In two weeks, I will start ordering Delrin and aluminum materials for constructing my own Universal Mounting Bar for active microphones. I've tried to interest our resident makers of these types of things in doing this for their own profit, but there has been no active interest expressed. This has been sitting around as an idea now for four months...so its time to take action.
The design is my own. It's simple, yet effective and will be able to provide every major mounting configuration in a single bar, including DIN, DINa, ORTF, NOS, XY90 and XY110.
Within reason, I'll also make the same thing for others. I'm not gonna do this for anything other than to offer it up for others to have a MUCH needed solution to a currently unsolved problem (that there is no cheap universal mounting bar).
The reasons I'm doing this are
a) I have a good design,
b) I'm tired of not have a good mount in my own bag myself,
c) prices for such a simple device as a mic mount are just too high ($500 for a DPA, several hundred for Schoeps... gimme a break!).
Here is a conceptual drawing of my design...
In addition to this providing a universal mounting solution in one assembly, you'll notice that the cradle concept will not hinder windscreens and furballs.
The concept is that the cradle will hold the mics. There will be a rubber O-ring or bungee that holds the capsule in place in the cradle. I will provide plenty of extra O-rings for loss, but I'll try to incorporate into the design a feature that captures the O-ring. In case of emergency, rubber bands are a commonly available resource that will work.
The cradle will be sized to fit most major mic capsules.
Detents or grooves will be milled into the mating surfaces of the cradles and the center bar in order to lock-in-place the cradles at the correct mounting angle. The assembly pieces will be attached with basic Home Depot hardware (nut, bolt, lockwashers, etc.).
The center bar will have a simple center telescoping tube that enables the bar to be expanded to a width that allows capsule spacing from 17cm to 30cm.
The center bar and cradles will be constructed from Delrin. The XY attachments will be aluminum and will be sized to ensure that they extend around the skeleton of the Schoeps A20 mount, the Busman mount, or the Joe Meek mount. The reason these attachments will be aluminum is a) to make them VERY low cost, and b) to provide for ease of construction (simply bending the bar stock to get the proper capsule offset.)
The center bar outside diameter will be the same diameter as the interfacing cradle on the shockmounts (I believe that's 22mm). The split in the center bar will be offset so that the center bar will always be able to be properly centered in the shockmount.
I can't make any promises on when I will have these ready to go, but it will probably depend on how many others want to join in. I also can't promise that this will be a slickly packaged completely professional end product...say with professional silk screening and bells and whistles and lots of Quality Control built into it. However, I will promise that if I can't give you something that works, I won't ask for anything in return. Obviously, I will be making and testing prototypes to ensure the quality is there and it will withstand the rigors of the club environment.
I don't know right now how much this will cost. I know the approximate cost of materials and I can't imagine we're talking much different than the $80 - $100 range...just not sure at this point. I do know that I can only do this price by accomodating a small enough number that I do the machining myself.
Please let me know if you're interested in having a similar product made for your rig.As stated above, I will be ordering materials for my prototype(s) in two weeks. As soon as I receive these materials, I will begin making my prototype and probably post some pictures seeking feedback. After agreement is reached on the final design, I'll solicit requests from people that want their own.
Take care.
Steve
Topic: Universal Actives Mounting Bar for DIN, DINa, ORTF, NOS, XY90, XY110 (Read 8562 times)