Part 3: Ear Cups
In this section, you will assemble the Ear Cups of the official Ploopy Headphones Kit.
- 2 Ear Cup Base
- 2 Ear Cup Inner Rings
- 2 Ear Cup Outer Rings
- 2 Resonators
You will need the following hardware:
- 2 Ear Cup Foams
- 2 Ear Cup Woven Covers (the short Woven Covers)
- (!) The Ear Cup Inner Ring is the smaller of the two rings that you have.
- Inserting the Ear Cup Inner Ring into the Woven Cover can be a bit tricky. During this step, you'll practice.
- During the real insertion step, the Ear Cup Inner Ring will be covered with glue, so it will stick to the Woven Cover.
- Get a feel for how the Woven Cover stretches, and how the Ear Cup Inner Ring flexes.
- Apply a generous amount from your glue stick. Get full coverage.
- You only have to apply glue to the outside of the Ear Cup Inner Ring.
- (!) Aim to insert the Ear Cup Inner Ring about 3mm into the Woven Cover. To clarify, there should be about 3mm of Woven Cover sticking past the Ear Cup Inner Ring after it is fully inserted.
- The Ear Cup Inner Ring should stick well to the Woven Cover.
- (!) Ensure that the Ear Cup Base is flipped to the correct side. Use the photo for reference.
- There is a small circular groove in the Ear Cup Base. This groove accepts the Ear Cup Inner Ring and clamps the Woven Cover to the Ear Cup Base.
- You will have to gently flex the Ear Cup Inner Ring in order to get it into the Ear Cup Base.
- You'll have to reverse the Woven Cover, as if you're flipping a sock that's inside-out.
- This will be the easiest way of stretching the Woven Cover over the Ear Cup Foam in the next step.
- Try to do this without stretching the Woven Cover too much. If you pull too hard, it will slip out from the clamp formed by the Ear Cup Inner Ring.
- Stretch the Woven Cover evenly. If you don't, the Woven Cover will stretch the Ear Cup Foam in an uneven way.
- No matter how accurately you think you performed the previous step, you'll have to adjust Woven Cover.
- You can pull on the Woven Cover in the way shown in the photo. Again, try not to pull too hard, and make small adjustments at a time.
- Don't press it in quite yet.
- Watch this video on how to insert the ring into the Ear Cup Base.
- There is a small circular groove in the Ear Cup Base. This groove accepts the Ear Cup Outer Ring and clamps the Woven Cover to the Ear Cup Base.
- You will have to gently flex the Ear Cup Outer Ring in order to get it into the Ear Cup Base.
- (!) Make sure that the Woven Cover is clamped down to the Ear Cup Base at every point around the circumference of the Ear Cup Base. You can always redo this step later, but if you do this correctly now, the Woven Cover will probably never come loose from the Ear Cup Base.
- The Resonator only fits into the Ear Cup Base one way, but use the photo for reference if it's a bit unclear.
- You will need to use a significant amount of force to push the Resonator into the Ear Cup Base.
- Go back to Step 39, and complete all of the steps again, but for the other Ear Cup.
- (!) Even though you've successfully done each step, you should still read each step completely before starting the step. Don't skip things, and take the time to do things correctly.
- The Ear Cup connects to the Driver, and sticks without the need for screws.
- The next two steps will describe exactly how to connect the Ear Cup to the Driver.
- (!) The Ear Cup should not require any force to push into the Driver. If there is resistance, rotate the Ear Cup until it slots into the Driver.
- The Ear Cup will connect securely to the Driver after you rotate the Ear Cup a bit. Feel exactly where the "locking" point is; you should be able to feel and hear it as you rotate the Ear Cup.
- Go back to Step 2, and complete all of the steps again, but for the other Ear Cup and Driver.
- You did it! Give yourself a pat on the back and take a breather before continuing.
When you're ready, continue to Part 4: Headband.