Ribbon repair in 39 easy steps

Planar Speaker Asylum

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I successfully repaired the ribbon driver on my 3.6s. This is my story.
Speaker affected: The left one.
Disc responsible: Brightman, Sarah. Eden. SACD.
Point of fracture: Near top. Tiedown waving freely in the breeze.
Reason for repairing over replacing: Replacements not shipped to the land of the Euros.
Location of repair: Kitchen table.
Video entertainment for duration of repair: "Crusade" DVD Sci-Fi, "Jeeves and Wooster" DVD
Lubrication used for repair(er): Vin de pays d'oc chardonnay.
Time required: Oh, say 6 hours depending on sobriety.
Percent of instructions complied with: 78%.
Percent of instructions accidentally not complied with: 4%.
Biggest hurdle: Actually starting.
Greatest technical challenge: A. stretching the ribbon. B. Placing the tiedowns.
Most useful AA tip: Pin end of ribbon on terminal block, then unroll.
Most useful tip not seen in AA: Use a big magnifying glass.
Second most useful tip not seen in AA: Don't drink espresso before operation.
Third most useful tip not seen in AA: Lay a strip of masking tape along side the magnet channel and mark the location of each joint between magnets. They are about 2 inches apart.
Greatest discrepancy between directions and reality: There are many more magnet joints to deal with than implied by the illustrations.
Best way of applying tiedowns: Follow the instructions -- after practicing squeezing tiny little balls of blue stuff in a location where, if you squeeze large streams of blue stuff, nothing bad will happen.
Second best way of applying tiedowns: Form tiny ball of blue stuff at the end of the applicator in safe place, then apply it to joint.
Third best way of applying tiedowns: Place tiny ball of blue stuff above joint, then push it down with toothpick.
Handiest tool to keep around not mentioned in directions: A cuetip or generic equivalent. The tiedown adhesive can sometimes lift the ribbon as one pulls the application tool away. It is best not to let this happen.
Most unanticipated cause for disaster: The shims. When brushed as in reaching across the ribbon for some thing or another, can jump from one side of the ribbon magnet structure to the other, trapping the ribbon material against between it and the magnet.
Distance to stretch ribbon: 61 inches.
Distance to stretch ribbon after breaking off a 1/4 inch while attempting to pin the top: 60 3/4 inches.
Way to measure ribbon: Mark a point exactly 61 inches (or less depending on how many times you have broken the ribbon) from the edge of hole in the top terminal block to however far past the end of the tweeter assembly 61 inches happens to take you. Pin to top terminal block with end of ribbon exactly at the edge of the clamp hole. Unroll ribbon material until unrolled. Detach taped end but do not remove tape. Stretch ribbon material until the end of the ribbon (not the tape) reaches the point you marked that is 61 inches from the terminal block hole. Press ribbon material gently onto double sided tape (you did remember to take the covering off the double-sided tape before doing this, right?). Cut ribbon exactly at edge of the clamp hole on bottom terminal block.
Things to not do while effecting repair: Exhaling.
One thing done not in directions: Applied Walker SST to terminal blocks prior to mounting ribbon.
One thing done which directions said not to do: Removed shims after placing tiedowns but before applying damping compound.
Affect of missing aforementioned step: None. Easier to apply damping compound without those pesky shims in the way.
Number of inspections to assure all tiedowns were made: 6.
Number of inspections needed to assure all tiedowns were made: 6.
Method of testing tiedowns: Gentle exhalation onto ribbon noting deformation of the ribbon vis the tiedown. Ribbon fluttering up and down: Bad. Ribbon rotating around tiedown: Good. Note grievous violation of previous admonishment. Reason: Ribbon not likely to blow across the kitchen table after tiedowns in place.
Words of a profane nature uttered during process: None.
Number of mechanically-oriented projects undertaken where blood was drawn: 212. The shims are sharp.
Ratio of anticipated despair over actual despair: 6:1.
Number of ribbons destroyed before I got it right: 0.
Skill level of repairer: On a scale of 1 to 10, 5.
Meaning of instruction's use of the word "careful" and variants thereof: Work slllooowwwly.
Audible effect of repair: None. Seems good as new.
Very respectfully,
Your faithful correspondent,
roninCoder.

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Topic - Ribbon repair in 39 easy steps - roninCoder 12:32:41 03/16/07 (9)

Things to not do: exhale (Tooo right!!!) - JayM 23:31:21 03/17/07 (1)

Here's a cheap/easy solution - buy a cheap snorkel - David S. 07:58:01 03/18/07 (0)

An undertaking worthy of Alfred Hitchcock himself. (nt) - Jim Treanor 19:38:08 03/17/07 (0)

ROTFLMAO!!--That's classic! Good job. - stevenk 05:40:55 03/17/07 (0)

Maaate ... well done! :-)) (I'm too chicken!) nt - andyr 01:57:00 03/17/07 (4)

Another Easy Option - Dimitry 10:47:38 03/17/07 (3)

Why not just use a wire with clips at the end - lwang 21:23:22 03/18/07 (2)

Re: Why not just use a wire with clips at the end - Dimitry 17:11:51 03/19/07 (1)

In my case, it would be a new tweeter for my cat to shred (nt) - lwang 20:40:59 03/19/07 (0)

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