My new cheap bass traps (pics, prices, suppliers in London)

[Format6]

Hey guys,
First off the bat I want to thank Ethan and Glenn for all the input you guys have put in on this forum. Has helped me heaps! I was temped to ask questions but I spent alot of time searching and found all the answers I needed.

I was setup in the corner of my room until a friend told me I really should follow Ethan's guide to position myself correctly in the middle of the room etc. So I did all this, treated the first reflection points with the the few bits of foam I have. Once it was all setup I put on a track I knew and waited to hear the difference.... But sadly the difference was not good, no bass! (I know that bass in corner was not accurate and what not but still it was nice to hear somthing!)

I very very nearly brought some cheap foam bass traps off ebay but then found posts stating it wouldn't help we will with my low end problems. (funny they call foam bass traps, bass traps if they dont trap bass?)

So I got to designing and making my own. I have a few factors working against me as
A) I am renting so I cant attach anything to walls
B) My room is close to the dreaded square of death (3610 x 3060)
C) One wall is basically all glass (bad for reflections right?)
D) Due to furniture restrictions I am positioned in the shorter length of the room
E) I'm poor

I have two types of trap, 3 x wooden frame traps and 3x triangle corner traps.



Materials are as follows:

Wood:
6x MDF panels (1200x200x18)
6x MDF panels (636x200x18)
Cut to size by local joinery shop was £35 (travis perkins wanted £50)

(I know I would get better performance if I removed some of the wood from the frame but I dont have the money to pay the joinery shop to do it or the tools to do it myself.)



Rockwool:
2 x RWA45 4 pack (1200x600x100) code 107524
Travis Perkins quoted me £41.07 per pack but I got it from CCF CCF - Ceilings, Partitioning, Dry Lining, Insulation & Fire Protection for £15.00 per pack. Funny thing was Travis Perkins delivered it and gave me a TP delivery note.







Fabric:
Here's where my expenses will vary. Luckily for me but unlucky for my bedroom studio my wife lives here too so part of the deal of me filling our small room with empty boxes was she got to pick the fabrics. The fabric store had plain black for £2.50 per meter so you could do it for about £20 however I had to get crocodiles and stuff so my bill went up to £40.

Tools:
Drills - borrowed from work
screws - borrowed from work
staple gun - £10.00
drill bits - £2.00
Box cutter - £2.00
paper mask - £1.00
gloves - found under the sink
tape - found under the sink

Thats a grand total of £120 all up. About what I was going to spend on foam but I got alot more trapage for my money (in theory).

The build:
So I drilled and screwed the MDF frames together.



Put 2 x 100mm rockwool sheets in



I chose the frame sizes the same as the Rockwool so I wouldn't need to cut it, sadly tho the Rockwool is a bit smaller then the advertised dimensions so I had to use some tape to hold it in place.
(shabby I know, but no one will see it)




Then stretched and stapled the fabric.



that's the 3 framed traps done, for my tri traps I require my wife to do some sewing so I will reveal the plans and photos etc once they are done.

Oh and a reminder to those who dont know, Rockwool is scratchy and nasty so take precaution to avoid skin contact!


Hope this helps some one

Thoughts, feedback ?

[Scoobz]

Nice one, well done, clearly laid out too.

are you happy with the difference they make?

One word though.....

Crocodiles?

[Glenn Kuras]

nice job!thumbsup

[xaMdaM]

Originally Posted by Scoobz

Crocodiles?

Crocagator's???


Izod????



???

[macc]

Top work!

Some of that info will come in handy here... Going to do a third round of trapping in my place soon I think.

EDIT: If I put that product code (107524) into the CCF website I get £36 per pack :( :?

[Format6]

Originally Posted by Scoobz

are you happy with the difference they make?

One word though.....

Crocodiles?

Well ive got sick and am all blocked up plus I wana get it all in place before doing any critical listening. Ill let you know once its all finished.

And yes Crocodiles as I said you will have to talk to my designer re: pattern choices!
(I do like the Crocodiles tho)

If I put that product code (107524) into the CCF website I get £36 per pack :( :?

Don't pay any notice of the website pricing, just give them a call and talk like your in the trade (Have a little but crack shown while your on the phone) . If they try to charge you more then £15 tell them your mate brought some for £15 inc vat last week.

Shouldn't be an issue.

Good luck.

[macc]

Ahhll put on me bestest cockernee acksent geez, ta muchly.

Not that I'll have to try too hard, being from Barking

[nigel saunders]

Rockwool:
2 x RWA45 4 pack (1200x600x100) code 107524
Travis Perkins quoted me £41.07 per pack but I got it from CCF CCF - Ceilings, Partitioning, Dry Lining, Insulation & Fire Protection for £15.00 per pack. Funny thing was Travis Perkins delivered it and gave me a TP delivery note.




I have just been to the website and it is now up to £36 per pack - did you negotiate or have they closed a loophole?

[macc]

Look up, just a post or two.

[Weasel9992]

Really well done...that's as neat a job as I've seen.

Frank

[tobacco_slammers]

Hi Format6, nice work on the traps!

Could you tell me what type of fabric you used for covering the traps? or even where you purchased it?

I've been trying to build my own traps on and off for AGES but have never had the time to get the job finished...

The thing holding me up just now is getting fabric suitable for them. I've been to stores like Remnant Kings & Cotton Print but have never found anything acoustically transparent that would do the job. My limitation here is the colour as I need a sky blue fabric to match my room.

I've also tried ordering samples from online sites but these don't seem to be easy to blow through as suggested when looking for a fabric.

Any helps or advice would be much appreciated.

Bryan

[Blind]

very nice traps!

how did you fold the fabric on the corners? looks terrific....

[Jwilson]

Nice write up, thanks.


So how are you positioning the traps in the room then, considering you can't attach them to the walls?

I'm in the same position, had the materials sitting in a room for months now but haven't got around to building yet. I'm just doing some early reflection broadband traps at first, considering attaching casters to the bottom so they will stand freely.

[clivek]

Good job OP, why didn't you use the RW5 slabs it has over twice the
density ??!


Nigel - go here - There in Nursling, I paid under 20 quid for there RW5 packs !!


Minster - Insulation and Dry Lining - Branches


Also for info:

http://www.insulationexpress.co.uk/d...semi_rigid.pdf

[DomBud]

Originally Posted by tobacco_slammers

Hi Format6, nice work on the traps!

Could you tell me what type of fabric you used for covering the traps? or even where you purchased it?

I've been trying to build my own traps on and off for AGES but have never had the time to get the job finished...

The thing holding me up just now is getting fabric suitable for them. I've been to stores like Remnant Kings & Cotton Print but have never found anything acoustically transparent that would do the job. My limitation here is the colour as I need a sky blue fabric to match my room.

I've also tried ordering samples from online sites but these don't seem to be easy to blow through as suggested when looking for a fabric.

Any helps or advice would be much appreciated.

Bryan

Hi,

I'd like to ask the same question - What fabric did you use and where did you get it from? well done with the traps, they look great

Cheers

DB

[macc]

Just a quick note to thank the OP for the hookup - called that company finally today and got the higher density Rocksilk (didn't have rockwool at my nearest depot) for under £60 for 3 bales, including delivery.

thumbsup

[vier-personen]

Originally Posted by Format6

Oh and a reminder to those who dont know, Rockwool is scratchy and nasty so take precaution to avoid skin contact!


Hope this helps some one

Thoughts, feedback ?

hey, thanks for this, very nice! I am planning on doing something similar.
a question about the rockwool - I know it´s scratchy, I had some skin contact before when we built the air conditioning at a friends place..

but if this stuff is covered only in fabric in the room where you work all day, is this healthy? is there a chance you inhale small amounts?

[Format6]

Been away awhile I though this had died, ok questions:

Could you tell me what type of fabric you used for covering the traps? or even where you purchased it?

I got it from some little local fabric/craft type store. Cant remember what it was called but I could blow through it FAIRLY easily. Sorry cant tell you more then that.

how did you fold the fabric on the corners? looks terrific....

Lucky for me the miss is a display artist so she does it for a living and did it for me. Its not that hard tho (but hard to explain in text). Think of it like wrapping an gift. Fold staple, fold staple, just remember to pull it tight.

So how are you positioning the traps in the room then, considering you can't attach them to the walls?

See the very first picture in this thread, two are standing up just on there frames like in the finished picture and the other is laying on its side under my desk. Given my already crampt room I didnt have much choice in placement.

Good job OP, why didn't you use the RW5 slabs it has over twice the
density ??!

ummm I got the spec from this forum somwhere. I also read that the densist isnt nessarly the best. Im definatley no expert maybe Glenn, Ethan or Frank could explain more for you on this? They know infinitely more then I do on this topic!

but if this stuff is covered only in fabric in the room where you work all day, is this healthy? is there a chance you inhale small amounts?

Nah man im far more afraid of what I inhale on the London tube tbh
At the end of the day it sits undisturbed so nothings coming out, maybe if your beating it with a small child every day some crap might come out but I gave up doing that along time ago.

Finally I encourge you guys to get the job done, my room is still far from perfect but the traps did help. For the price its a valuable upgrade.