The journey begins.. 16 T60's and 12 DR280's!!

[LelandCrooks]

If you were closer, I'd ask you to come dial in my table saw. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent trying to get the fence perfect; I've lost count.

This. http://www.in-lineindustries.com/alineit.basic.html

5 minutes and you're done. Unless you have a blade runout problem. I check mine about once a month.

[miked]

Thanks for the link, Leland. Does that tool come with decent instructions? My blade and arbor are spot-on; it's the fence that gives me fits. It doesn't consistently lock down perfectly parallel to the blade. As it's worn-in (saw is/was bought new 2 years ago) and I've gotten used to it and it's quirks. Still, I want it perfect. I'll look into that jig.

*edit*
Answered my own question. http://www.in-lineindustries.com/alineit-test4.html

/facepalm

Well, this looks familiar. I obviously dont' have this tool yet, but the part about "boards will appear to be pulling away from the fence at the rear" and "dimensions may vary slightly from board to board is exactly the problem i'm having...particularly the latter. Frickin' saw is brand new and I baby it. How could the face of my fence be warped?

If the indicator starts at zero, goes positive (above zero) in the middle, and returns to zero at the rear of the saw, the face of the saw has a "bow" in it. (The fence is bent toward the blade in the middle.) If this is the case, boards will appear to be "pulling away" from the fence at the rear. This means that you will still be burning your cuts, as you are still making contact with blade teeth on the way up out of the saw. Other problems created by this situation may be that your dimensions may vary slightly from board to board, and the cuts may not be perfectly straight (since the material is not making contact with the face of the fence consistently through the cut. This will be most obvious if you are ripping stock that is being prepared for "glue-up".

ps
Sorry for the thread hijack.

[LelandCrooks]

Add a sacrificial board to the fence face and work it down with a sander til you're square. You want a .002 of runout to the rear of the fence. No binding.

[hifibob]

If you were closer, I'd ask you to come dial in my table saw. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent trying to get the fence perfect; I've lost count. Roughly 75% of the time a cut of any length is dead-straight and even. Sometimes, I'll have a 1/16" difference on say, a board about 3 feet long b/t one end and the other. That margin of error and the "I don't know if the fence is perfect this time" frustrates me to no end. I wax my table and my fence rail, keep sawdust off both so it doesn't interfere with movement, etc. I'm OCD and I know it. Possibly, I am to blame...maybe I feed the board a bit crooked? I set up my fence with a digital micrometer for cryin' out loud! But I digress.

No doubt you've got woodworking skills like Bill Gates has hundred dollar bills, but you must use PL when assembling all your cabs! It's messy as hell, sticks to everything like gorilla snot, does not compress easily (typically have to clamp a panel down before nailing/screwing b/c the goop is thick) and is generally a PITA to work with. But it dries like concrete, seals any gap up to about 1/4" (IME) and is just all that and a bag of chips. I've found that the 100-pack of "Nitrile Gloves" from Harbor Freight ($3.99 with coupon) is my best friend when using PL.

The only thing that matters is that the cabs are air-tight; with your skills and PL, you've got a 99.99% chance of that happening. And with just your skills it's only 99.05%. I'm so jealous. LOL!

Good luck and keep the pics coming.

Hey Mike have you ever thought about throwing and aftermarket fence on your saw? Most fences are junk but the saw is fine.. Biesmeyer makes great fences and you'll get professional cuts from your current saw. I use the same gauge Leland recommended and it does the trick but I use the 5 cut method (look up on google) on my slider..

Here is pick of the glue oozing out of the dado.. I basically fill the whole dado with glue to make sure this sucker is sealed.. I also silicone the joints in the sub chamber since there is a lot of pressure in there..



I worked on it for a few hours today and got some more assembly and jigs done..



Im also throwing around the idea of curving all the braces in the mouth.. heres the first jig/pattern I made..

[hifibob]

what type of acts are you going to be featuring at your club?

Mostly EDM (electronic dance music) but the venue will get rented out as well.. Im designing so even live band could potentially play there as well..

[David Raehn]

Nice work on the curved braces! Nice shop. Nice jigs. One heck of a journey!

[miked]

Before I start my Titan build I will investigate my fence face. It pains me to think it may be bulging in the middle or something like that. The saw (Grizzly G0690) was purchased new two years ago. Nothing has touched the phenolic faces of the fence except wood, and I'm pretty gentle with my expensive tools. If I had a jointer and a planer, I'd run the faces through them, but unfortunately I have neither of those tools. I may look into just replacing the faces; way cheaper than a new fence. Though the thought of a Bessy fence does get me all atwitter with joy.

Back to YOUR thread: You've got some awesome woodworking skills, brother. That is one clean-looking build. I dig the curved braces; go with it!

[67baja]

That glue looks suspicously like yellow wood glue, which is not recommended. You seem to be quite a good craftsman and that glue may work fine but pl adhesive is preferred for a reason. Great job and those jjigs are going to be invaluable.

[Rich4349]

Yeah, I noticed the same thing.

1st thought: "Wow, those joints look great!"

2nd thought:"Ohhh...that ain't PL."

Sure, wood glue will physically hold the panels, but it shrinks as it dries, as compared to PL, that expands, FILLING IN unseen / UNSEEABLE air gaps, which will spoil performance (at the minimum), ruin drivers (worse), and or waste your time you invested in the build. You will likely only end up cutting 1 to 16 of them open to locate and repair any number of leaks later on.

<end rant>

[Michael Ewald Hansen]

+1 use PL.. Regular wood glue definately won't cut it and sealing the joints with silicone is major ekstra work when PL can do it alone..

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

+1 use PL.. Regular wood glue definately won't cut it and sealing the joints with silicone is major ekstra work when PL can do it alone..

+1. If wood glue was OK it would say so in the plans. But it says Do not use traditional woodworking glue , and there's a reason for that. One leak can screw up the entire build.

[LelandCrooks]

It's also not as strong as PL. Even if you're using one the high end yellows. PL has some flex before the joint breaks, the aliphatics do not. Both will destroy the ply, but it takes more pressure for the PL to give,and when it does it's a gradual failure rather than a crack. Plus it fills the gaps. In tops they won't kill anything but performance, in subs you'll lose a driver if it's in the wrong place.

[miked]

Wow; I was so busy staring at the quality of the cuts that I didnt' notice the yellow glue. My friend, you need to use PL for all the reasons mentioned. Save yourself time, money and heartache later and build w/PL now.

[hifibob]

Ok fellas PL it is! Ill use it for the rest of this build but this T60 is slated for shop duty only.. I promised the guys they can keep this one. I can honestly say I've built 100s speakers over the last 20 years using glue and silicone w great success but I'm always willing to try something new. Now I just gotta find a way to keep the joints clean in the mouth. I'm kinda a neat freek

Thanks for the kind words guys...

[DJPhatman]

Ok fellas PL it is! Ill use it for the rest of this build but this T60 is slated for shop duty only.. I promised the guys they can keep this one. I can honestly say I've built 100s speakers over the last 20 years using glue and silicone w great success but I'm always willing to try something new. Now I just gotta find a way to keep the joints clean in the mouth. I'm kinda a neat freek

Thanks for the kind words guys...

Read my signature. Air tight is PARAMOUNT in the construction of the subs. How many previous builds have you done with 1/2" material and braces? Everything that is written in your plans is there for good reason. To get advertised results you must follow the plans.

As far as keeping the joints clean, be very very patient. Wait for the PL to FULLY cure and expand. Once it is fully cured it is very easy to remove the excess with a sharp chisel. You can help it to cure by moistening the glue joint surfaces, then apply a 1/8-1/4" wide bead of PL. Compress the joint with screws, clamps or brads, to hold the joint until the PL cures in about 24 hours, depending on the temperature. If you can keep the temperature around 75 F (~24 C) this is ideal for the PL to cure.