(Yet ANOTHER) DR250 Build Thread!

[escapemcp]

OK, first things first. Got another new toy:




I'm liking the cordless feature of the gun. The one I was borrowing from the school where I work kept falling over due to the mains cable that was attached to it. This is the one I had been using:


There is supposed to be a metal 'stand' to attach to the front of the new gun (as there is with the old), but it never turned up in the package. This isn't a major problem as when it is in the stand it is solid and doesn't require it. If I ever wanted to use the gun corded (by plugging in the fig-8 cable into the gun itself), you can't stand the thing up as it has the cable sticking out right where you'd want to stand it on the ground (see 2nd picture of new gun and imagine plugging in a cable and then trying to stand it up like the school's gun! ). They obviously spent many, many seconds designing this!

Then it was onto the tweeter array. First I made the jig out of some melamine worktop. I figured that if anything gets stuck to the melamine, it will be easy to remove and I probably won't need to use wax paper underneath the array.



I started to join some of the tweeters together, but I was really scraping the bottom of the PVC pipe cement tub, so I only managed to get 4 tweeters melded:



It's been so much easier this time as the tolerances for both the tweeters and the jig are probably 10x less than what they were on the Otop build. God only knows how I made a respectable looking pair of arrays!!

I then switched to the tweeter array back. Cut it all out and routed the channel:



I was going to create the front supports for the array last night as well, but it was getting late and I needed to stop all the powertool noise

It also appears that I have a booking on July 5th for St. Pauls carnival (in Bristol). Going to have to work fast to get these out in time. I do have the fallback option of using the Otops, which I will use if it's looking like I will have to rush to DRs to get them completed. Time will tell, I guess.

[Grant Bunter]

You can push to a certain extent, but take more time checking stuff if you do.

Great looking build so far

[Hackomatic]

You can push to a certain extent, but take more time checking stuff if you do.

Great looking build so far

Agreed!
Speaking from experience, I'll suggest you do yourself a favor if you aren't already. At the end of each build session, earmark 10 -15 minutes to clean up and re-organize your work area. I found (after several tool hunt sessions) that doing so will save you some precious minutes in the next build session, especially when every minute counts.

[escapemcp]

You can push to a certain extent, but take more time checking stuff if you do.

Great looking build so far

Thanks Grant I am going to push a little, but I won't really know when I finish up in the evening whether I am ahead of schedule of behind - that'll only become clear in the middle of next week. As such, I will just work as fast as I can without introducing mistakes, and if it's not fast enough then it'll be Otops for the carnival!

[escapemcp]

You can push to a certain extent, but take more time checking stuff if you do.

Great looking build so far

Agreed!
Speaking from experience, I'll suggest you do yourself a favor if you aren't already. At the end of each build session, earmark 10 -15 minutes to clean up and re-organize your work area. I found (after several tool hunt sessions) that doing so will save you some precious minutes in the next build session, especially when every minute counts.

It may take a bit longer than 10-15 minutes... I'm not Harley, you know! I do have some 'quiet time' every evening (post 10pm) when I can't use any of the shouty tools (out of respect for the neighbours). I usually try to give myself something to do in that time (like array making, gluing up etc) so that I can work until midnight, but don't always manage to fill the 2 hours. The tidying up idea would certainly make good use of this time. I'll give it a go

[ncgrove]

IIRC ncgrove's build shows a slight mod allowing a detacheable back cover plate.

Looks like the pictures on my build thread disappeared, so here's a couple of them showing how the detachable back is done:

[Tom Smit]

It may take a bit longer than 10-15 minutes... I'm not Harley, you know! I do have some 'quiet time' every evening (post 10pm) when I can't use any of the shouty tools (out of respect for the neighbours). I usually try to give myself something to do in that time (like array making, gluing up etc) so that I can work until midnight, but don't always manage to fill the 2 hours. The tidying up idea would certainly make good use of this time. I'll give it a go

That's a good approach. I do something similar in life where, if I can't accomplish one thing at that moment, I'll try to have something else available to work on.

[escapemcp]

Thanks for the pics ncgrove. That's pretty much what I was imagining, although I may have to extend it a little so I can fit my coils and caps in the butt crack.

The last couple of days has seen very little progress. I have been trying to work out a way to have no nacelles (as I really think they ruin the lines of the cab - sorry Bill!). I have seen someone's (Bruce's/Grant's?) way around this by using thin pieces of PVC pipe, which I think looks better. I was hoping to attach the whole module with no visible signs of attachment though. The bolts/screws/whatever would have been accessed by removing the tweeter array, but I am having real problems working out a way to do this, unless I join the front supports (the ones you cut out to fit the driver through) and use the large expanse of ply that this creates for fixings. This would still leave a big section in the centre (which has to stay clear for driver access) which wouldn't have any fixings and I think the wood may bend a little too much to ensure an airtight fit. Also if I was to 'join' the front supports, removing the driver bolts gets rather difficult... although I have a nice long flexible shaft in the post that should alleviate that problem.

So basically whilst I have been mulling over that problem and trying to decide how to proceed (I am thinking the PVC pipe method is the way to go), any thoughts of taking these new cabs to St. Paul's Carnival this Saturday have evaporated. I'm glad that I don't have to rush these, as I feel that it would have been to the detriment of the finished build.
So no real pics to show you, except one of my new toy :



I got it from Lidl for £17. I also got a couple of packs of assorted staples & nails (3000 in each pack) for £2.50. The build quality seems very good. It's got a 3 point switch (1. On/off switch, 2. Contact switch, 3. Trigger) as well as impact strength dial and a nice long (4m (12')) lead. Not bad for that price
FYI They also have some other tools on offer at the moment, that may or may not be useful to other UK members:



And they are also selling generators again for £179 - I can recommend these as it's the one I use. As with all these offers, you'd better be quick, as they don't last long.

[escapemcp]

Another day brings another new toy:



£25 for a Dremel-type tool with a flexible shaft (good-ol' eBay ). It doesn't really come with many attachments, but as I used to have a cheap Dremel before, I still have a fair few left over from that. It's mainly the cutting wheels that I use anyway. The build quality seems very good and reading reviews of it online, it sounds like it will last. I don't use it that often anyway, but when I do, it's often doing a job that no other tool can manage.

Meanwhile... across the other side of the garage:



I have finally managed to get one of the tweeter supports into place. I re-re-re-read the instructions, but it was never clear enough for me as to how exactly you hold everything in place whilst the PL sets. It mentions something like "drive a screw in the top and bottom", but it doesn't say in the top & bottom of what. I ended up using my own method, as I know what I am trying to achieve. You may just be able to make out the tweeter array diffuser is doubling up as a brace to hold the 24" radius bits in whilst the PL sets.

[Tom Smit]

It mentions something like "drive a screw in the top and bottom", but it doesn't say in the top & bottom of what.

That would be the top and bottom of the cab. IOW, the screw is driven into the ends of each support from outside of the cab (top and bottom).

[biggerrigger]

It mentions something like "drive a screw in the top and bottom", but it doesn't say in the top & bottom of what.

That would be the top and bottom of the cab. IOW, the screw is driven into the ends of each support from outside of the cab (top and bottom).

+1

Make sure when you do this that you do not pull the cab's top and bottom out of square.
All you need to do is put enough pressure to hold it in place. Any more than that and you can warp the top/bottom and your cab will not sit flat.
luckily I caught mine in time and was able to back the screws off and not warp my cabs.

After your PL has cured pull the screws and patch the holes with a smear of PL. Its also a good idea to number the inside of your cab and tweeter pod with a directional arrow and a number so you do not get them mixed up.

[escapemcp]

After several days of not getting much done, I finally managed some progress last night. The reason why I hadn't got much done is because of the 24" radius reinforcing bits. Every time I tried to drive a screw in them, they would move, not line up, I'd get pissed off and leave it (as working on cabs when pissed off with them is never a good idea).

First things first though, a new day brings a new toy. This one isn't so much of a toy, but it's sure going to make removing & reinstalling the driver a whole lot easier:



So after a lot of holes in the cab, I managed to get the tweeter array almost completed... it's just the easy stuff now:




Notice how I had to sand a few divots to allow the lugs from the tweeter array to pass the upright supports. This was because I went for the AntonZ method of alternate tweeter cutting. I used my new dremel tool for that one with the sanding drum. It just eats through wood. The actual 'dremel' seems to be very well made and far better than my previous one. For £25, I very happy with it. It may even stand a chance of knocking the router off the "my favourite tool" top spot.

Finally, what with St. Pauls carnival tomorrow, I just had to get one of these for advertising:



Should do the job I'm now thinking that I could reproduce that font quite easily with a router bit.

[rodney]

The last couple of days has seen very little progress. I have been trying to work out a way to have no nacelles (as I really think they ruin the lines of the cab - sorry Bill!). I have seen someone's (Bruce's/Grant's?) way around this by using thin pieces of PVC pipe, which I think looks better. I was hoping to attach the whole module with no visible signs of attachment though.

+1 I kinda wish I had the older plans, for this very reason. I even briefly thought about trying to reverse-engineer the access covers to top and bottom, but I would never get it right. so I may just spring for some grills later on.

[ncgrove]

The last couple of days has seen very little progress. I have been trying to work out a way to have no nacelles (as I really think they ruin the lines of the cab - sorry Bill!). I have seen someone's (Bruce's/Grant's?) way around this by using thin pieces of PVC pipe, which I think looks better. I was hoping to attach the whole module with no visible signs of attachment though.

+1 I kinda wish I had the older plans, for this very reason. I even briefly thought about trying to reverse-engineer the access covers to top and bottom, but I would never get it right. so I may just spring for some grills later on.

You should take the time to understand the plans. The nacelles are a brilliantly simple and effective design.

[escapemcp]

You should take the time to understand the plans. The nacelles are a brilliantly simple and effective design.

But... (really sorry Bill ) ugly! I know it's about how the speaker sounds and not how it looks, but the DRs are some really nice looking speakers and the nacelles ruin its lines - for a little extra effort the nacelles can be eliminated and the speaker then looks nicer (IMHO). This is a good thing for the people who hear with their eyes - these same people may well be thinking of hiring my system, so it'll pay to keep my cabs looking fine!

The school where I am working has a decent shop with multiple drill presses. I may well bring in my first array housing tomorrow to get the holes drilled for the PVC pipe. I am also considering using a combined countersink and drill for the holes... the drill could penetrate the sheaths and bite into the array module back, and this then allows the countersink to bore it's way through the sheaths. I am thinking that the countersink method will allow for much more accurate positioning of the hole - a big drill on a press will be hard to aim into the sloping sheaths.

Anyway... I haven't posted for a few days, so here's what's been happening.

Friday: Headed over to Bristol and hired a van. Headed home and loaded up the kit and back over to Bristol to see Chris Liberator's band - Dogshite. Discovered that my hire for the weekend was not a legit St. Paul's carnival event, so some police dodging would be in order (I didn't mind this too much, as everything I do is not usually legal - but I wish they had let me know sooner!)

Saturday: Got set up at the carnival on some waste ground. This was the scene just before we opened:



And the other 'random pile of speakers' rig:



The above setup consisted of 3 separate rigs... they only managed to get one working and that was because I went over and sorted that one out They had a 'normal' crossover... they are not easy to troubleshoot when you have no indication of whether it is receiving or passing signal

After a couple of hours, our friendly local bobbies turned up (in force)!



The other rigs on site saw the police (& horses!) and straight away packed up - pussies! I held out for about half an hour before I agreed with them to also pack up. I didn't want it to look like I was running away at the first opportunity as I was getting paid for this gig. I was all packed up by 3, and paid shortly after, so it was a very easy earner!! The carnival was still on so headed out to enjoy that. Annoyingly I missed ALL of the 6 stabbings (don't worry, they are all ok, or I wouldn't be joking about it). Apparently it was all done by gangs down from London bringing their turf wars to our lovely city. Piss off and keep your shit local! We don't want you here!

Sunday: Returned home to find another gift delivered by the postman (he should start dressing up in a red suit and a white beard as he has brought me so many presents recently ).


Another 3010MB from eBay for 25% off (which brings it close to the 2510 cost) It's slightly annoying that the next ones will be full price!! At least I didn't rush to try to get the DRs finished in time for the carnival. The 2nd 3010 would have never turned up in time!!

Installed the 'through' wire and connectors into the array module:




The connector block on the tweeter array side is on a slanted scrap bit of ply. This means that I can get to the screws with out any difficulty of the front of the array module getting in the way.

Got the tweeter array painted up:



Got the 2 'wings' installed (ignore the butt cheeks - they were not completed at this point, but I only ever to remember to take photos at the end of a day's building!):



I used pocket screws to hold them in place. I didn't like the idea of a screw through the 1/8" ply, as I felt that it wouldn't hold strongly enough... the 'front' pocket hole goes through the 'uprights' that the array module screws to (taking care to allow for the central array attachment screw):



Then it was on to pre-bending the buttcheeks:



What a PITA to get the straps on whilst holding down both bits of bendy ply! I know everyone else mentions this, but I thought I should re-iterate! Maybe with two (or 3) people, it would be a lot easier, but I was solo on this! In the end, I just got the first strap on very roughly (using a lot of force), then did the second much neater and then revisited the first to neaten that one up.

The top hat in the previous picture was not attached at that point, although I had duratexed around it to get it prepared. Last thing late last night I cut the neoprene tape to size and attached the top hat. I could now therefore pole mount the speaker:




This is going to make certain jobs a whole lot easier, now that the speaker is at a decent height and 'spinnable'.

I made a list of jobs to complete the build (sorry - I don't mean complete - I mean enough so that I can hear it in action!!). I reckon I am getting pretty close:

1) Attach butt cheeks
2) Solder up tweeter array - looking forward to this with my new soldering iron
3) Array module attachment (probably the biggest PITA left)
4) Attachment of sides

Then it's boom, boom, boom!

I opened the back of the Otops last night so that I could see how big the crossover components are. I reckon that I can easilt fit all of the components in the buittcrack without even needing to extend the back of the cab. I may need to pinch a little extra in order to fit a removable back in, but it'll only be extra fractions of an inch, rather than extra inches.

Thanks for reading

Aidan