What tools are necessary to build a decent Fitzmaurice Cab?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Bill,

Thanks for the relpy. That was initially he direction I was going. I don't live in a metro area and have been watching craigslist for a month and seeing nothing but junk. So recently, this is the one I have had my eye on:

http://www.amazon.com/36-980-Horsepower ... 630&sr=8-3

It's a nice saw, but more than you need to spend, especially if your primary material is 1/2" plywood. A good fence and good jigs get you the accuracy you need, a good blade the quality of cut. Beyond that you just need a motor.

[djohnson573]

It's a nice saw, but more than you need to spend, especially if your primary material is 1/2" plywood. A good fence and good jigs get you the accuracy you need, a good blade the quality of cut. Beyond that you just need a motor.

Sage advice as always. I would use it to build other things that would need 3/4" material, but will keep my eye on Craigslist for a while longer. What fence did you put on your Delta?

[djohnson573]

Ok, Tim is right. Maybe I am a moron (or at least getting senile).

In anticipation of starting my build, I decided to start the long overdue task of cleaning out my workshop. It had been several years, so I went in with a shovel and started filling garbage cans. Rats had taken over in several areas (no wonder I couldn't find my tools, they were making nests with them), so the going was slow. I don't like furry creatures with black tails, so they were put on notice that they had to leave.

About half-way through the clean-up, I looked over in the corner and said "holy crap". I have a table saw and had forgotten all about it. Several years ago, I inherited my grandfather's tools which included a collection of early 50's era Delta-Rockwell Homecraft tools. I had been considering getting the jig saw and drill press operational, but had seriously forgotten about the table saw/joiner combo because it was in the corner with junk piled on it.

The saw is the one shown on this link http://www.old-woodworking-tools.net/de ... combo.html It looks more like the one halfway down the link page except is has a lot of rust and needs some TLC to get it back in shape. I muscled it to the middle of the shop (about 200 lbs), cleaned it off, plugged it in, and it came on as smooth as a sewing machine with zero vibration.

Now I'm really looking forward to bringing this old saw back to specs. My grandfather built a lot of stuff with these tools, but I'll bet you that this will be the first speaker build. Now, instead of a saw, I will ask Santa for a compressor and brad nailer.

[LelandCrooks]

Pretty close to the saw I use. Get rid of the fence. At the least with mine you have to measure at least twice to get it square. I haven't changed mine yet. Good saw, stable, smooth and maybe not as deadly accurate as the high end stuff today, it's still as good or better than the low end.

Bisenmeyer fence. Make sure it will mount to your saw. Or be cheap like me and just measure.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

This is the fence I have. I redrilled the rails to give me 30 inches to either side of the blade. The clamp is nothing fancy but it's accurate and durable, and a good price. Should fit on just about anything that doesn't have non-detachable rails.

[bgavin]

I will ask Santa for a compressor and brad nailer.

This month's Handy magazine has a nice overview of good quality air guns. Pinners, nailers, brad shooters, staplers, and how to choose which to use.

[djohnson573]

Bruce,

Thanks for the tip. They didn't have access to the article on-line, so I will go get the hard copy today.

[David Homer]

Well, folks, I'm in the final stages of my O15TB build. I've built speaker cabs before, so I have collected a few items. Here's what I had available..

Model 5150 Skilsaw w/aftermarket rip fence
B&D saber saw
electric drill
cordless screwdriver
Rotozip w/circle attachment
small hobby size belt/disc sander
electric finish sander
router w/roundover and flush trim bits
5 small C-clamps
4 small 90 degree corner clamps
tape measure, yardstick/rule, 18" steel rule, and large steel square

This was more than enough to get it together. Built the cab "reversed" (sub horn to the left) simply becaise the skilsaw wouldn't tilt in the other direction. Instead of trying to cut the angles on the midhorn pieces, I cut to dimension then used the disc sander to get the angles. Used the saber saw to cut the midhorn hole in the baffle, then after building the midhorn I used a disc sander attachment on my drill to fit the assembly to the baffle.
Was able to use those small corner clamps instead of screwing on the large guideboards as shown on the plans. Used shorter guideboards to take out warps. The most time consuming part of the build was measuring and cutting. The extra care taken in making sure the parts are square and accurate makes assembly a breeze. In another month or so I'll be getting the parts to finish the job, and I'll post some pictures then..

[bgavin]

I have a heavy sheet of 3/4" MDF I use as a flat surface for large panels.
Mine is cut at 24x48" minus a 3/4" perimeter, or 22.5" x 46.5" if you will.
This sheet is T48 sized, and used to clamp the T48 side panel down flat during assembly.

This can be mounted to 2x4 runners which lifts the sheet off the bench so you can clamp to it.
I got this idea after building my first OT212 pair without it.
The 3/8" BB I used wasn't flat during assembly and made the final assembly more difficult to fit.

Link to Table Drawing

Harley built this drawing from my description.
It is an excellent visual of what I was trying to convey with words.

IMO, a table saw is optional.
They are a luxury for fast repetitive cuts, but I still build almost entirely with a circular saw and guide board.
Anything that requires very high accuracy I do with the circular saw.

One cannot have too many clamps.

[Tom]

Biesmeyer all the way IMO.

Grizzly makes fine saws, especially the Z model saws. I've used them and I've also spent a fair amount of time at Grizzly's outlet in Springfield, MO.

This "small" cabinet saw is everything you'll ever need in a table saw, you'll enjoy it forever, and you can buy or build a router table into the right wing:

http://grizzly.com/products/2-HP-Hybrid ... -Saw/G0478

Best $1000 you'll ever spend, IMO.

I own the (5 HP version of the) Jet cabinet saw reviewed here:

http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/industry ... 5&artnum=4