My Titan-39 build

[billkatz]

A little more progress these last two days. First I installed panel 4 - my pre-cutting was right on the money, and the panel fit right in. No obvious way to clamp it, so I just PLed and shot the brads in. It was tough getting the brads at the right angle, but it all went together.

Next came a couple dry-fits of panel 5, which is all by itself. I used a right angle on the botton, and one of the extra 3/5 braces from the second cabinet at the top to get the spacing right to panel 3.

Then I inserted the 3/5 braces and got them glued in. I was able to get the bread gun through the driver hole to get one bread into each brace. This panel is the farthest off, but is within 1/16" of plumb.

Panel 6 is the panel I didn't trim to finished size, so I can fit that one to size. The panel 6 extender looks like a challenge... Then come all of the little bits that make the flanges for the access cover. I think I'll finish panels 6 and 7 before shifting to cabinet #2.

(and I found the "place attachments inline" button tonight!)

[billkatz]

Last night I installed panel 6. This was the most difficult panel so far. It was difficult to get it square and have the end even with the front of the cabinet. here is the initial clamp up:

After this I attached the brads and put in the 4-6 brace. Then I spent about an hour with my dial caliper going up and down the panel trying to get things even. I had to add several de-warping boards and clamps overnight.

This morning I added the panel 6 extension:

I was worried this would be difficult to place, but it went in pretty easily. The square on top makes sure the top is aligned with where the front of the cabinet will be. The thing that helped the most was figuring out that my clamps were reversible.

[billkatz]

Time to start building the box of flanges that hold the driver access cover. First I installed the upper horizontal flange:

I had to build a couple little setback jigs as stated in the plans. Just a bit of scrap wood and a couple brads.

Next I wanted to make sure that the lower flange was aligned to the upper one.

You can see I temporarily placed one of the vertical flanges in place, and checked that it was square against the top of the cabinet. Once the lower flange was properly positioned, it also got nailed in. Then I was able to mount one of the vertical flanges.

Next are the 4 tiniest parts of the design: the two side and two bottom flange/baffle braces (as well as the second vertical flange - don't want to forget that...)

[billkatz]

A little more progress today. I cut the 4 little flange braces (two side, two bottom) and installed them. I had to do a little trial and error fitting to get the perfectly matched angle and length, so it slid into the right place.

Then I added the left half of panel 7. Both panel 7 pieces had to be fitted for length so that there was a minimal gap. After the PL cures, and I can scrape off the excess, I will fit the access cover so that I can position and trim the right half of panel 7 to match up with all of the other panels.

No our year-end break is over, and I have to go back to real work. that will slow build progress significantly.

[Hackomatic]

No our year-end break is over, and I have to go back to real work. that will slow build progress significantly.

Tell me about it. I'm already suffering postpartum. I consider off time a double edged sword. You pay for it working yer butt off to get ahead of the curve before you leave, and you REALLY pay for it when you return trying to catch up.

Anyway, the build looks fabulous and it's been a fun thread to follow!

[billkatz]

First major screw-up/reading comprehension failure... I didn't notice that panel 8 needed to be 38 1/2" tall, but was rough cut to 39" before doing all of the work on the handles, jack plates, and caster slots. I believe I can recover, the lower handles near the casters just won't have room for the half-round inside. Or I can start over making new panel 8s with the handles half-an-inch higher, but it's probably not worth the effort just to get perfect handles.

My second cabinet is now up to panel 4.

[sine143]

panel 8 is the back? at least you cut it long. I cut my back panel on the last t48 a 1/2 short by accident, had to add a spacer piece up near the handles lol.

[billkatz]

panel 8 is the back? at least you cut it long. I cut my back panel on the last t48 a 1/2 short by accident, had to add a spacer piece up near the handles lol.

Yes, long is certainly better than short!

[billkatz]

My first task today was to cut the holes in the back for the jack plates. I used a similar technique to what I used for making the handle template. I used a 5/8? forstner bit in each of the 4 corners, and then cut between them with a jig saw. Then I set up a pair of BB strips tangent to the holes and finished them with my router.

For the second back, I used the first as a guide for the router. This went much faster!

Next came drilling panel 3 and panel 6 for the speaker wire, and then I filled the holes with PL.

This is when I discovered that panel 8 was still 1/2" too long!

After trimming panel 8 I did a dry fit, and found my corner clamps worked very well. I cut some scraps of BB to the spacing between the first side and the braces, and build up a little tower of blocks. Then I PLed and tacked in the first set of braces.

Once the braces were tacked to panel 8, I moved the spacers up and installed the second set of braces. I was careful not to push the braces in too far, and jigged the back to be square to the first side. Measuring across the open side the top of panel 8 was exactly 19.5". All ready for the final side.

[Jools4001]

Nice...I keep looking at the T39 plans. I did promise myself that my J12 Lites would be the last cabs I would need....but you know how it is.

Good clean build there.

[billkatz]

After a couple weeks of not having much time, I finally got back to it. I found that the dry fit of panels 5 and 6 weren't quite right, and the 3/5 braces didn't quite fit. I trimmed the braces just a bit (I think panel 3 was off a bit.

I decided to try something new while dry fitting the panels. I tried two Kreg screws at the base of each panel to keep it lined up with lines on the side. It seems to work well.

Then I took it apart, glued it up, and clamped it together, including my newly trimmed 3/5 braces. The 4/6 brace is next, as well as panel 11 on the first cab. I want to paint it black before gluing it in.

(Oh - and those pesky 6/10 braces...)

[AntonZ]

The 4/6 brace is next, as well as panel 11 on the first cab. I want to paint it black before gluing it in.

That is fine, as long as you don't paint the area where the glue will go, on both parts. The glue needs to penetrate into the pores of the wood to reach full strength. Paint would close the pores, thus reducing the strength of the glue joint to a fraction of a similar joint between unpainted wood parts.

[billkatz]

It has been kind of slow around here, but I finally got some time to work on the cabinets today. Last week I finished the 6-10 braces by slotting them adn putting a handle in the cross brace

I saw someone else' build here with the extra handle, and it looked useful. I didn't do anything special with the braces, like the swoops that are shown in the plans.

I did paint the inside of panel 11 (taking care to mask the edges as suggested) before installing it. Then I glued it in/

Then I drilled the hole for the wire to pass into panel 11, as that is where I am putting my connector plate. The final work on that cabinet was to glue in the 6-10 braces:

Now the cabinet is ready for its second side! I placed it next to the cabinet, and the outside all lines up pretty well. There are some variations in height (laying on its side) among the various panels, but the worst gap is less than 1/16th". Should I do any work (I looked at handheld electric planers) to try and even everything off before putting on the second side?

Is there any other work I should do inside while it is still accessible?

I've used clamps and an 18 gauge brad nailer to put everything together so far - is it recommended to use screws for the second side (at least on the interior horn panels) to make sure everything is pulled as tight as possible? I'm hoping to minimize the whole screw removal/body filler stage as much as possible.

On my second cabinet I'm up to the panel 6 extension, which I installed today:

I think I did a better job of squaring things up on this one, and used the recommended jig to get things aligned. And you can't have too many clamps! Next are the access panel flanges. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Oh one more question - (mostly for Leland, since he now ships his flat packs with pocket screws - but anyone else's advice is welcome) - panels 5 and 6 both have two pocket screws holding them to the first side. Should I leave them in? Cover them in PL?

(and my mental debate of DR250 vs. DR200 VS. OT12 ve OT12 J-array [OT12 Lite?] is starting to heat up)

[Tom Smit]

I think that as long as the side meets the outside panels nicely, it should be good enough because the PL will fill in the gap. Make sure that there is a nice bead of PL on all the edges.

Before you put the last side on, paint/Duratex the mouth as far in as on can see. You can use a straight-edge, to assist in finding this out, by placing one edge against panel 10, just catching 5/6 joint and ending at panel 8.

[DJPhatman]

+1 to Tom's suggestion. Paint the interior, and the mouth braces, now, while the second side is off.

I would take a hammer to each brace, not too hard, to test for loose glue joints. You should be able to easily hear the difference if a brace is loose.

If you know where the high spots are when attaching the second side, knock them down a bit with sandpaper. Only takes a few minutes, and this is your only chance to do it.