The fabric of our lives

[HapiCmpur]

I'm pretty sure I've read every post on the subject of how to cover home-made bass traps and broadband absorbers. The following is a list of all the fabrics people in this forum have suggested as being among the best choices for wrapping such panels:

Craft felt
Muslin
Burlap
Guilford of Maine
Weedblocker
Baby seal skin

Okay, I made that last one up. But I'm about to make me some panels with my new Johns Manville 817 and I needs to know what to wrap 'em with. Here are my priorities, listed here in order:

1. Acoustic transparency.
2. Ability to keep fiberglass strands INSIDE the panels.
3. Appearance.
4. Cost.

Some folks in the forum have also suggested that flame retardancy should be a priority, but since I'm neither a smoker nor a pyromaniac I'm not too worried about that.

So.....Dare I ask if a consensus can be built on which fabric I should choose?

 

[frederic]

1. Acoustic transparency.
2. Ability to keep fiberglass strands INSIDE the panels.
3. Appearance.
4. Cost.

I'm not participating in a consensus, but I will share what I'll be using in my studio.

Since I have a greenish color theme going, I'll be using a dark forrest green, medium thickness cotton fabric that I got at Jo-Ann Fabric's. It matches the moulding perfectly, actually so it will look really nice as well as be transparent. The cotton fabric isn't anything special, its just a boring medium weight broadcloth actaully, which means the weaving of the threads isn't that tight, therefore more transparent than tighter, higher threadcount fabrics.

And it was cheap.

 

[mshilarious]

Some folks in the forum have also suggested that flame retardancy should be a priority, but since I'm neither a smoker nor a pyromaniac I'm not too worried about that.

Well, that's because commercial codes require a specific flame retardancy. Guilford just so happens to be one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, commercial fabrics. It is also very acoustically transparent, which is mainly a function of its cheapness It's a very coarse weave fabric.

 

[joshj]

You can use pretty much anything so long as it is "acoustically transparent". The field test I used was holding it up and gently blowing through it, if I could feel my breath on the other side then good. (Except, make sure people aren't watching you. One lady watched me blow through like twenty different cloths. She thought I was insane...)

Try going to Wal-Mart. They have a $1/yd section. Tons and tons of polyesters and cottons that are loose weave are available. One tip though, if I could go back in time I would have got a little tighter weave. A really loose, stretchy material is a complete pain in the a** to staple and fold all nice and neat. Here are two pics of my broadband absorbers (crappy camera though):

 

[HapiCmpur]

The cotton fabric isn't anything special, its just a boring medium weight broadcloth actaully, which means the weaving of the threads isn't that tight, therefore more transparent than tighter, higher threadcount fabrics.

With all the specs people in this forum use to determine which type of rigid fiberglass to buy, I sort of expected there to be a lot of concern here about exactly what fabric to put over that fiberglass. Seriously, I thought people would respond to this thread with comments not just about specific materials but also specific weights and thread counts. Guess it doesn't matter that much, eh?

Guilford just so happens to be one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, commercial fabrics. It is also very acoustically transparent, which is mainly a function of its cheapness

Cheap? Isn't this stuff 20 bucks a yard?

The field test I used was holding it up and gently blowing through it, if I could feel my breath on the other side then good. (Except, make sure people aren't watching you. One lady watched me blow through like twenty different cloths. She thought I was insane...)

I must say I'm disappointed that you didn't take notes during your field test and then post charts and graphs of your results online. Please try to think of the rest of us next time. (Just kidding!)

 

[mshilarious]

Cheap? Isn't this stuff 20 bucks a yard?

Nah to a commercial installer it's more like $10. And yes, that is a cheap commercial fabric They get a lot more expensive.

Also note that commercial fabrics are wider bolts (66") than fabric store stuff (45"), so you have to adjust for that.