XF210 build in the UK

[Oxonjohn]

OK, glueing up report. This was over a week ago so I'm just catching up. I was a bit wary of screwing jigs of scrap to the panels for alignment (as in the plans) as I was worried about the jig sticking to the cab and not being able to get it off. I tried using clingfilm as a barrier but this just stuck to the adhesive. I also preferred not to have a lot of holes to fill so, having a few clamps available, I decided to try a screwless approach. This was more straightforward than I thought and the cab carcass has come out pretty straight and well aligned, although I did have to temporarily screw bit of hardwood to the inside of the odd panel to combat warp.

The Lumberjack adhesive has been quite easy to work with. I'd seen reports about how messy PL could be so I was pleasantly surprised. Squeeze out expanded into a reasonable fillet on the inside of the joints, and excess on the outside was easy to trim off using a craft knife.

[Oxonjohn]

My next job was to cut the angled edges on the baffles. The angles didn't prove too much of a problem but unfortunately I ended up with a large gap between the baffles and the top of the cab.

I've documented this on another post so I won't go into detail here, though I'm still confused as to how it has happened as I'm sure I've followed the plans to the letter.

The recovery plan is to cut two thin strips of ply and glue them along the tops of the baffles (thanks DJPhatman)

I called in on Charles Jenkinson to have a look and listen to his Jack 12Ls over the weekend - his build quality is absolutely fantastic and you'd be hard pushed to tell they were DIY. They're the first BFMs I've heard 'in the flesh' and although we were confined to his living room, I heard enough to confirm that I should build some Jacks next year.

I also had a look at his work in progress T30s. This made me realise the difference between good Baltic birch and the stuff I've got! At least I was pleased to see that my joint fillets looked similar to his - if my finished cab Is anywhere near as good as his Jacks I'll be happy.

[Oxonjohn]

Cutting the thin strips to extend the baffles revealed that my ply was worse than I thought and it is now obvious that it has a thin outer veneer. I guess this means I will have to reinforce all my butt joints with screws after all.

Using Charles' advice of using Sellotape to prevent the adhesive sticking things I didn't want it too, gluing on the strips was pretty straightforward.

[escapemcp]

I called in on Charles Jenkinson to have a look and listen to his Jack 12Ls over the weekend - his build quality is absolutely fantastic and you'd be hard pushed to tell they were DIY. They're the first BFMs I've heard 'in the flesh' and although we were confined to his living room, I heard enough to confirm that I should build some Jacks next year.

Nice, isn't it good getting that first listen after all the reading? My first listen was when I finished my own cabs - it was a bit of a leap of faith when I built them therefore! I had read the forum about twice and I decided that you just cannot fake the sort of reviews that I was reading... I even checked that the forum was 'real' (and not just fake advertising) by signing up and posting a test message! If the cabs were half as good as what I was reading I knew I was onto a winner, so I took the plunge, gave Bill (and assorted suppliers) my hard-earned and started cutting wood (and myself). In the end they were just as good and maybe even a little better than what had been suggested - thanks Bill for a great design and to everyone here for great forum.

I also had a look at his work in progress T30s. This made me realise the difference between good Baltic birch and the stuff I've got! At least I was pleased to see that my joint fillets looked similar to his - if my finished cab Is anywhere near as good as his Jacks I'll be happy.

It's good that you have seen decent quality BB - you now know what you are looking for - ACCEPT NOTHING LESS Shame that Charles (STILL ) hasn't completed those T30s so that you could have had a listen... if you had, then you'd have T30s on your 'to build' list along with the 210 and the Jacks!! It's an addiction - deal with it - it's when you get up at 4 in the morning to go and test something that you have just had a eureka moment about that you KNOW you have a problem!

[Charles Jenkinson]

Good work John. I hope you look into a brad nailer - they're a fix and hold dream and still allow adjustment with a hammer if initial positioning isn't quite right.

Aidan's right of course, if I'm contemplating an XF build, i need something to put through it, and not just leccy violin. A good friend had suggested the squier classic vibe tele - its a 90% liklihood of adding to the instrument collection, at this point. Dang it! LOL

[Oxonjohn]

Looked up the Sealey brad nailer you showed me, Charles, and it was pretty affordable at ~£30. A compressor is a different story though - no need to splash £150 on that for the XF or the Wedgehorns. I'll probably get a nailer if and when I do the Jack lites and try and scrounge the use of a compressor - I'm pretty sure my father-in-law's got an air line set up at his yard which I may be able to use.

I'm a strat man myself but a tele sounds a good bet given your penchant for twangy country sounds. Dan's got a Squier mini strat which is great, and the lead guitarist in my band has a Squier Strat which is better than most full on Fenders I've heard. I've not played a classic vibe, but they get good reviews. Of course, then you'll need to buy (or make) a decent head as well! Double dang.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

A compressor is a different story though - no need to splash £150 on that for the XF or the Wedgehorns.

For a nailer only a very small compressor is required, like this:
http://m.lowes.com/product?langId=-1&st ... 4294795218

[Oxonjohn]

Thanks Bill, but I can't seem to find anything like that for that kind of price on this side of the pond. We have to pay almost that much for the nailer alone! I'll keep my eyes open though.

Drivers and hardware have arrived so it feels like more than just a woodworking job now. Had a bit of a worry with one of the drivers which gave a scraping noise when I tested it by pushing the cone a bit. Separated the speakers from each other and was ready to send it back but someone moved it and put them both together again. Got them them both out of the boxes and tested them again to work out which was the dodgy one and they were both perfectly silent! Not sure what happened there - pretty certain I wasn't pushing at an angle. If I hadn't taken a video to send to the supplier I might have thought I'd been hearing things. Anyway the supplier's noted it and so I can send it back if there is a problem when I start using it.

[Oxonjohn]

Baffles are now corrected. Dry fitting them showed I'm just left with some minor gaps now which adhesive will easily fill. I've marked the baffles ready for cutting the holes and I'm now just waiting for the rain to stop. Going to be using a router for the first time for the holes - think I'll have a quick practise on some scrap before risking the baffles.

[Charles Jenkinson]

It would cost about £150 all up for a brad nailer, hose, in-line oiler and small compressor. The cheapest compressors at machine mart are about 95 quid inclusive of vat. Perhaps with seperate delivery charges it will tweak up in price.

[AdamM]

Did you go for the legend 1058's in the end? Where did you get them from?

[escapemcp]

Did you go for the legend 1058's in the end? Where did you get them from?

My educated guess is Blue Aran, judging by that band of masking tape on the TuffCote (Duratex). I'm probably wrong tho, usually am!

[Oxonjohn]

Yes they are the 105s and yes I did get them from Blue Aran as I had a few other bits and pieces I needed from them (well spotted Aidan). Price seems pretty similar at other places e.g. Lean Business. Blue Aran were good when I suspected I had a problem with one driver, providing a test procedure and arranging for free collection when it seemed dodgy.

I got the 10516s as I'm going to wire them in parallel via a second switched socket. I will normally plug into the unswitched socket resulting in both speakers in parallel to give an 8R load rated at 150W. Plugging a jack into the switched socket will isolate the two speakers giving me 2 x 16R loads rated at 75W each. I can then run through one or the other if I have a problem with one driver or with the 8R output of my amp (so I could at least finish the gig). I could even run the speakers in stereo with this arrangement - the cross fire cab should give decent stereo separation which may have its uses.

I've now routed my baffle holes (that must be a euphemism for something!). It was the first time I'd used a router but it was pretty straightforward. I used a simple jig I made out of thin scrap wood to guide the router. To be honest, as the drivers are front loaded on this cab, cutting with a jig saw would have been adequate as the holes aren't visible.

I'll have to wait for my new order for tee nuts and socket cap screws to arrive before trial fitting the drivers - I'd thought that they might be included with the drivers but no such luck (although tee nuts and bolts were included with the grill clamps which only cost £1 per set!).

[AdamM]

Did you know that screwfix do a (limited) range of tee nuts? They're reasonably priced in packs of 10 I think - I used M6's for my XF212, which is almost too big (danger of breaking out into the main driver cutout if you're not 100% centered).

I'll also be going for 16ohm drivers when I get to my 210...

[Oxonjohn]

Tee nuts are now glued in with epoxy. I needed M5s for the 105 drivers (mounting holes are 5.7mm as opposed to 6.4mm for the 12"s). Screwfix (and other local stores) only seem to stock M6 and M8s. Blue Aran had some M5s here in a couple of days.

Trial fitted the first driver and inevitably I had drilled one of the tee nut holes very slightly out of position and couldn't get all the mounting bolts in. Tried a few times hand tightening the bolts in a different order but to no avail. Tried the second driver / baffle combination and that was OK. I was contemplating my recovery plan for the first one (drill out the tee nut? file the mounting hole on the driver a little bigger?) when I thought I'd just try swapping the drivers over to see if there was any difference. Success, both drivers fitted OK, though this does diminish the reason for using the tee nuts in the first place as I may have the same problem if I have to replace a driver. If I upgrade the drivers I'll have to go with Celestions as their mounting holes are bigger!