Progress (reversed)progress~ 进度～ (倒退）进度～ (>_<)

I have been trying out a few different design lately. For the same 'subjective' issue i can't really said much about how different the sound were came out likes. Only to said there's spikes and there's trap waves. for the first 3 design there's too much varies in the sound that came out. It could be due to the compatibility of the speaker with the enclosure + the sound wave absorption of the tunnel with ABS material. The calculation were for wooden enclosure+large driver after all. So it's back to the drawing board+calculation scathes. 

这段时间里尝试了几个不同的设计。可是不是出现异常的驻波，就是出现了大量的陷波。可能是喇叭和箱体之间的配合度不够。还有ABS材质箱体和迷宫隧道消除音波的特性不同。毕竟我所使用的计算方程式是用于木质箱体和大口径喇叭。
是时候回到设计平台重新开始设计和计算。

Busy busy month. 超级忙碌的一个月。

Been busy whole month clearing off my primary work :P Which brings bacon on my dinner table. Though the little speaker had make some decent progress, I'll try to post up the process steps by steps. So the progress won't be following the time frame.

Thank you all for following my blog to see my little speaker slowly taking it's shapes + sound.

终于可以偷点闲了～ 把我手头上的工作清掉了。没办法，饭桌上需要饭菜啊。 不过这个月里，小喇叭还是有一定的进展。只是没有时间放上部落阁而已。接下来我会一步一步的把过程，进展博上来。所以不会跟着时间进展。

谢谢大家跟进小喇叭的进度。

Second design tested..... but... 第二类设计⋯⋯可是⋯⋯

Today printed the second design. And put the driver in to see what's the differences between the spiral design and the common zig-zag layout. 

＊Sorry that i still haven got any decent equipment to measure the wave form and good audio recording device to record the sound. What we have is my ear and the ear of my Hi-fi hot head friend. So the result were more to our personal "feel" and 'heard'.

First expression is the spiral box give more 'wider' sound but the treble is not so 'bright' as the common box have 'brighter' voice but a bit 'muddy' details. Where spiral box give more clean detail. The bass in the common box were tighter with less deep bass. 

All and all we both love the spiral box compare to the common box. Thus, the 3 unit or the proper 2" unit will be having the spiral box layout. Stay tuned~ 

今天打印了第二类的设计。第一个设计是螺旋通道。而这个是比较传统的之字型设计。用来比较两者之间的差异。

＊很抱歉的我并没有能力拥有专业的测试仪器。也没有高档的录音设备。我们只拥有的是我的和我音响发烧友‘损友’的耳朵。所以所有的比较只是我们的聆听感觉／感想。敬请多多保函。请给与保留及接受的空间。

之字型箱给予我们的第一印象是声音比较亮。不过不够清晰。而螺旋箱的高音比较保守，不过音感比较宽阔。而且低音比较厚实。之字箱相比下低音比较紧凑，不过不够厚实。

两者相比，我和我的损友都比较喜欢螺旋箱的音色。所以第三个，也就是2寸单元的实箱会用螺旋箱结构。敬请期待～ 

First print, first enclosure. 第一个打印，第一个音箱。

First print was definitely a surprise. I'm expecting some hick-ups and yet the print came out just nice. With proper geometry and details.  The only problem here is the labyrinth part of the design were covered by the 'support' structure. Which i only learn about it after read through the manual (download from PP3DP) which i haven learn before starting this print. I should have set the support to >20mm area so the small tunnel will not have the support structure in it as it won't be needing it. Which i had to pause it half way to remove the support structure so it won't cloak up the air flow. 

 Almost done after almost 2 hours. I'm using 0.25mm layer hight with normal printing speed (which i presume 60mm/sec) I did notice the round side of the enclosure warp up a bit (~1.5mm) After googling around. I found out that ABS tend to shrink when it start to cool. So the way to minimize the warping problem is let it cool slower. And that's by increasing the surrounding air temperature or by adding a shield to block out any stray air that might blown on the printouts.

All and all, the print came out fine and i have installed the 40mm driver unit and give it a go. The bass were obviously tighter and deeper compare to the 'cheap plastic leaky box' it came with with less noise and cleaner vocal. But the down side was there's a certain degree of 'box' sound coming out from the port. My guess was the port was designed too wide to let the higher frequency escape the enclosure. Will try adding some sound damping material at the wall of the labyrinth later to see if there's any changes.

第一次打印出来的结果让我充满了惊喜。我原本以为一定会出现很多问题的，但是结果打印很顺利。如果硬是要挑问题，那就是我的问题了。啊～ 第一张照片可以看到，迷宫箱的迷宫里被打印软件的‘支撑结构’布满了。这个肯定会阻碍到气流。查了查‘使用手册’ (*在 PP3DP下载）。原来可以把支撑设定调整到比较大的面积才需要，那么迷宫箱的小漩涡就不会出现支撑结构了。 结果我得在打印一半的时候暂停来清除掉支撑结构。

这次我用的设定是 0.15mm 精度，普通速度 （我猜大约在60mm／秒左右）打印期间我发现到箱子圆孤部位会往上翘，大约 1.5mm～ 打开谷歌～ 啊。原来ABS材质在冷却的时候会有一定的收缩习性。所以要减少翘尾的问题，就需要让ABS慢慢的冷却。其中一个方法就是把打印机的四周围围起来。减少外在的冷空气流通吹到模型上面。

整体来说，音箱打印出来的品质不差。我把40mm的单元安装了上去后试听。效果比单元原来充满漏洞的箱子好很多。杂音少了很多，中低音比较扎实。人声也比较干净。不过，美中不足的是可以听到我们所谓的‘箱声’。就是说有中音从迷宫中逃脱出来。或许迷宫的通道太过宽阔了。待会会贴些吸音材质进去看看会不会有差别。

Bye Bye GX7, helo Up! Plus 2. 再见 GX7, 欢迎 Up！Plus 2.

After some weighing and a sweet deals offer (plus a 3 months installment offer) by my friend. I decided to ditch my original plan to replace my aging GH1. I get myself a 3D printer. And the good parts~ i'm in front of the queue for my friend need me to give him reviews and stress test on the amazing machine.

Yes~! it's ready to print right out from the box~! Just need to download the printing software from the website and you were ready to go. 

Then load the 3D .STL file~ 

Btw, the printer already automatic calibrated it's print bed. So only need to press the print button and select the proper settings for your models. Then hit OK.

And the software will start slicing the models into layers which the printer could work on.

Then it will spool the 'G' code to the printer's buffer memory.

When the printer's extruder is at it's working temperature, the printing will begin. By this time, you were free to disconnect your laptop and let the printer finish it's job.

经过了重重的考虑。以及朋友所给与很好的优惠。（还有3期的分期付款）我决定了放弃了取代我老旧的GH1的计划。把3D打印机抬回家咯～ 而且还可以跳过其他的预购者预先拿到。耶～ 不过需要顺便帮忙朋友做测试。

正如广告中所说的。Up！一开箱就可以打印了。只需要从PP3DP的网站下载打印软件就可以马上开始。把你的模型档案载入，选者合适的设定。按下打印钮，软件就开始切削你所输入的模型。把它转变成打印机能解读的格式， 然后传输至打印机本身的内存，一旦打印机头达到工作温度就会开始打印。这个时候你就可以断开电脑联线了。让打印机独自完成它的工作。

Testing out the 'new' 3D printer @ KuangYee Photo 初会3D打印机 @ 光艺

Half way turning one of my customer's new coil over shaft, i received a call which made me stop the machine and jump into my car. Hock had called me up. The 3D printer demo set had arrive.

HA~! I was shocks to see he was actually the importer of the brand which I'm eying on UP!!!!!

At first glance, it looks like coffee making machine with a heated platform and a over hang extruder. LoL. Yes. It's an UP! printer, but not the mini i'm expecting. It's the latest model UP! Plus 2. (Ouch.... this thing is twice the price of Up mini)

  Yes, it's small. the foot print is even smaller than most 2D printer we had at home. It's ready to print straight out of the box. You only need to hook it up to a PC/Mac, install the software (download from PP3DP website, only 2.5mb for Mac version)  and let the software do the platform leveling then you were good to go. With the build in processor, you only need to upload the pre-sliced files from your PC/Laptop then you can disconnect your pc/mac once it start printing.

The most compatible file type are the .STL (Standard Tessellation Language) It's accepted by most software. Which is easier for the printing software to read and slice it into layers to print. It's excited to see the machine layering on layer after layer of ABS to form a solid item.

After a few hours of chit chat with Hock, and having the sample O2 headphone amp face piece (in 15 minutes) I went back to work with an itching heart. Ar~~~


在制作客人避震器主芯时。接到朋友打来通知我他的演示3D打印机到了。立马跳进车里飞奔抵达朋友的办公室。

啊～！他竟然就是 UP！打印机的总代理。但是映入我眼里的不是 Up！Mini， 而是比较高阶的 UP！ Plus 2 。(*_*~这台是mini的两倍价钱哩)  不管怎样，我还是拿出了我的小白～打开我的3D档案。

好简单～！从PP3DP下载 UP！软件 2.5MB罢了～ 连接USB就可以开始打印了。自动调整平台高度。内置处理器。只要把切削完毕的档案传输进机器就可以开始打印了。当打印机开始打印，你就可以把电脑联线断开。

软件默认的档案为 .STL 这个档案比较容易切削成独立层，打印机才能分辨如何打印。第一次看到一层一层的原料（ABS）慢慢的铺成立体的物件。的确好像小孩看到新玩具一样兴奋。

我们谈了好几个小时。交换我们对于3D打印的知识和见解。也了解了一些基本的机械结构差别。其中我也打印好了一个O2耳机功放的面板 （打印时间 ：15分钟）。

之后回到工厂。只带着一颗痕痒的心～ (>_<)

Research~ Research~ I need to understand more. 研究～ 研究～ 我要懂得更多～

3D printing. I know this might be a new terms to most of us. But for us who were in manufacturing field of work. It's not a new terms. But an expensive terms to us. 3D printing is hyper expensive service. Until the moment i know there's had been a new breed in town.

As for the 3D printer that we understand is super big. Sizes that would take up half a room.

But from what my friend had told me. The printer he's selling have very small form factor, it's no bigger then our home printer. But the only limitation is it only capable to print out models up to 5inchs x 5 inches x 5 inches. Which utilize a newer technology FFF- filament fused fabrication.

So i went on a Google search frenzy. And to my surprises, there's so many type and design. And so many company had came out with affordable desktop 3D printer that we could buy and start working on our prototyping before sending it to cast molding. And best of all, most printers support the common material which we uses in our manufacturing process - ABS. Which means that the output from the 3D printer is actually a functional products.

While looking around, I'm looking for printers fit with my budget and requirement. As well as reading through forums on the trouble and maintenance problem them encounter. Where i'm looking at printers around 1000 USD 3 had meet my criteria -

and Up! mini.

The only one came down into my list for their reliability and durability. As well as functionality. I do not want to hook up a pc to it for the print for i had experience working for a printing firm who print billboard and often software/hardware issue would ruin a 3~5 hours prints @ 3/4 way into the print or worst, 99% into the print. So i need them to have a build in processor+memories to work on it's own.

Through out the forums, Up! had held on to it's reputation as not the fastest, but the least troublesome. Yet, produce the finest output despite it's China origin. Yes you heard me right, the company was base in Beijing, China.

And for now~ more research is needed before I can actually get one and start working out prototype. As for a Hot head in making a small speaker+enclosure that can rival bigger speaker in their price range. Please wish me luck and give me some support when my prototype will finally come out in near future.


 说说3D打印机呗。相信大多数人对这个此很陌生吧。但是多我们工业领域的人来说并不陌生。3D打印机在工业里已经存在好一段时间了。但是一提到3D打印。我们的映像就是半个房间大小的大型机械。把一层一层的粉状原料铺上然后把粘合剂打印上平面然后在铺上新的原料。

然而。现在我的朋友所代理的是采用另外一种科技的打印机。丝线热熔结合。也就是把融化细幼的丝线一层一层的叠起来组成物件。这种打印机的机体可以设计的很小。不过打印范围也大打折扣。从朋友口中得知，他的3D打印机的打印范围是5*5*5英寸。不过也足够打印我的模型了。

这时我的求知欲又来袭了。打开搜索－ 一查～ 原来已经那么多家公司在制造＋贩卖小型3D打印机了。在不断的搜索，阅读，对比。我慢慢的把产品规格符合我的预算。可以独立打印。设计上对于我来说比较扎实，容易维护的。到最后我把目标定在一家北京公司 － PP3DP 所生产的 Up！ Mini。

应为我有前些年在一家印刷公司打工的经验。当我们打印超大尺码海报时。最怕电脑当机，还是联线错误。所以最好打印机本身要有自己的内存和处理器。然而大部分1000美金以下的机种都没有内置处理器。只有 Up！Mini 有。而且PP3DP 也已在市场上销售超过两年了。风评也不差。各方面出问题的机率也比不少更高价的3D 打印机底。虽然数度是比不上对手。但是，我情愿多花20％的时间来打印，也不要打印机在99％打印时当机／挂点。(>_<)

好了～ 继续研究吸收更多关于3D 打印方面的咨询了。希望我能够成功拥有一台来完成我的构思。将来如果成功了，希望大家多多支持～ 先祝贺我好运啦～ 嘻嘻。