BillFitzmaurice.info

myn wrote:[== 7/31/2009 ==]Whats the cheapest place to get Duratex roller grade?

Depends on whether you're closer to Kansas or Florida. Closer to FL order direct from Acrytech. I'll have it back in stock Monday or Tuesday.

Ahh... bowing... the bane of building big cabs.
Even using Baltic Birch it is still a problem. More so with Arauco. Much more.

Myn,

It doesn't necessarily have to be DuraTex. You can just use black latex paint. I used Duratex because I had some on hand, and because the bottom of the cab would need it when it comes in contact with flooring. For the mouth, anything that will turn it black is OK. I'd mask off where the braces will be, and paint. Then again when the braces are on, and once more when the side is on.

With some clamping, the bow should go away when you attach the other side, do lots of dry fits before you apply PL.

JSS

Does Duratex need a primer if using AraucoPly?

Does it cover/stick to PL Premium?

For the T48 build, I had to stop and fabricate a flat work surface. It was detailed in another thread.
I was finding the bow in my work table over the 48" side span was causing enough deflection so the panels wouldn't mate.

I use a 3/4" MDF sheet for the table-topper, but even that deflects too much.
So... I had to cut some straight stringers from 3/4" BB and attach to the MDF sheet.
These keep it true. It's an annoying thing to stack in the garage, due to the depth of the strings, but it works.

[== 8/1/2009 ==]

Today I headed out to 5 different retail stores looking for Varathane stain. All of which were stores identified on the Store Locator page from Varathane's site. I even went to an Ace Hardware. Luck wasn't with me today. Not a single store sold Varathane stain.

With that said I'm going to have to source the stain from http://www.doitbest.com and have them ship it to one of their local affiliates so I can do an in-store pickup. That or online with shipping to my house. Kinda pissed me off that Varathane's site was wrong 5x . One of the stores was actually out of business.

Out of curiosity I placed the pre-cut side panel (36"x36") on the top to see how it would fit. I clamped it as best I could using 2 pipe clamps to squish in the side panels and some other bar clamps but still the side panel seemed to small with it being not able to cover some of the vertical panel edges causing a lip. I think the root cause of this is the warping as it fits fine in some places.

On my Varathane quest today I stopped by Harbor Freight and bought 2 48" bar clamps thinking maybe I can get it perfect with more clamping of the panels. I'll give it a try tomorrow. Even so, I'm wondering how I am going to be able to manage to clamp the panels in enough to get the side panel on while the sticky PL overflow is ouzing all over the clamps.

I've got 2 more sheets of 4x8 AraucoPly that I was planning on using on either a TableTuba or some SLA's. I'm wondering if it wouldn't just be easier recutting out the side panels a bit bigger, even with overhang and let the router with a straight flush bit do it's job making it perfect?

Thoughts?

myn wrote:I'm wondering if it wouldn't just be easier recutting out the side panels a bit bigger, even with overhang and let the router with a straight flush bit do it's job making it perfect?

Thoughts?

I do this.
Tim laughs at me, but I do it anyway.
Wood ain't perfect, and trimming flush with the router hides a LOT of sin.

[== 8/2/2009 ==]

The final reflector is now installed!

Anyone know if there is an image reference to Duratex finishes by roller used? I see alot of people use an Acrytech textured roller. I see on their site they have both a 4" and 9". I am assuming these are the same texture, just smaller widths?

4"rlrhndl 4" Roller & Handle $4.99




9"texrlr 9" Texture Roller Cover $5.99



LeLand I see uses what appears to be a closed foam roller giving a smoother finish?

Perhaps something like this?: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... =100576245








Oh yeah! I tried using a drywall screw instead of an old latex glove to secure the PL for use later. I actually think the screw does a better job as many have said it draws out the hardened PL at the top of the piece.

Argg.. I had bookmarked: http://billfitzmaurice.net/phpBB3/viewt ... f=1&t=7502

It had the instructions I was going to use for the Duratex application. Apparently its now gone, archived or something . Anyone know who authored that thread? I plugged it into Google and got the following:

Subject: BillFitzmaurice.net - View topic - My very own T39 build thread

"It's 2 coats of roller grade Duratex applied with Acrytech's textured roller. Light first coat and (a little) heavier second coat. I really like how they turned out. I had a bad experience with Duratex on my DR250's, but after getting lots of feedback here and talking to Acrytech support, things went much better with the T39's, and I'm very happy.....
..
"

I just used a 6" foam roller (small diameter), practice on some scraps to get the texture you want. Number ONE thing: do NOT over-roll with d-tex....it just starts getting worse.. The 'texture' rollers can give a pretty aggresive bite (think non-skid). Minimally thinning the duratex w/ distilled water will give you a smoother coat as it can flow out a bit.

Do practice on scraps/test panels before you get to the real thing....both horizontally and vertically oriented...

You'll be testing the driver in it soon, you're almost there. Just be sure to give the final beads of PL at least 24 hours before you go testing that driver in it... after you're done putting it through its paces and finding a good spot for it in the room, take the driver out and finish the thing...after you have done all the finishing steps on test panels...you can start on that now as well...get to sanding your test panels to 220 while you wait for the stain to get there...there is plenty for you to do while PL cures...

This is a good time to break in the DVC....before you are done with the cab.

JSS

myn wrote:Subject: BillFitzmaurice.net - View topic - My very own T39 build thread

"It's 2 coats of roller grade Duratex applied with Acrytech's textured roller. Light first coat and (a little) heavier second coat. I really like how they turned out. I had a bad experience with Duratex on my DR250's, but after getting lots of feedback here and talking to Acrytech support, things went much better with the T39's, and I'm very happy.....

That was David Carter.

maxmercy wrote:practice on some scraps to get the texture you want.

This is sage advice, read and heed!

DJPhatman wrote:

myn wrote:Subject: BillFitzmaurice.net - View topic - My very own T39 build thread

"It's 2 coats of roller grade Duratex applied with Acrytech's textured roller. Light first coat and (a little) heavier second coat. I really like how they turned out. I had a bad experience with Duratex on my DR250's, but after getting lots of feedback here and talking to Acrytech support, things went much better with the T39's, and I'm very happy.....

That was David Carter.

Give that man a prize! Yes, it was me who wrote that. That was on my first pair of T39's. I used almost a gallon of Duratex on a single pair of 14" T39's that time. On my next pair, I took a different approach to try to conserve Duratex. I rolled on a coat of flat black latex paint as a primer coat using a regular 3/8" nap roller. After that, I rolled on a fairly thin coat of Duratex using the 9" textured roller from Acrytech--just enough to give it some texture. The end result was nearly an identical texture to the first pair, but I used less than half a gallon even though the cabs were 6" wider than the first pair.

As for application guidelines, the mistakes I made with my DR250's which hurt me were

• applying in too low an ambient temperature (less than 50 degrees)
• rolling it on too thick
• not waiting long enough between coats

Once I resolved those three issues, the results were MUCH better.

Best of luck...

Thanks David!

Got any pics? I'm trying to get as many pics as I can and the method they used so I can pick which one I'll go with.

myn wrote:Got any pics? I'm trying to get as many pics as I can and the method they used so I can pick which one I'll go with.

Don't have any good close-ups of the most recent ones, but here's close-up of one of the first pair of T39's. Second pair has same texture, but a little less pronounced since there's less Duratex involved.

That corner looks familiar. Could it be????