BillFitzmaurice.info

Rune Bivrin wrote:

escapemcp wrote:I have found Radiator Pine @ £26 a sheet and also Latvian Birch @ the same price, although it is more of a PITA to get. Which should I go for or doesn't it matter. Note: I will be Duratexing them.

+ves/-ves please

Many thanks.

I wouldn't go with radiator pine. It gets insanely hot.
Radiata pine is OK, on the other hand.

I see what you did there!

Managed to get the wood for my next few builds last night. I used Meyer Timber http://www.meyertimber.com/default.aspx?pid=518 who seem to be located all over the country. I used their Chippenham warehouse and they couldn't have been more helpful. I couldn't get to them between their opening hours of 9-5, but as there were guys doing stuff in the warehouse until 8, they let me collect the wood anytime up to then! They also let me use their power so I could use my jigsaw to chop the 8x4 sheets to get it in the back of the car. Sorry if I am waxing lyrical, but you don't usually get this sort of service, especially from a 'trade' company who must be far more used to dealing with 00s or 000s of sheets per purchase, not a measly 4! Their LARGE warehouse was v. nice though... so much so that it gave me wood.

FYI: I bought latvian birch ply from them, which definitely DOESN'T have that rubbish veneer layer on it! And an 8x4 sheet was £26+VAT (£31.20).

Highly recommended for other UK BFM builders out there!

Rune Bivrin wrote:I wouldn't go with radiator pine. It gets insanely hot.
Radiata pine is OK, on the other hand.

No, (direct) radiator pine doesn't sound as good as horn pine

According to their web brochure, Meyer Timber stocks Russian and Finnish birch, in both 1525 x 1525 mm (60" x 60") and 2440 x 1220 mm (8' x 4') from 3mm to 24mm thick. They also carry "aircraft grade" 1.5mm bending Finnish birch that also comes in 1525 x 1525 mm. This should be added to the sources for UK builders. What are their prices like, escapemcp?

DJPhatman wrote:According to their web brochure, Meyer Timber stocks Russian and Finnish birch, in both 1525 x 1525 mm (60" x 60") and 2440 x 1220 mm (8' x 4') from 3mm to 24mm thick. They also carry "aircraft grade" 1.5mm bending Finnish birch that also comes in 1525 x 1525 mm. This should be added to the sources for UK builders. What are their prices like, escapemcp?

Yeah, I saw the 5'x5' bits as well and thought that would be handy for my T60s when I build them (in a year or so).

The prices (I think) are very reasonable. £26+ VAT (£30.20) for an 8'x4' sheet of Latvian birch ply. Cheapest I have found by quite a margin (the next cheapest was £39+VAT (£46.80)). I don't know about other stuff, I'll ping them an email and find out and report back. Their warehouse was massive, so much so I am guessing that they may be suppliers to other woodyards (who obviously then put their markup on it). I think a link to them on the suppliers page/thread could be useful to others - they are nationwide as well (about 10 depots), so it isn't just for people in the west country (like me!) who could take advantage.

Aidan

From Meyer Timber:

3x1525x1525 Russian Birch plywood = £5.30 (£6.36)
6x2440x1220 Russian Birch Plywood =£15.00 (£18.00)
12x1525x1525 Russian Birch Plywood = £18.00 (£21.60)
6.5x2440x1220 Latvian Birch Plywood = £19.60 (£23.52)
1.5x1525x1525 Aircraft Ply = £22.55 (£27.06)

We Mostly Stock Latvian Birch Ply, All of above is what we stock if the product is not in stock we will be able to get it from another depot within a couple of days for you.

The prices I was quoted are the ex.VAT prices - I have added in the inc.VAT prices in brackets. I haven't been looking at anything other than 12mm ply, but the 5'x5' 12mm @ £21.60 seems a good price.

Finishing off the cab... PLing the side on tomorrow



And onto the next one:



Having 2 cabs to work on is nice, always something to do

Update: Cab is ready for its coat of Duratex after 2 days messing around and finishing off. I was expecting it to take 2 hours, but when you start fitting everything, it takes time as you discover new problems (like I had drilled hand holds where the castors were going to go !!) It is worth spending the extra time though to ensure a great finish - no point in rushing it now!
Will post pics tonight (hopefully pre- and post-duratex )

Finishing takes FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR (foreverx2 if you're doing a piano finish). I need to get on mine this weekend, filling, sanding, scraping, painting......... I'm gonna lose at least a day to that I reckon.

Looking good though!

Piano finish... mmm... sounds bloody lovely. I am just sticking with Duratex for now and the first bit went on last night (in the mouth of the horn) and it looks niiiice.

Once I get this one done I can start building me some Otops

Waiting for castors though. Putting them on the rear of the speaker (if the mouth is the front), so it will roll around with the mouth facing up and then castors removed once in situ. I'll be using these ones:

as the Penn Elcom "non-rattle" castors 2060 (pictured below left) rattle like hell!

These ones on the right don't though (0147)- really smooth wheel rotation with no play, but it means rounding off a 30mm corner, which means attaching more wood to the corner, so that you don't cut through the 1/2" ply when rounding off said radiused corner!

And as a final note I have put the handle holes at the front on the base and diagonally opposite on the rear at the top. This means that when carrying, your legs won't bash into the speaker (something which happens FAR too often when dragging the things across fields!). Basically it is something like this:

It works an absoloute treat. I was going to buy handles, but after creating a test handle as per the plans, I thought it was so comfy, I just had to save the £€$ and go with the home made ones. Thought I'd share my handle planning train of thought - there was weeks of thinking that went into that - yet I still didn't quite leave enough room for those castors They'll fit, but it will be a tight fit.

And finally... after buying a cheap (£37) router and using it toward the end of the build, they rock! I only have a small 12 piece crappy bit set, but even with that and my cheapo router, it makes the build a) more fun, b) easier and c) much more pretty

Same experience with cheap routers here. Works for me so far.

How are the logo's coming along? Looking forward to pics of that!

AntonZ wrote:How are the logo's coming along? Looking forward to pics of that!

Yes, very well, EXCEPT that in my excitement last night to get Duratexing, I forgot to take a pic before I started painting. I have a picture that I took late last night, but it is on the camera at home. I'll get it uploaded tonight... sorry I haven't already upped it.

On a totally different note, what are the driver options for a Wedgehorn 10 please? I have just realised that I will need a monitor for my birthday free party (26th May - which is the rig's first outing), so I am thinking a WH10 will do the job nicely, but I need to plan and cost it out to add it into my budget. I therefore need to know what driver is best for the WH10.

Many thanks

escapemcp wrote:On a totally different note, what are the driver options for a Wedgehorn 10 please? I have just realised that I will need a monitor for my birthday free party (26th May - which is the rig's first outing), so I am thinking a WH10 will do the job nicely, but I need to plan and cost it out to add it into my budget. I therefore need to know what driver is best for the WH10.

Many thanks

The recommended woofer is the Eminence Deltalite II 2510. Less expensive options are the Eminence Basslite S2010 and Beta 10.

Do you need a vocal monitor for any MC's or announcements? Or is this supposed to be a DJ monitor?

Bas Gooiker wrote:Or is this supposed to be a DJ monitor?

Yes, DJ monitor only.