SLA Home Theatre Build - UK Newbie Alert

[DJPhatman]

Shouldn't the driver frames be touching?

To Burg: Do you have a small air compressor? If yes, get yourself a brad nailer. Some quick practice with it, and you won't really need screws for assembly. Clamps help: get a couple of them, then glue, clamp, shoot with brads, unclamp and move on. Real time saver!

[Burg]

@cbarth: Sounded pretty good to me when I gave it a trial.

@djphatman: Not sure if they should be touching or not tbh, I measured to the centre of the cone as per the plans and this is how they fit. I'll re-measure to make sure it's 4.5 inches though now you've pointed that out. I don't have a compressor, I did have a look into brad nailers previously but decided I couldn't justify the expense at the moment. I think I'll try to clamp the next one of these without using fasteners and see how that works out, if I mess it up then I'll have a more serious think about nailers.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Shouldn't the driver frames be touching?

It's not a necessity.

[DJPhatman]

It's not a necessity.

Even with the "whizzer" cones?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

So long as the source is vertical you don't have to go to extreme measures to minimize the CTC distance. The individual sources will eventually coalesce into a single wave front, as shown here:
http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/fesc ... fract4.htm

The shorter the wavelengths and the wider the spacing the further out it will happen, which can be a problem with horizontal arrays, but not vertical, as response will remain the same going across the sound field.

[Burg]

Thanks Bill, as informative as ever. I did measure up and they're spot on with the plans.

I got a second garage SLA together over the weekend and both sound great. Just need to add some damping material, terminal posts and the back panels and I'm going to call these 2 done. As they're going to live in the garage I'm not going to bother painting or staining and am going for the ratty look instead.

[Scott Brochu]

Like the rest say..slow and steady is the best, you don't get discouraged and morale is up when your done for the day with anticipation to start again tomorrow.
going back with this next comment...."Harley" would give your garage a 3 Harley rating for neatness. Looks like everything has it's place.

[Burg]

Hi all,

I've been a bit quiet on here but have been slowly beavering away in the garage as and when I have had time and some spare cash to buy odds and ends.

Progress to date, my 2 garage whizzer SLAs are completed. These have been my test speakers and I've learnt a lot making these 2 that I can hopefully put into practice with the others. I've hooked them up to the HT amp and they sound ace, completely drowning out my other speakers I'll upload a pic of them in action later.

I'd planned to leave these unfinished but am now thinking it would be worth using them to practice applying a finish. I'd appreciate any advice on the best way to go about finishing, I'm probably going to have to paint rather than stain as there's quite a bit of splintering to the ply (any tips for reducing splintering when using a circular saw?). I would have preferred to stain but I think it will just show up the imperfections. I know there's a tutorial on here on how to get a mirror-like finish when painting which I'll read back through prior to painting. Am I OK using generic wood/furniture paint? I don't have a spray gun so will be brush/roller painting.

Another bit of advice - I ran into a problem with my hole saw, it got too hot and warped (see pic). Any ideas on how I can correct this?

[Bruce Weldy]

Another bit of advice - I ran into a problem with my hole saw, it got too hot and warped (see pic). Any ideas on how I can correct this?

There's nothing you can do with it. Throw it away and buy another. Those saws need to be used gently. After a little cutting, pull it out and clean away the dust, then do some more.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

my hole saw, it got too hot and warped

Reduce the speed and pressure, let the saw do a leisurely cut. My shop is in my backyard, with a large double door to the lawn. When I'm cutting I have a high velocity blower aimed across the work surface, blowing the sawdust into the yard, away from my lungs, and in the case of a hole saw out of the kerf.

[Tom Smit]

.... I'm probably going to have to paint rather than stain as there's quite a bit of splintering to the ply (any tips for reducing splintering when using a circular saw?).

http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking ... rcular-saw

[Burg]

Thanks all.

Hoping to get the surrounds glued up this week.