Why use frames on your absorbers?

[Drumhum]

Take a 30 or 50mm slab of high density rockwool
cover in fabric (make a tight fitting bag?)
attach blocks of wood to the corners with screws and large washers to create the space between slab and wall.
simply hang the thing like you would a picture (or screw blocks to wall, slab to blocks)

Why bother with wooden frames?

Am I missing something or not understanding something about the role of the frame?

[Ethan Winer]

No, you're not missing anything. A frame is used just to have something to nail to the wall.

--Ethan

[Drumhum]

Well its a great idea then :-)
- it saves money (on wood)
- its saves time (all that time saved making wooden frames + painting/varnishing etc!)
- presumably provides more absorption

has no-one else done things this way?

I guess the panels will be (a little bit) more fragile - but then it should be pretty easy/cheap to replace any that get damaged.

Do I qualify for the "why-didn't-anyone-else-think-of-this?" prize?

[dcwave]

This is the way I have done it - for a 4 inch trap with 2 in behind I use an 8 inch toggle bolt with a 1" x 1/4" fender washer through a 2x2 strip of wood across the back top and bottom. Mount it and cover with burlap.

[Drumhum]

damn you, prize stealer!

[Arksun]

I was thinking about this too, my front wall has a large desk spanning the entire wall, so if I was to treat the front bottom corners they would be out of sight.

So could one effectivelly just buy say a packaged roll of mineral wool and just sit the bag in the corner as-is?

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Arksun

I was thinking about this too, my front wall has a large desk spanning the entire wall, so if I was to treat the front bottom corners they would be out of sight.

So could one effectivelly just buy say a packaged roll of mineral wool and just sit the bag in the corner as-is?

Heck yes you could do that. thumbsup

Glenn

[Drumhum]

Would it not be better to use heavier insulation? I'm thinking, for under a desk, some high density slabs cut up and stacked to form a suitably sized cube.

Surely the problem with this idea of a roll of insulation is...
A) "wool" style (or loft lagging) insulation doesn't have much mass so is pretty poor for anything but higher frequencies.
B) if its wrapped up in a poly bag, its efficiency is reduced for higher freqs.

I'm looking for some correction of my understanding if I'm wrong about this!

regards

[andrebrito]

I use it because it looks pretty ! hahaha !

[Drumhum]

Originally Posted by andrebrito

I use it because it looks pretty ! hahaha !

Eh?

[svart]

I've seen a number of different types of "rock/mineral wool". Roxul has a couple, so does OC and a few more. Sometimes you can get mineral wool in hard-ish sheets(Roxul 60), usually more PCF, or in limp batts(Roxul AFB) with a lesser PCF. The harder panels can stand on their own but they can't support much weight. They can certainly support their own weight so you can cover them with cloth and hang them like a picture. The lesser PCF batts absolutely have to have a support frame of some kind.

[andrebrito]

I use it because it looks pretty ! hahaha !
Eh?

This was a joke... frame is used to hold the rockwool together and mount ii into the wall

[Drumhum]

Originally Posted by andrebrito

This was a joke... frame is used to hold the rockwool together and mount ii into the wall

yeah, sorry - my bad. I later realised you were responding on topic! haha.

..and there's certainly nothing wrong with wanting a good look to your studio! Indeed I'd say its essential!

My absorbers will be thick slabs (80mm or so) covered in nice fabric, mounted away from the wall with wood blocks. My vision for this is a pretty funky look - I'm just hoping it will be in practise lol.

I'm going to have corner traps too which will have wooden frames. As I understand things, its best to have an airtight seal behind the corner bass traps.