Feelings about wire mesh

[Charles Jenkinson]

I'm pondering stainless steel hardware cloth (woven wire) mesh, for the back of the baffle in my jack build. It doesnt need painting then, or if it was painted, only minimal cosmetic paint is required rather than corrosion protection. And then, what mesh size? I am thinking between 5 and 10mm aperture, with open area over 70%. Too much choice. What's the feeling out there.

[miked]

IME with grills, anything with an open area near 70% is just fine. I'll be building OTops very soon and plan on a full grill across the front to protect the piezos and keep crap out of the speaker. The strips of wood the piezos mount to won't last long if the piezo array smacks into the edge of a table on the way from the stage to the truck. Just a thought.

[Charles Jenkinson]

I am going to get fabric padded covers made for the jacks, with a polypropylene or plywood panel in them on the front. Hopefully that will be enough to spread impact loads over a bigger area at the 'vulnerable' open side.

[DaveK]

Use transport cases. Either buy plastic totes or make wooden road cases.

[Grant Bunter]

Charles,
The issue with mesh between the back of the baffle and the spacer is distance/gap and consequent seal.
If you plan to go with any sort of steel mesh, you want it as thin as possible.
The majority of mild/stainless/aluminium mesh here starts at 1.6mm (1/16") thick, if it's flat and not extruded.
You might have seen reference to "pet screen", which is often used in this area, and is lighter than steel or aluminium mesh.

IMO get some nice mesh for the front of the cabs to give them that pro look and protect them, but use pet screen/fly screen etc between the baffle and the spacer.

[Charles Jenkinson]

Ok, thanks for the input Gents. I've just ordered some '3 mesh 18 SWG in stainless steel' from these guys:

http://www.wirecloth.uk.com/square_mesh ... ations.asp

Been checking what people have done. As well as the piece in front of the speaker, I have a plan to cover just the tweeters like Drey did on page 8 of Grants DR build thread, except it will be flat across and turned over onto the half inch side of the tweeter supports and capped with some 1/2 x 1/8 inch flat aluminium bar, sprayed up black and drilled for screws.

Might keep the grills stainless finished, i.e. unpainted.

(May also epoxy glass sheath the 1/2" x 1" plywood strips (tweeter mounts) for strength, then any impact to the tweets is taken by the grill and transmitted into robust plywood strips.)

This leaves the horn mouth open for aesthetics. Now, where can the BF plate go that's visible...?

Cheers,

Charles

[Bas Gooiker]

Charles, check http://speakergrills.co.uk/ they should have everything you need. They make you any size custom grills.

[Charles Jenkinson]

Thanks Bas, I didn't know about them, great info. I still sent the cheque for the wire cloth, to use in front of woofer. I may do tweeter grill with the speaker-grills perforated stuff.

[Charles Jenkinson]

I made this video of my wire mesh on the day it arrived; 18th Jan. There could be some spare of this, which I can do on a prorata basis for any UK ppl who want some. I paid £51 for this, including delivery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCMv3rzU ... e=youtu.be