2 Jack 12's - first time cab builder

[James Champer]

Update:

Monday morning rolls around, Email in my box from Leland. Was shocked as well. Is making good and is sending a bucket of black with a return label for the albino soup bucket I've no use for. (though I must admit, kinda cool thinking of uses- thoughts of the "kodiak jacks" crossed many a brain cell )

Spent the rest of the evening at the hospital with my MIL.

There's still Tues...

(Update update: Learned that the new bucket went out Wed.)

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[LelandCrooks]

Brain fart. Seems to be happening more and more. It should have gone out Monday. Lost my helper back to school, and he hasn't set up his shop at school yet. One man show again except on the weekends when Sam can get here.

The Kodiak Jacks. You really don't want to go there. I spent an enormous amount of time getting those right. The white is far harder to work than the black. Which is odd, usually white with it's large titanium dioxide conrent covers and hides better than anything.

[Bas Gooiker]

I'd love to have some white Warnex/Duratex.

To bad you have to order insane amounts of the stuff with the manifacturer if you want a non black batch here.

[James Champer]

Brain fart. Seems to be happening more and more. It should have gone out Monday. Lost my helper back to school, and he hasn't set up his shop at school yet. One man show again except on the weekends when Sam can get here.

It's all good Leland. It happens. Like I said, slowed me down which is more than likely a good thing

The Kodiak Jacks. You really don't want to go there. I spent an enormous amount of time getting those right. The white is far harder to work than the black. Which is odd, usually white with it's large titanium dioxide conrent covers and hides better than anything.

I thought as much, though honestly, my main thought was wondering how long they would actually stay white.

I mean really, who we trying to kid?- White has no place at a bar.

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[AntonZ]

I mean really, who we trying to kid?- White has no place at a bar.

Would work well with weddingplanners and the mother-in-law if you play weddings

[dheafey]

I mean really, who we trying to kid?- White has no place at a bar.

Would work well with weddingplanners and the mother-in-law if you play weddings

Or the occasional Bridezilla.

"Uhmm, like...", twirling hair and snapping bubblegum, "Can you, like, change the color of those things? I mean it's totally ruining the vibe of my special day!" Bursts into tears and runs away.

[James Champer]

Day seven (Sept 17, 2012)

So alright, what does not having Duratex give us? Yes, a little breathing room. So Monday night I merely worked on stuff I probably would not have done in a hasty build.

I routed the top hat plates so that they would sit pretty at about the same level as I imagine the coating will end up.

I even crafted another nifty jig worthy of my newly created jig pile 'o wonders!

Yes, it's three boards deep, and yes, that seems like overkill but you see, I searched high and low for a 1/2" top bearing edge router bit and to my surprise, they are somewhat scarce (in a big city, really??). The only one I could secure was a 1". Thus, three boards to get 1/8" recess. *sigh*

A lot of the other stuff was merely attention to small details and decisions/mods as it related to back panel jack mounting.

And well, that pretty much sums up that Monday night- outside of beers and football.

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[James Champer]

Day eight (Sept 18, 2012)

Day eight started out as just as many day eights do, wake up, scratch the ass, hit the head, find the coffee, play with the dog all the while thinking of audio stuff. (I mean really, who's routine differs?)

Thought this might be a good day to also break in the Lab 12's. So, after the obligatory attention to my behind, I did! Here is a shot of that *action* later in the day:

Oooooh was it exciting! I watched for hours.

When I was able to break myself away from that riveting spectacle, I decided it was time to get started on my tweeter array. Check this out.. Another jig!!

Glued, screwed, bradded, cut and well, awesome! (what jig isn't I ask you.)

I then proceeded, as one will do, in using it and before I knew it, I had my first pair of tweets ready for glue!

One thing you'll notice is that, yes, I decided to go with the melded array. Since I knew I wouldn't have these done for the target show, and I had enough tweets, I thought, why not? Better to have and not need than need and not have I always say.

The keen observer also will notice something else in the last pic. That's right- Another Jig!!

One more to the pile, and you'll be happy to know that the wife hardly minds parking outside so as to provide room for all of them . If you are having similar problems, why not use logic? I simply had to remind her that cars are built for weather while wood jigs are not. She bought it.

Okay, back to the important stuff.

Here is one cab, looking all ready for Duratex and sporting the beginnings of grill mounts.

By the way, am I the first to have noticed that the horn panel cut offs are nearly ideal, done right, as outside grill mounts?

I have yet to test the theory outside of painting them, but they seem like they might work. This will, of course, depend on how uniform your build happens to be. Since I happen to be superman, mine were all identical to within microns (or some similar tiny measurement that was never performed). Will keep you posted on whether I wasted paint or not.

That was about it for day eight. Four hours and it was time for practice so build time came second.

Superman was pleased.

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[James Champer]

Day nine (Sep 23, 2012)

I know, long layoff for me. I wasn't able to work on the thanks to my sister coming in town, the gig on Saturday, and other life moments, but hard back at it this Sunday.

The black Duratex came in, I think the Friday prior (Yay!) and this being Sunday, I was slowed a bit by the Colts game. (loss but hey, A.Luck is proving to be more than the average rookie QB right?)

Once over, I went straight to working on my tweeter arrays. Got'em all glued up. After much debate and research, I lost confidence in super glue, model glue and hot glue so I decided to go full on black ABS cement. This worked like a charm.

Let me tell you there is no substitute for research- Filling the inevitable holes with cutoff dust mixed with the cement was splendiforous. (I just made up that word, feel free to use it.) I also ground down the screw mounts instead of relying on the table saw blade to do it. MUCH less damage to me and the tweeters

PRO TIP: Take a close look at the image above. I thought to improve it and did. See the blocks at the far end? I installed those, squared up to the bottom supports, and in doing so made it soo much easier to hold them tight during assembly/drying. There is only so much that rubber bands can do after all right? They appreciated the help let me tell you.

So as the tweeter arrays were drying and looking all cool (from the front side hehe) I though it a good time to take the next big step. - DURATEX!

I gotta tell you- after having built many a thingy in my day, I don't think I have ever been as apprehensive about a coating before and as it turns out, I needn't have worried at all!

This stuff goes on easy. I watched one video on the procedure (youtube is your friend) and it all went on so easy. The rollers that Leland sells are the ticket for sure. Here are a couple of pics of the early results:

And before someone points it out, yes, I tack-clothed the exterior before application. The dust on the interior is for show only.

All I can say is WOW. What a difference the covering makes. Even after one coat (I did two for good measure)

By the way, another thing to point out here is that I hate clean up. That includes rollers for paint. I don't care how expensive they are, that cost simply cannot justify cleaning them in my eyes. Cause I hate it. Have I mentioned that I hate it? Good.

So, now I have a quandary. I only ordered three from Leland, wanted two coats and have a potential two T39's to do, and, not that I looked hard, I can't remember seeing them at my local boxes so, what to do?

Well, I decided to suspend one in the Duratex! I mean why not? It's viscous as hell and stays supple in it's bucket, why wouldn't a synthetic roller?

Try it, it works! I just opened it up four days later and it is right where I left it- WIN!

Six hours done, and time to watch more football. On to Monday night!

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[James Champer]

Day ten (Sept 24, 2012)

And like magic, we find ourselves at Monday night!

Spent most of this controversial football night watching the game, wiring up me tweets, getting another coat of Duratex on and figuring out exactly how I'm going to attach my diffuser bars.

Obligatory Wiring pic:

Used the "full length of wire with strips along the length method" that another poster was kind enough to post. Kudos to him, that is MUCH less work, keeps extra heat off the tweeters and looks better too imho. Not that anyone will see that side of them, I'll just know right?

So, how am I going to mount the diffuser bar after all? If you remember (and I'm sure you do) I don't have much confidence in super/model/hot glues. I got to looking at them and noticed that there are rather flat parts in the valleys that meet the diffuser bar (wood dowel in my case).

It quickly became apparent to me that drilling and screwing through that into the dowel would be the strongest, most confidence building method I could use. So as you would expect- that's what I did!!

That bright shiny thing in the valley is actually one of the screws. Apparently it was camera shy and, as screws do, had the ability to adjust the white balance of it's own image. Trust me, the three I installed on each array are happy being there, regardless of their reluctance to be photographed.

Couple of hours and a really, really poorly reffed game and I was done for the night.

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[James Champer]

Day 11 (Sept 25, 2012)

Tuesday brought a whole host of surprises. I'll save the biggest one for last, save to say, it was time for assembly!

First thing on the agenda- fit the tweeter arrays!

Coooool. I love when a good plan comes together. They look right at home don't they? Resting comfortably for sure.

Funny, I can hear it now- "OMG! You used PL over that paint? They'll never stay!!!11!1!!!"

Fear not little one lest you believe superman thinks not ahead. I knew I would be painting the interior before said arrays went in, I wanted coverage. My method? Tight- Tight fit. Used my custom bench belt sander (see day four) for fitment, measured until I was blue in the face and once position satisfied, shot brads through the Duratexed top and bottom. Those puppies are not going anywhere. And I only had to touch up the paint in one small area (satin FTW!).

Surely a lesser evil is installing the 2512 over a bit of paint yes? Awesome, so I did just that:

...starting to look like a loudspeaker!

I haven't mentioned a couple of things that I should cover here. One, I feared a rattling of the tweeters on their supports, So I used leftover weatherstripping (from the back panel) and lined the backside of the screw holes to avoid that problem. Worked perfectly. And two, I my acoustic foam hasn't yet arrived, so I used a polyester batting that you might find in a quilt as a substitute. No pics of either as I was in the home stretch and moving at a blur out of, if nothing else, excitement

Finally, completed the back cover and wired up the crossovers:

Yes, I chose the back cover to hold the crossover. I didn't want it to be seen or collect garbage from use so vertical seemed the order of the day.

After a full six hour day, I finally buttoned them up for a quick test...

Wanna hear??? Hehe-

http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewt ... 31&t=18631

Next up, the real acoustic foam, grills, beauty shots, two gigs this weekend and a review.

Stay tuned boys and girls!

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[AntonZ]

I hope you are going to build plenty more cabs and post build threads on all of them. Your writing about the process makes a very enjoyable read thanks for sharing.

[Grant Bunter]

I hope you are going to build plenty more cabs and post build threads on all of them. Your writing about the process makes a very enjoyable read thanks for sharing.

+1
Once again, very entertaining

Great build, even though you couldn't finish the thread before you put it up on youtube

[Bruce Weldy]

I hope you are going to build plenty more cabs and post build threads on all of them. Your writing about the process makes a very enjoyable read thanks for sharing.

But, you've got to figure out how to post bigger pictures!

[Tom Smit]

Day eight (Sept 18, 2012)

Day eight started out as just as many day eights do, wake up, scratch the ass, hit the head, find the coffee, play with the dog all the while thinking of audio stuff. (I mean really, who's routine differs?)