My Titan-39 build

[billkatz]

Nice job, Bill! Isn't it amazing how long it takes to lay out your cuts, cut all the panels and braces, etc?

One piece of advice. The baffle (panel 2, I believe) has different angles on the top and bottom edges. Make sure you have the panel sitting proper-side-up on the saw before cutting the angles. Printing out a side view of the cab in Sketchup was invaluable for me. That way, I had a visual reference of how the panel would be oriented in the cab, and knew what side of the panel to cut which angle on. Hope that makes sense. Also, I actually labled my baffles with an arrow pointing up towards the top of the cab and wrote "Top of cab" next to the arrow on all the baffles.

Good idea on printing the Sketchup. It appears you are using the older style plans with the access in the top rather than the front.
I already have the instructions 3-hole punched and in a binder by the table saw. And have my cut list printed out.

Having the fence calibrated and the moving table square has really helped - once a sheet was up on the saw I could make the 4 cuts pretty quickly, and then had pieces that were much easier to handle. I've just got a few more braces to cut from my 4th sheet of BB.

[miked]

I did use the older plans. I didn't want to mess with the front mounting and all the little braces that the new plans require. I've seen great success using the old plans for both T48s and T39s, so I went w/the old plans. Bill has stated there is no performance diff b/t the old and new plans, so really it comes down to how confident you are in your woodworking skills. The new plans scared me, TBH. My "old plans" T48 build was easier than my OTop 12 build...so there you go.

Not trying to worry you, but help you. I cut all my braces to EXACT size, per the plans. And b/c I was over-enthusiastic about pushing them b/t panels, most of them wound up not fitting correctly and I had to trim some and REMAKE some. If you haven't cut all the braces already, I'd cut them a 1/4" too wide on BOTH ends and trim as you go. If you have cut them already, just be very light-handed when pushing them into place. THE PL WILL FIX IT ALL. I didn't heed that warning and screwed up. I did my usual "Turn the wrench until it stops, then force it another 1/4 turn" and I caused big probs for myself.

[Harley]

Don'tcha love that alignment jig? I check my fences about once a month.

1 thou toe out on the fence Leland?

[billkatz]

Not much progress this weekend, but it sure is nice to see the braces fit right within the lines after drawing all the markings on my second Titan. At this point I need to do some more shopping. I need a router to put the handle holes into panel 2 before I attach it, and I need to order some drivers from Leland before I put the baffle in.

We had a little plumbing problem, and everything in the garage needs to be moved out while the ceiling is dried out - this may put a big delay in the project if my table saw gets sent off to storage

[LelandCrooks]

Don'tcha love that alignment jig? I check my fences about once a month.

1 thou toe out on the fence Leland?

I live with 2 thou. That takes long enough to get.

[billkatz]

I made some progress this weekend. I went through all of the panels, and cut them to size with the appropriate angles. It is a pleasure to have a table saw to do this, where the resolution on the arbor tilt is less than 1 degree. When I used my circular saw on the last build, I really had to guess. Now the difference between 17 and 18 degrees is a substantial crank movement. I also got many of the flanges and brackets built.

The next big project is the oblong handle holes. My router arrives this week.

I also need to order drivers, as I know I should have them in hand before cutting the baffle and driver mount.

[miked]

Good to see you are making progress, Bill. Slow and steady wins the race with these cabs. When your router comes, I suggest making a handle template for use with a trim bit. It may take a couple of hours to get a perfect (or perfect enough) template, but it will save you a lot of time and headache down the road.

[billkatz]

Good to see you are making progress, Bill. Slow and steady wins the race with these cabs. When your router comes, I suggest making a handle template for use with a trim bit. It may take a couple of hours to get a perfect (or perfect enough) template, but it will save you a lot of time and headache down the road.

Thanks, Mike - that's exactly my plan. Especially after counting that in the sketchup there are 10 handle holes per cab. My top-bearing pattern bit is on order. A couple questions:

1) - cleanest way to make the 1.5" holes in the pattern - holesaw? Forstner?

2) - What do you do for a rough cut before using the pattern?

3) - I figured I'd need a 1/2" radius round-over bit for the corners, but looking at the handle details more closely, it appears that I need a 1/4" radius round-over for the handles - is that what you use?

[Tom Smit]

If the wood is 1/2" thick, then use half of that which is 1/4 . If the wood is 3/4" thick, then use 3/8 round-over. It took me a bit to realize that I needed one half of the thickness to achieve a complete round over.

[Bruce Weldy]

1) - cleanest way to make the 1.5" holes in the pattern - holesaw? Forstner?

Either, but Forstner is cleaner
2) - What do you do for a rough cut before using the pattern?
Drill some 3/8" holes on both ends and rough cut with a jigsaw
3) - I figured I'd need a 1/2" radius round-over bit for the corners, but looking at the handle details more closely, it appears that I need a 1/4" radius round-over for the handles - is that what you use?

[miked]

I used a Forstner bit to make the holes in the corners, then the jigsaw to "connect the holes" . Connecting the holes is the hard part. I threw away quite a few pieces of wood. Now that I know the "rising cut" method on the TS, I'd imagine I could get it done faster and more accurately. The template has to be as perfect as possible b/c the trim bit in the router will follow the contours of the template exactly.

[Bman]

This is how I made my handle templates. I hope this helps.
(Click on the graphic to see it full size.)

[Grant Bunter]

I made some progress this weekend. I went through all of the panels, and cut them to size with the appropriate angles.

I wonder if this paragraph is in the latest plans:
"There is no such thing as plywood that truly measures a half-inch thick, so the actual finished length of all parts are figured by dead reckoning. Measure and then end trim them to finished length and angle as you install them to be sure of the exact size required. The lengths shown in the end trim diagrams are close, but will be affected by material dimensions and construction accuracy."

It looks great to see a finished pile like that, but I hope doing what you've done doesn't become a problem for you. I have found that so far, the only panels I could have cut exactly from the outset were the WH8 ones...

[David Raehn]

When I rough cut the pieces for my T48s I used the recommended cut lengths from the plans. These are generally 1/2" proud and a good guideline. The only panels I should have loooked ahead and cut to size were the top and bottom. These can be cut to exact size from the start because the only way they would be off is if a LOT goes wrong (which isn't out of the question in DIY).

[billkatz]

I made some progress this weekend. I went through all of the panels, and cut them to size with the appropriate angles.

I wonder if this paragraph is in the latest plans:
"There is no such thing as plywood that truly measures a half-inch thick, so the actual finished length of all parts are figured by dead reckoning. Measure and then end trim them to finished length and angle as you install them to be sure of the exact size required. The lengths shown in the end trim diagrams are close, but will be affected by material dimensions and construction accuracy."

It looks great to see a finished pile like that, but I hope doing what you've done doesn't become a problem for you. I have found that so far, the only panels I could have cut exactly from the outset were the WH8 ones...

Yes - the paragraph is there, and I did leave one panel in each horn sequence untrimmed - 2/3/5 and 5/6/7 knowing I'd have to fit them together. Hopefully I didn't shoot myself in the foot too badly.