9WTMDU Although ID will have to be 19mm in this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedLimit Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 At this price , i would directly buy .. but in Europe, no such good prices and i have just 2 gaskets to cut .. In France, there is a trademark Boehm that is very good quality but expensive (over 130-140 dollars to have just 2 rings and the hammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Cutting a nice neat gasket to fit is not easy. What is easy however and will work just fine is an O-Ring when you have a smaller flat mating surface such as the one on your horn appears to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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