As promised, this is my own version of David Harry's 'Clippy' microphone build.
First I have to say I rejected using the same cheap mic body David used as I found the plastic casing of that mic made any microphone capsules placed within it susceptible to radio interference. So my first task was to find something to act as the microphone body/casing.
Luckily I'm a bit of a hoarder with electronic gear and seldom throw much away so I had a quick rummage and came up with two candidates I thought would marry up quite well.
First the main body for the mic.
Old LED torch
Aluminium body
Which was taken apart for the parts I needed.
Parts of torch
Parts needed
I also had an old mike I'd been given that never worked which I hacksawed apart by hand for a grill. Boy was it tough. I think the body was steel.
Realy old mono mic
Sawn carefully in half with junior hacksaw
I then sanded the grill by hand until it matched the diameter of the torch's front end and did a test fit.
Sanding Disk
Test Fit
Screwed the top on to see if it was secure.
Test fit 2
I'll apologize now for the quality of some of the images. I never checked them as I went along.
Anyway, now it was time for disassembly and wrapping up in cling film for some molding.
Cling film wrap
Top view
Time for my favorite mouldable silicon glue. Sugru!
Brown Sugru
Toxic, Take care
Colour at this point doesn't matter so use up those colours I don't care for much. One sachet was not enough, so time for sachet number two.
Not enough
Pink 1
I'm trying at this point to make a plug which I can pull out after it sets as a base to place the mic capsules in a material with little in the way of resonant frequencies.
Topping off
Overflow
I left the Sugru to set overnight as per instructions but the Sugru actually took 72 hours to set enough not to squash and deform when handled.
I know this because I always have a test piece to one side to examine before I work on the project itself.
After extracting the plug and using a small dril bit, I bored a hole through the center of the plug and placed the mic capsules individually into the plug for a test fit for both position and clearance of the mesh.
Test fit one
Test fit with mesh
Mesh test fit
After the test fit it was time to recover all parts in cling film again for the next fitting into the mic for final molding to take place.
Plug with capsules
rewrap for return insertion
I then used more Sugru to embed the mic capsules also at the same time using cling film around the mesh and pressing them together for a solid fit.
Clin filmed for molding
Test fit three
Fill with Sugru
Press mesh down
I trimmed excess Sugru off of the edges and lifted off the grill and waited for the Sugru to set again before carefully extracting the capsules when the moulding was finished.
I had to go around the edges of the capsules with a needle to loosen them enough to be able to push them up and out of the plug. Why so much trouble to do all this? I can now dismantle and replace any part of the mic in future. I Also soldered the wiring a bit better while they were out using just a heat sink, a very old soldering iron and a pair of pliers.
Final mould
Antex soldering iron
Re-assembly for final wiring and drilling of the base by hand, reaming a hole for the 3.5mm jack socket. Also making a note and colour coding the wires for left and right as I want to use this mic for other things as well as it is stereo with matched capsules.
Additional wiring
Opening to see colour coded wiring
Then, one more temporary hook up to see if handling noise was OK and that I'd wired them correctly.
Mock up to see if it still worked
Finally, the 3.5mm jack socket and homemade windshield made out of foam using a pair of scissors for shaping.
3.5mm socket
Home made wind sheild
Now I know the windshield looks rough but I now have a fur Windscreen muff by Neewer that fits snug as a bug. It was meant for the Tascam DO5 portable digital recorder but fits my mic really well. I like Neewer products. They are normally well built and reasonably priced.
You will see the mic with the muff in a video soon.
So was it worth it? I'll know soon enough but it is very short. Very robust, and givess a good output to the Osmo Pocket.
Total cost of build.
Mic Capsules £35:46
Torch nothing.
Old mic for mesh, given to me
Sugru, three sachets about £4:00
Cling film, No idea but less than a few pence.
Solder. Given to me by my dad 50 years ago and still getting through it. May contain lead :-)
Wire.Nothing. Taken from other bits of old equipment, some from the torch.
3.5mm Jack socket. 45 pence.
Neewer fur muff £8:74
My homemade sponge wind muff. Nothing. I could have used an old washing up sponge as long as it was dry. Colour doesn't matter as it gets covered by the Fur muff completely.
Total not including my time to do this which was about three hours not including waiting for Sugru to set.
Rough estimate: £48:24p
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