# Heavy Grado Modding Project



## chippechanga

I have always been doing a lot of DIY, and worked with leather, metal and wood. 
I got interested in Hi-Fi just around two years ago. And since i mostly listen to music on the go, i wanted to have some great headphones, so i bought a pair of grado sr 80i in Lydbutikken in Copenhagen, witch is a fantastic store, a must visit if you come by some time. I loved the sound and look of the grados to start with, but after a while i got tired of the looks (but not the sound), so i decided to mod them. I painted them in rastafari colours, made a new headband, added some metal details and made a one-side minijack port with  a beats by dre cable (witch does also fit iphone 2g). I were not a member af Head-fi back then so i haven’t shared any pictures until now. 
   

   
The proces were so fun so i decided to make a new pair of “heavy modded cans”.
I would also use a pair of grados from the sr series this time. 
I wanted the headphones  a less fancy than my sr 80i and have a more aesthetic look. I have been studying a lot of different headphones, from different fabricators, to find out how i would like mine to look. These are the ones i decided to mix the properties from:
   
I want to make a duble headband like the Sennheiser HD 25
I want the earpads from the sony XB series
   
  [size=medium]                [/size]
   
I will try to make them collapsible in the same way as the Bose on-ear phones.
   

   
And some of the metallic look from the grado HP 1000.
   

   
If anyone uses some of my mods i would be happy if they left a comment about how it went.
I am in the proces of modding the headphones and more posts will come when i come further in the project, this is a “live article” so i hope i don’t screw up halfway trough.
   
Every comments are very welcome.


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## jageur272

Great work!  There are plenty of great mods on this Headwize Projects page, but they're from 2004.  I do believe that the MS1000 modding thread has plenty of very elaborate pictures and there are many other Grado mod threads!  
   
  My recommendations:
   
*Double Headband*: Easily enough done.  If I remember, the wimpy little metal band that goes through the leather can be removed quite easily and replaced
   
*XB Series Earpads*: From my experience, using leather/vinyl earpads with grados makes them sound terrible.  This is most likely due to the airtight seal that they provide. Maybe perforations may help out the sound, but you may want to reconsider using these pads.
   
*Collapsible*: This has been done somewhere, but I can't remember by who... Look for it!
   
*Metal Cups/Grilles/Gimbals*: Check out the Magnums by Symphones for a start, but there are plenty of Head-Fiers here who have aluminum cups that they (or a buddy) machined.  This can also be easily done.


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## ecclesand

Here's a mod that I was going to try with my RS-2 when I had it.  I believe he used 2 in brass pipe that you find in bars and restaurants.
   
  http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/436898/moded-my-rs2-a-little-i-think-they-look-better
   
  Then there is this one.  I actually did this change to my RS-2 before selling it.  Turned out pretty well.
   
  http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/119314/post-your-grado-mods/645#post_5700731


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## chippechanga

Thanks a lot for your repliyes, they were really usefull, especially the one about the brass rings.
  I will come up with what i have achieved until now later today.
   
  jageur272 i most admit that i hadn't thougt about the problem with the earpads, but since i have aleready ordered them i will try to modify them in someway to keep the grado sound.


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## chippechanga

Hello, i have now bought a pair of SR125, and since i’m just a poor fourteen year old school student, i bought them used, they came with the yellow sennheiser pads. 
  So the first thing I wanted to change about these headphones, was the plastic housing.
  I didn’t want to replace it I just wanted to change the look.
  So firstly I opened the headphons,with the hairdryer method from “headwize the collected grado mods”. 
   

   
   Then I removed the plastic grills to replace them with some wire mesh. Last time I tried to remove the grills from a pair of grados, it didn’t turn out very well: The grills are glued to the housings with superglue, witch you can only dissolve with acetone, so I tried that and after it had loosened the glue it started to etch the housings pretty bad.
  So i would try to use another method to loose the grills this time. Super glue does not melt by being heated by a hairdryer, but plastic does. So I heated the grill up and pushed it of, leaving only a thin layer plastic (like 0,1 mm) inside the housings.
   

   
   The next thing I did was to sand the housings flat I started with 60 and ended with 1200, I have an ideer of adding some details on the housings instead of the silver text, I’ltake that up in a later post.
   

   
  Now the headphones have a nice clean look but they’r far from finished.
   

   
   
  The grill mod and the sanding mod is from Headwize.
   
  And one thing more; I had the ideer of putting the earpads from Sony mdr xb 500 on my grados so i tried it, but since the grados sound horrible with these earpads (but were extremely comfortable) I just reversed the mod.
  So now i have a pair of sony xb 500 for sale.
   
  This is how they looked:


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## chippechanga

So next was the cable.
  I shortened it down to 1,2 meters (4 foot), and i wanted to sleeve the cable with some shoelaces, and since i have the yellow Sennheiser pads on them i wanted the shoelace to be yellow too.
  The cable gets thinner after the "Y" split, and I wanted it to have equal thickness before and after the split. So i bought some cheap cable and pulled the rubber over the thin cables, then the shoelaces, some heatsink instead of the "grado plastic splitter".
  Then I putted on a temporary plug until i get my pailiccs plug from Hong-Kong.
  Here are some pictures:
   

   

   
  Now the easy DIY'ing is over next up i'll talk about the metal work.


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## mcoleg

chippechanga, could you please share how did you remove the pads from mdr xb 500?


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## nikongod

This is a VEry cool thread! Nice work on the Grados!


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## MrTom

Quote: 





chippechanga said:


>


 
   
  That looks brilliant


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## MrJohnny

Theres a small screw Deep inside the pad then u twist them off


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## mcoleg

Thanks, I figured it out - 4 screws and two rings


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## chippechanga

Quote: 





nikongod said:


> This is a VEry cool thread! Nice work on the Grados!


 


  Thanks I will post some pictures of my new mods soon. (I have made them collapsible.)


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## JamesMcProgger




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## akgfan

How does it sound? I made a modification on my akg and it sounded bad with bigger earpads so I had to remove it.


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## BobSaysHi

Quote: 





jamesmcprogger said:


>


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## chippechanga

Quote: 





akgfan said:


> How does it sound? I made a modification on my akg and it sounded bad with bigger earpads so I had to remove it.


 


  I removed the earpads too, leather pads does not work on Grado.
  Put the earpads back on the XB500, sold them for the same price I had bought them for


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## JamesMcProgger

are you gonna make more modifications to these?


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## chippechanga

Yeah but I gave up writting details theyre nearly finished I'l post pics as soon as they're complete.


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## joQuFIN

Quote: 





chippechanga said:


> Now the headphones have a nice clean look but they’r far from finished.


 
  Have you thought about sanding that piece what holds the cups? It should look better if they match to each other. Just my humble opinion.


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## chippechanga

Actually it was the plan form the start to switch the cup holder with aluminum from the start, witch i have now done by now.


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## JamesMcProgger

photos?


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## KojiSyntax

Heh, I just tried the mdr-xb500 pads on my sr-80's tonight before i read this. I broke the Y split on my sony's a while back so I was taking them apart getting ready to rewire them and I was curious as to how well the pads would fit on the grado's. It fit nicely and would only require screws to keep them on. But you're right in saying it sounded terrible. It decreased the sound leakage from the pads, which made the bass louder, which was a plus, but in doing so made everything else muddy. That's partially the reason I originally disliked the mdr-xb500's. I'm definitely waiting on seeing your finished pics. Brilliant stuff so far.


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## chippechanga

​ So the cans are not totally finished, but here are a bunch of pics and a bit of explanation.​ It has to be said that everything showed here isn't just a overnight work it have taken months to do (not on full time), and there is a lot of work behind each little stupid detail.​   ​ ​  ​ First of all I have removed the grill clothes. Mostly because it looks cooler like this, but it does actually sound better.​  ​ ​  ​ Then I changed the cable a bit (still the old Grado cable inside).​  ​ ​  ​ With new cable pants.......​  ​ ​  ​ .......And a Viablue plug. I have to give this plug some credit; i have now used pailiccs, switchcraft and neutrik, but the viablue is just better than those in every ways.​  ​ ​  ​ I made a pair of metal "cup-holders" instead of the plastic yokes.​ Thanks to ecclesand for posting a link to this great thread http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/436898/moded-my-rs2-a-little-i-think-they-look-better, witch I used a lot when I made the rings.​ ​  ​ These are my new rod blocks (I haven't polished them yet). They are made out of tree aluminum parts each. .​  ​ ​  ​ Two of the parts are permanently connected to each other with a hinge and the last part is put in place by two small bolts.​ I don't like these hinges, they're too vulnerable and they don't match the aluminum but i couldn't find any others, please post if you know where to get some in some non-brass-metal.​ You can see on the left hinge that one of the nails is to centered, well everything can't go right.​  ​ ​  ​ I have glued some rubber from a cable to the inside of the "half holes" so i can adjust the rods without a screw.​ ​  ​ It works like a sandwich.​ Urgh.... it's very clear that they need to be polished in this picture.​  ​ ​  ​ So can you guess the point of all this metal.​  ​ ​  ​ Here you see to original Grado headbands with the pleather slided off.​ ​  ​ All the parts lined up.​ ​  ​ And here they're put together. ​ ​  ​ Double headband metallic goodness.​  ​ 
  ​ And collapsible!​  ​ ​  ​ Still need to be polished!​ ​  ​ And here they are with the cups, and this is what's unfinished:​ ​  ​ They need metal cups to be finished and actually a friend of mine are making them right now.​  ​ ​  ​ I'm also going to make or buy some kind of hardcover for them.​  ​ That what all for know hope i don't killed your internet with all these pictures.​  ​  ​


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## i_djoel2000

holy sheet dude, that metal cup holders are freaking awesome!
   
  you're going to turn the cup to metal too? how much did you spend to make that? it seems better to make the metal cup, buy used grado headband, and then buy the symphones magnum driver mod


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## chippechanga

Well actually This have been pretty cheap to make, I have spent a bit of money on tools, but for the materials i would say i have spent under 100 $.
And for the metal cups, they are a work i progress, but I have Got a friend to turn them for me 100% free!
And I can't afford the magnum mod, I'm just a school kid, so I gota lot of time, but no monney.


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## elliot42

Oh wow! That's some amazing modding. Nicely done.


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## chippechanga

Thank you


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## i_djoel2000

looking forward to your in progress metal cup


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## JamesMcProgger

Quote: 





chippechanga said:


>


 


   
 [size=medium]The metal structure is frigging awesome!
   
  you know, some people would actually pay some serious money for this kind of works...​[/size]


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## Mad Max

That's badass!


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## chippechanga

Quote: 





jamesmcprogger said:


> Quote:
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> 
> 
> ...


 

 Well I cant say i haven't thought about it. Maybe if i get over five orders it could be something.....


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## JamesMcProgger

Quote: 





chippechanga said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

 and how much would they cost?


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## Bilavideo

Absolutely brilliant mod!


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## chippechanga

Pm me if you are interested in buying "the structure".

  Witch means the piece showen above.


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## EddieE

Fantastic work. But how wide are the headbands? In order to be comfortable, they'd have to be wide enough to have the HD25 paddings stuck on?


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## chippechanga

Actually i have tried adding pads but they look better without, and because of the double headband they are more comfortable than any padded headphones I've tried before.


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## EddieE

I guess logically - the portapro headband comfort is fine and that's just one metal band so I suppose it would be fine, I didn't think of that.
   
  Anyway, it's a really fantastic piece of work, congratulations.


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## loremipsum

Wow, that looks really slick! I'd be scrambling to give you my wallet if I were more interested in Grado's sound sig. Good work.
   
  By the way, how come Grado phones attract so many more DIY guys than other phones seem to? I know people mod other headphones, but for the most part those mods just consist of recabling, new earpads/headbands, and new wood housings, but with Grados it'd probably be easier to compile a list of mods that HAVEN'T been done.


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## Ikarios

Quote: 





loremipsum said:


> Wow, that looks really slick! I'd be scrambling to give you my wallet if I were more interested in Grado's sound sig. Good work.
> 
> By the way, how come Grado phones attract so many more DIY guys than other phones seem to? I know people mod other headphones, but for the most part those mods just consist of recabling, new earpads/headbands, and new wood housings, but with Grados it'd probably be easier to compile a list of mods that HAVEN'T been done.


 
   
  Grados are very functionally simple and are easy to take apart. The design has been around for a very long time, and many people have posted about how to take them apart, do some mods, etc etc. This becomes a snowball effect with people piggybacking off of other people's efforts (like Kramer and bilavideo).


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## LearnedHand

Those look great.  Good work.


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## narutofan36

[size=medium]Amazing modifications! I would love to do something similar to my sr125's but this is my first time for everything, including soldering so I was wondering could you give me some advice.
   
  I would like to replace the grill, sand the housing, and replace the wiring just like yours but Im a bit confused about the process.
   
  First, I'm trying to get the grill out but im having difficulty. When you pushed your grills out, was there extra grill plastic left over on the interior and if so, how did you remove it.
   
  Also, what type of grill did you use.
   
  Could you point me to what sand paper you used, im not sure what you meant when you said "60 and ended with 1200"
   
  Sorry for all these questions!
   
   
  Best regards
  -Phillip​[/size]


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## chippechanga

First of all if you're new to grado mods you should look through these threads:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/508459/sr60-mod
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/119314/post-your-grado-mods
   
  About the grills.
  I heated them up with a hairdryer before i removed them. This melted the glue so there weren't any plastic left after the removal. If you already have removed them, and there's still plastic left, you could try to warm them up again and remove the remaining bits, or you could use a dremel or something similar.
   
  You should use some wire mesh made of stainless steel. If you live in europe I know a great website that sells it: http://www.inoxia.co.uk/rw/category/9.aspx If you live in America there's plenty of websites that sells it, just google "wire mesh"
   
  About the sandpaper. 
  By writing 60 to 1200 I mean the sandpaper the grit number of the sandpaper i started with, and the one i finished with.
   
  Thank you for your questions it's only fun to answer them. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



   
  Happy listening
  Chippechanga


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## Saintkeat

I don't see the purpose of this thread when theres 2 grado mod threads already.
   
  On a side note, love what you did with the collapsible structure but I'll never be able to afford your price for it.


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## narutofan36

Did you sand the housing by hand? also, what type of glue did you use to stick the mesh on the cans. 
   
  Much appreciated!
  
  Quote: 





chippechanga said:


> First of all if you're new to grado mods you should look through these threads:
> http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/508459/sr60-mod
> http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/119314/post-your-grado-mods
> 
> ...


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## narutofan36

I forgot to add, did you polish the housing at the very end?


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## frogstomp88

Wow. Looks awesome. Grados are just a ton of fun to mod and play with. Wish I had taken pictures of my first grado mod, doesn't stand up at all to this level of work though. Kudos.


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## chippechanga

Quote: 





narutofan36 said:


> I forgot to add, did you polish the housing at the very end?


 


  I sanded them by hand and used contact glue, and I didn't polish them.
  To sainkeat I figured out that my price for my structure was far to high, but I won't set it lower because the whole thing is really hard to do. So I am working on an easier structure right now.


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## Saintkeat

there must be ways to bring down the cost of them. an easier production process for example.
   
  Its an aluminum structure right?


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## chrislangley4253

> ​ ​  ​ Double headband metallic goodness.​  ​
> ​ And collapsible!​  ​ ​  ​  ​ My jaw hit the floor man.​  ​


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## chrislangley4253

Quote: 





chippechanga said:


> I sanded them by hand and used contact glue, and I didn't polish them.
> To sainkeat I figured out that my price for my structure was far to high, but I won't set it lower because the whole thing is really hard to do. So I am working on an easier structure right now.


 
  Perhaps nix the collapsing feature? Maybe even the Double headband, although... I love that part.


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## chrislangley4253

Quote: 





chrislangley4253 said:


> Perhaps nix the collapsing feature? Maybe even the Double headband, although... I love that part.


 


  actually... I'm not sure how much the gimbals are costing you, but I imagine some people would be interested in Just the gimbals, or just a double headband like that.... So if you could make either on its own on the cheap.... You might wanna think about it. I dunno, just trying to toss ideas at you and its late


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## chippechanga

Well I could easily make a bunch of "gimbals" (didn't know that word, just looked it up
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





). If somebody is interested pm me, It won't be expensive.


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## DefQon

Just heads up for people wondering about the sanding process. 
   
  The lower the GRIT, the more rough and sanding the paper will do, the higher the GRIT, the more smooth the sanding process is going to be.
   
  60Grit, very rough
  120Grit, rough
  500Grit, gradually smooth
  1200Grit, very smooth
  2000Grit, fine smooth


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## narutofan36

http://cgi.ebay.com/3M-ALL-PURPOSE-SANDPAPER-60-GRIT-WOOD-METAL-PAINT-5X-/250756503111?pt=Paint_Paint_Supplies&hash=item3a62409647#ht_1077wt_1139
   
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-X-Original-JFJ-Easy-Pro-3M-1200-GRIT-SOFT-SANDPAPER-/170632825413?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27ba824a45#ht_3091wt_1139
   
  Would these 2 items be enough to sand down the grado cups? Also, did you place the grado cups face down on the sand paper, and did you sand down the sides/curves of the cup as well?


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## Maverickmonk

O.P: that headband is diabolical! I see Grado and usually think steampunk, but you've managed to make a headband that I think will make them seem downright futuristic!
   
  Narutofan: I wouldn't start out with 60 grit, that will be so rough you'll never get the scratches out. The goal of sanding is to remove material with the first step (coarse sandpaper) and smooth out the scratches from the previous step with each successive step. I'd go with something more like 150grit, 320 grit, 600 grit. 60 grit will be like assaulting it with a handful of gravel (and is usually used on things like furniture that has many coats of old paing on it)


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## chippechanga

Quote: 





maverickmonk said:


> O.P: that headband is diabolical! I see Grado and usually think steampunk, but you've managed to make a headband that I think will make them seem downright futuristic!


 


  Thanks ( :


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## ecclesand

Wow....very nice work, chippechanga.


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## chippechanga

Quote: 





ecclesand said:


> Wow....very nice work, chippechanga.


 
   
  Thank you. 
  I have just finished version "2.0". I'l post pics soon.


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## chrislangley4253

Quote: 





chippechanga said:


> Thank you.
> I have just finished version "2.0". I'l post pics soon.


 


  Can't wait to see it!


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## LingLing1337

Really awesome thread, good work. Cant wait to see v2.


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## Butler

You slid the cable through shoelaces!? Simple and brilliant! Can anyone reccomend a kind of lace or a certain style? How do you thread it through the insides? Im considering doing this to protect my stock ESW9 cable.


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## chippechanga

Well I don't know if some shoelaces work better than others. Try it out!


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## jrial

Here's a quick render I made of a solution to your hinge problem... It's a bit harder to make though.
   

   
  I suggest you do it in the following order:

 1) Cut the two right blocks, but don't round the edges yet
 2) Fit them together, and press them in a vice
 3) Drill the holes straight through
 4) Round the edges on a belt sander. They don't have to be perfectly circular; just enough so the two parts won't rub against each other when turned. Also, only the sides in the direction of rotation need to be rounded off. If you want to make it easier on yourself, just grind those sides off at 45° if thickness permits, or bevel them at 30° and 60°, then bevel the resulting angle off again so you end up with a 3-faced bevel.

 You're going to need a pretty accurate drill press for this. Also, you may need to make the "hinging" parts thicker if they're too thin to laterally drill through.

 Once you're done, it's up to you to decide how you want to fit the pieces together. Possible options:

 1) Thread the lower right block's holes, re-drill the upper right block's hole a little larger (outer diameter of the thread you just tapped), screw together (looks best with a nice screw on both sides) and use a little superglue on the last bit of the screws' thread to keep parts together.
 2) Just use nuts and bolts if you don't care about the looks.
 3) Flare the outsides of the lower right block's holes, insert a pin that's slightly longer and flare its ends with a small hammer. Kind of similar to how knives or straight razors are pinned.
  4) If the materials you use allow for it, go wild and find some way to incorporate a nice mosaic pin, like this one:


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## chippechanga

Wow, thanks a lot for the useful advice, I might try this out in my next pair.


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## chrislangley4253

Quote: 





jrial said:


> Here's a quick render I made of a solution to your hinge problem... It's a bit harder to make though.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
  I like it!


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## JamesMcProgger

bump, come on chippe!


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## chippechanga

Oh yeah, I've been away from headfiin the summer time, but now when it cets colder I,l crawl back to my cave and post some photos... tomorrow


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## JamesMcProgger

new project?


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## jrial

Hahah, I was curious about this too.


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## chippechanga

Pictures of my "redesigned" mod:

   
  New and changed:
  Aluminum cups
  Glasblated finish 
  Hinges instead of "sliding rods"
  Detachable cable (two mono ports)
  Fixed headbands (two bolts in each)
  Much better hinges
  Bought a slappa headphone case, I highly recomend them.
   
  Unfortunately I screwed up one of the drivers and am now looking for a new pair of donor cans.


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## JamesMcProgger

Looking great chippe! I liek the new matte finish. specially the hinge looks superb. the cup looks solid, how do you change the driver?
   
  and +1 for the slappa cases.


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## chippechanga

Quote: 





jamesmcprogger said:


> Looking great chippe! I liek the new matte finish. specially the hinge looks superb. the cup looks solid, how do you change the driver?
> 
> and +1 for the slappa cases.


 
  Thanks!
  I have glued the driver into the "inner cup", so I just have to use the good old "hairdryer method" to get the driver out again 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




.


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## BenAdamson

Wow, that's a fantastic build! I wish I had the time, money and patience to do something like this


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## miyinan

can't believe i missed this thread..... fantastic mod


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## Budgie

Looks nicely retro/sci-fi. Very cool.


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## HPuser9083

Quote: 





chippechanga said:


> Hello, i have now bought a pair of SR125, and since i’m just a poor fourteen year old school student, i bought them used, they came with the yellow sennheiser pads.
> So the first thing I wanted to change about these headphones, was the plastic housing.
> I didn’t want to replace it I just wanted to change the look.
> So firstly I opened the headphons,with the hairdryer method from “headwize the collected grado mods”.
> ...


 
   
  Even if they DO sound terrible with the XB500 pads, they still look badass and comfortable as hell, however a pair of G-cush or L-cush pads wrapped in soft fabric, preferably wool, should be about as comfortable, and since it'd be more breathable, should yield decent sound quality. In addition, you could also try swapping out the stock air chamber with a wood or aluminum one and see where that takes you.


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## chippechanga

Sorry didn't see your post until today, I have bought a set of G-cushions, and they are comfortable as hell.


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## miyinan

looks comfy


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## dakwan

Quote: 





chippechanga said:


> Pictures of my "redesigned" mod:
> 
> 
> New and changed:
> ...


 
   
  Thanks for inspiring me


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## ApplesRevenge

Fantastic work done!
   
  I've always wanted a pair of Grados solely for modding. This thread helped me decide to go through with it.


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## jonbmet

Chip the fact that you're doing this at the age of 14 is pretty cool. I'm guessing you've had some sort of exposure to engineering / manufacturing. I hope you go into some sort of engineering field (most likely mechanical). You're definitely inclined to work in the industry.


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