Wedgehorn 6, light version

[kekani]

I decided to start the Wedgehorn 6's even though my 'ukulele player adamantly says, "No need monitors," even though he FINALLY decided to do research on how to ring out a system for feedback. Yes, that means he rings out the mains, and still feeds back. Of course, giving credit where it's due, he loves the Jack 12, & can't wait until I finish my pair of Jack 112L's, so maybe, just maybe, we can do a pair of 110L's for him (but he STILL doesn't believe the Jack 110's will blow away his EV's. . . Whatever, I'm moving on).

Picking up 5x5 takes a little strapping. Picked up a full sheet of bending Poplar for the Jacks. That fit pretty good in the back of the truck.


Jetting forward to all of the parts milled, or so I thought.


This is my vote for the MVT (most valuable tool) for this build. I usually make an excuse to use this ( certainly made an excuse to buy it initially), but this made all of the angles really easy. If I didn't have one, knowing what I now know, I'd rent one.


Of course there were some cuts that the Incra took care of. New CMT combo blade makes quick clean cuts. I marked all of the prices with the angles that edge needed. This helped in keeping the top, on top. Key point when milling: capitalize & bold "MIRROR PIECES". Its a good thing I caught what would've been a couple of mistakes.


Side bar: I knew I was going to have leftover ply, so I finally got around to finishing up more clamps (got some 'ukulele to build right away).


Had a little more milling to do. Yup, set up the router as a circle cutter again, and used the first baffle as a template for the 2nd. Did the same for the tweeter cutouts (which still needed to be done) & hand hold/port.


-Aaron

[kekani]

Following the plans, glue up started.


Adding to the plans, there's more than a few cutoffs that I used as guides to keep things square.
P

I've learned to appreciate sqeezeout, even if it is excessive. There are some places that need to be clean . . .


Which is taken care of with a chisel.


Still more milling to do. Hitachi resaw outfitted with 3/4" blade (way better than the original 3" satellite blade) makes smooth, straight cuts against the fence. . .


Or freehand. . .


Didn't feel like buying a nailer, so I used my electric stapler which I had collecting dust when SWMBO (that's what you call them, right?) made me redo the chair covers. Sometimes it needs some hammer persuasion.


Staples are cheap. Offcuts are even cheaper.


Okay not a lot of pics to get to this point, but obviously a little detour. First, cutouts done in mouth panels, then glued per plans. Now the detour. . .it is at this point that it occurs to me that these plans are truly DIY. To take this detour, you need tools, accurate ones (remember my MVT?). In seeing some Wedge 10 builds, I'm guessing I followed the same pattern. The case is created, sans the top. Staples galore ( for me anyway).


At this point, I'm not looking at doing these again. So many angles, even with the right tools. Seems the Jacks are an easier build, in certain aspects. Maybe I need a brad gun to rip through this build. Next time. Wait, did I just say "Next time?" I just hope the 6's will suffice, & I won't have to upsize to 8's. One good thing I won't concern myself with is making the inside presentable as a grill cloth is going over the front. Flat black, & I'll be a happy guy.

Aaron

[bassmonster]

The build bug has bit, and bit hard
Good luck with your build.

[LelandCrooks]

Nicely done.

[kekani]

Thanks guys, & yes the build bug has hit, & yes it's because I can't wait to play through them. Gonna start milling the Jack 112L's today, & maybe paint the insides/horns of the Wedgehorns.

BTW, I'm hoping that sharing the builds, as was suggested when I first signed on, is the thing to do. Feels sort of strange that I'm just the new guy, & documenting what others have done as well (which, without seeing those builds, it would be much more difficult, I think for me).

So, to get to the last pic, I went & glued the lower back onto the bottom. This required cutting the lower back exactly to the proper dimension, then glued the sides onto that. The access panel sides went on, and clamps & staples held it all to cure.

Made a couple of spacers per the plan (small ones), & used them to set the distance for the top. The box of wax paper stays next to me almost through the whole glue up process, as does paper towels and nitrile gloves. One side has the straight guide clamped on, the right side shows the spacers.


Once the guides are clamped, I just checked for proper spacing again. You can see the overhang from the bottom (the top has those as well). Next time (there I go again), I'll just cut them to the proper length.


Case left to cure. Oddly enough, there was a little bit of bow in the side panels, going inward on all the sides. This will prove to be a good thing later on.


More detours. Since the top of the baffle touches the top of the case, I just figured I'd make it square, & take care of a couple of birds with one stone.This is the sanding process on my granite plate (leftover from a friends kitchen remodel) tha I have sandpaper on to level parts for 'ukulele. Of course I hand planed it down most of the way first. The top of the baffle, facing down, is used as the guide to keep the top horn square.


This is what looks like after sanding.


Why go through all that to make it square? So I can just rip the bottom panel to the proper dimension, and be square. Here you can see the phase plug, and leftover pet screen, since this driver will be facing up all the time. Again, not concerning myself too much with the aesthetics on these parts.
P

You can never have too much clamps. The top came a little loose so I secured it again. Access panel flanges being glued in. Yup, used leftover 1/2" from the jack build so I wouldn't have to double up the 1/4".


I did a test fit already, and although there's a couple of gaps which I'll show later, it's coming together pretty good. I also saw on Bill's home page that the Wedgehorn build IS more difficult than the Jack. Don't feel too bad now.

More to come, probably in the new year.

Happy New Year!

Aaron

[kekani]

Continuing, since I got the drivers in. Here's a dry fit. Probably the strangest element I had to acknowledge is how small this thing actually is.


You can see the gap I referred to earlier. Maybe I should've stapled the mouth in place from the backside to hold it while the glue set.


The baffle is square against the top.


Drivers fitted, then removed.


I failed to do the small cutout from the mouth plate earlier, knowing that a Microplane would make quick work of it. Plus, it was good to have the tweets in hand so I could check the spacing. . .made it a little smaller than plan.


Learning from the Jack build, I just cut the tweets down on the table saw, no jigs, only the bottom portion as the piezos are placed in opposing directions when installing. Duco was lying around, and I followed that up with ABS glue from the backside.



Jumping forward a little, the horns are glued, edges routed, tweeters fit & bondo used to fill voids. I'm very happy with the way the tweets came out, and will be replicating the process for the Jack 112L builds.
L

[kekani]

And thanks to the magic of television. . .

I just wanted to get it done, and I spared the details of the crossover (which was EXTREMELY tight) and Speakon/Jack connections. I was planning on getting some black screws someday, but my friend thinks the brass are cool. I'll probably just be lazy and leave it.

The wedge on the right has the frame fitted for the grill cloth. Because this is out of 1/4", the small chevron corners have some overhang, so I used them as a bracket to keep the grill cloth frame in.


Now they match my Jack 112(k). I used the spray Duratex this time, and will do it again. Actually bought a hopper; worth the cost.


This is not a build I would look forward to doing again, and it looks like I won't have to. We tested these in practice, and I thought I was a believer in Bill's designs after the Jack, but these, what can I say? They do exactly what they're intended to, and they're way loud compared to what we had (EV SX100 and Yamaha 12's).

At first, I was concerned because the monitor settings on the head wouldn't go up very high before feeding back, even after notching out the frequencies. Then we just found a happy medium and started playing. Suffice to say, I now know why we can't turn the volume up - these things are LOUD.

The horizontal dispersion is amazing, and I can see that two of these will cover four of us on stage no problem at all. And did I say they are loud? Well, very clear as well. I played a CD through it, and I caught some background conversation between the musicians (live album) that I've never heard before. The vocals on everything just comes through without hesitation. Unreal. Of course, when my friend picked up the pace on the ukulele and started "hitting" the fretboard, all of those thumps came through as well. We really need to clean up our technique. I hope the Jack 112 Lites (or future 110 Lites) aren't as transparent, or we're in trouble in the short term.

Actually, if I did this build again, I'd pay more attention to the gluing of the horn pieces, and making sure they're square, because I'd take the same detour from the plans. I was comfortable with doing the case first, and making sure that was square before I glued the horn assembly in.

I haven't weighed these, but I think they're close to spec, maybe a little more because I added a handle on top, specifically because I didn't want anyone grabbing inside and hitting wires.

Thanks for watching. And now, back to Jack 112 Lites. . .

-Aaron

[Drey Chennells]

Thanks for watching. And now, back to Jack 112 Lites. . .-Aaron

[Tom Smit]

Good job, and thanks for sharing.

[rogerc]

[quote="kekani"]

I added a handle on top, specifically because I didn't want anyone grabbing inside and hitting wires.



Nice work, Aaron

I have put handles on my W8s for the same reason and added some cloth over the back of the ports so the insides can't be seen (it's not pretty in there )

[Scott Brochu]

And thanks to the magic of television. . .


The wedge on the right has the frame fitted for the grill cloth. Because this is out of 1/4", the small chevron corners have some overhang, so I used them as a bracket to keep the grill cloth frame in.


-Aaron

Did you screw the frame for the grill cloth to the throat from the inside or outside? Or are the corners the only thing holding it in place?
They look sharp.

[kekani]

Did you screw the frame for the grill cloth to the throat from the inside or outside? Or are the corners the only thing holding it in place?
They look sharp.

No screws, just the corners. Again, lots of overhang because the panels are half size @ 1/4". The frame had to be trimmed to fit because the opening in the front wasn't square as the gaps in the pics showed. Also, I had to clearance out the backside where the tweets are. The fit is nice, which made it a bit oversized once the cloth went on. Now, they're smashed in tight, and what you see is what you get.

For reference, I used Velcro on the horn throats on the Jack, but the corner holds them in as well.

-Aaron

[NeilD321]

Nice work.

I know exactly what you mean when you say you'll have to clean up your technique. It took our singers wife a few weeks to stop complaining "his voice was now too clear" and we are only running 2 Jack112s. Wait untill she hears 2 DR200's and 2 Titan39s!!!

[BoostFab]

very nice build. thank you for sharing.

[Spoon]

Very nice work!