Table Tuba by a super noob

[CharlesC]

Its mostly the screws that are holding it together and clamping it tight. The clamps are mostly there to try and help deal with the warping of the wood. I only put all of them on at the end of the night when I know its going to sit for a while. I think you might still want to invest in a few. The orange ones I just bought at Home Depot. They were $15 for a 36" clamp. Turned out to be cheaper than buying a pipe clamp in the same length. The rest I've accumulated over the years. You can never have too many clamps!

[Rune Bivrin]

Oh, I know about clamps. I have quite a few. All of them too short, too long, too big, too small or what have you.

So far I've used quite a bit of screws, but I'm looking forward to the brad nail exercise. I've used it once now for building a quick piano stool for my daughter. Quite the tool, I'd say, and well spent money.

[CharlesC]

I definitely wished I had one when I was doing my kitchen. Hand nailing in all that trim was horrible! I just know that once I get a compressor its off to the races with a whole new set of tools that I can buy.

[lincsoldbird]

Keep at it, good build. Nail guns are like clamps, you,ve never got enough. Those cuboards are better than my kitchen, where am i going wrong!

[CharlesC]

Last couple of panels done. Just need to cut and install the last brace then its time to close her up and see what she can do.





Using the spreader to keep the last panel square. I like this clamp a lot. You can switch it around to be a spreader real easy. It's come in handy.

[CharlesC]

"All right! Last brace is in place, time to put the other side on! Hmmmm maybe I should check to see if all my panels turned out the same width."


Ruh roh.


Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.


Son of a....

At first I got out the belt sander but after about 5 minutes of that I started getting worried that I would do more harm than good. I decided to trust in the screws to pull it tight in the middle and the PL to do its wonderous expanding trick.


Added a few extra pilot holes and countersinks.


Read a good tip in myn's thread to use a couple of dowels as guide pins to hold the side while it gets screwed down. Worked really well.


All clamped up. Little extra weight for good luck.

Tomorrow I'll put the driver in and we'll see if it needs to get painted or it needs to be converted into firewood. That gap in the mouth was the worst and it had a good amount of squeeze out after all was said and done. So I'm thinking happy thoughts.

[SeisTres]

Nice build. A piece of advise i can give is that once you do run some tests and play with a little, the trick to setting it up is to make it "disappear". "what is he talking about" you ask?

If this is your first horn sub, we're so used how other subs sound that we want to make it noticeable just like the others, however, once you set it up correctly, the mix will clean up immensely and the voice will seem very "in your face" while you "won't hear the sub".

Try this, after you set it up, run some happy hardcore (itunes radio has a few station) or some electronic music that tempo is really fast. If the kick seems to lag or the tempo starts getting lost, then it's too loud. You'll be VERY surprised just how "soft" it will be.

But of course, my favorite part is that while hearing everything that is in the mix, once those low notes hit, it just envelops you.

Good luck.

[CharlesC]

Thanks for the tips. I'm just hoping I can get to the point where getting it set up is a problem. If its leaky no amount of tuning will help.

How can I tell if there's a leak internally? I've read about the stethescope tube method and the flashlight method (helped me find 1 leak at least!) but that will only help for the outside panels. What's this thing going to sound like if its got a leak internally? Will I be able to hear buzzing or whistling or something?

[jjohnson]

Thanks for the tips. I'm just hoping I can get to the point where getting it set up is a problem. If its leaky no amount of tuning will help.

How can I tell if there's a leak internally? I've read about the stethescope tube method and the flashlight method (helped me find 1 leak at least!) but that will only help for the outside panels. What's this thing going to sound like if its got a leak internally? Will I be able to hear buzzing or whistling or something?

Turn out the lights and stick a flashlight inside as far as you can and shine at both panel edges - any light shining through is a problem. You can stick a light in from the both openings - the end of the horn or the beginning of the horn (before the driver is installed.) Be sure to check the side you just glued since you had some play in it. You can't check everything with the light once it's closed up but you can do some.

The tube method is good for pushing in around the corners - it will help you check more of the panels.

[CharlesC]

Holy crap it works! Can't wait to get it inside and set up on the real system.

I found a leak around the driver that was easily taken care of. Astonishing what an immediate difference it made.



Used some electrical tape to fix a leak because I'm pretty sure I'll take the driver out so I can clean up in there a bit when I'm finishing it.


Cross brace is crooked and main brace is off center. I don't care, it'll be facing the wall and I plan on putting a grill over it too.

[matt996]

Awesome video, and great thread... thanks for sharing!

[CharlesC]

Ok I'm officially in love.

Brought it inside and ran through Audessy. It set the crossover at 90 and I have it right around there on the sub amp also.

I ran through some sweeps. There are some pretty severe bumps and valleys (not where I expected either. Big valley around 40 hz but then a big peak below 30hz). But I can't hear it during the movies. The Pod Race was awesome. Almost made me want to actually watch that movie.

[Radian]

Ok I'm officially in love.

Almost made me want to actually watch that movie.

TT is a killer!

[CharlesC]

It was nice and warm this weekend. Paint dried fast so I was able to finish and get it back inside and hooked up. All I can say is thank goodness for the flush cut bit and flat black paint. Hides A LOT of my mistakes.

Holes patched and sanded


2 coats of primer


2 coats of paint. Didn't turn out as smooth as I would have liked. Should have used a foam roller.


In its final resting place.


I've still got to build a box for the amp and some grills. I've got an idea to use some shoe molding to keep the grills nice and low profile.

[loudsubz]

Very nice.

What dayton driver is that and how much was it?