BillFitzmaurice.info

I'm probably derailing my own thread here, but I can't resist posting this link:

http://www.hometowndumpsterrental.com/b ... haul-trash

Made some more progress today! 24 tweeters cut and ready for arrays and I still have all my fingers

The tweeter cutting jig definitely was worth the time to make and, while I don't have any other process to compare it to, I'm sure it's worth the effort. I can't really imagine how anyone could do it with a circular saw.

No pics of today's work, but here's a pic of what I'm enjoying now that I'm done with that rather nerve wracking step and won't be doing any more cutting today!




It's an excellent beer brewed in Texas for the holidays, not too far from Austin.

MisterB wrote: No pics of today's work, but here's a pic of what I'm enjoying now that I'm done with that rather nerve wracking step and won't be doing any more cutting today!

It's an excellent beer brewed in Texas for the holidays, not too far from Austin.

Not Long Horn? Keep up that and you'll have your Stetson, Tony Lamas and .30-30 repossessed by the Rangers.

Don't know about Long Horn, but Shiner is a pretty solid Texas brew. Lone Star is in camo cans right now, which is perfect for hunting season.

Karbach and St. Arnold's are strong in the Houston area, as always. Stopped by the St. Arnold's brewery for some fresh Christmas Ale yesterday. Great party in their new bewery.

Don't be baggin on shiner. Shiner bock is my go to summertime beer.

LelandCrooks wrote:Don't be baggin on shiner. Shiner bock is my go to summertime beer.

...which you introduced me to

I might have celebrated a little too soon. Realized I didn't cut the piezos evenly on both sides so I tried to even them out and might have really "screwed the pooch", no Shiner involved - piezos won't sit flush with each other when I try to dry fit the arrays

Figure I'll just see if I can get them together anyways this weekend before ordering some more. Any tips on filling gaps between piezos? I think I read in one thread that the cutoff parts can be dissolved into the cement to give it more substance. Might give that a shot. Had a tube of PL sitting right there too and began wondering what would happen if I just gooped a fair amount of that on but my gut tells me that's a bad plan.

Like some others have said, I can now appreciate why Leland's assembled arrays don't come cheap!

Also, any tips on getting the &*&*!##$%^%^ cement can open?

MisterB wrote: Also, any tips on getting the &*&*!##$%^%^ cement can open?

Channel lock pliers.

Gonna double check the measurements on my jig too - thought I followed the plans to the letter but probably overlooked something. Sometimes my students' parents give me Christmas money. If they're immensely generous this year, I might have to see about getting some pre-assembled arrays...

MisterB wrote:Any tips on filling gaps between piezos? I think I read in one thread that the cutoff parts can be dissolved into the cement to give it more substance.

Put some cutoff parts in a jar with acetone. Come back next day and you will have a gap filling black substance that should work fine. Keep the lid on, the acetone dissolves like crazy. Use in a well ventilated area, the vapours cannot tell pizzer cutoff from brain cells and happily dissolves either. Within two or three days all the acetone is gone, even with the lid on the jar, so you'd have to add acetone once again if you need more.

Here is my pizzer acetone jar with a straight array under construction on the jig (for an SLA pro, not the same array type as you'd use on your OmniTops).

It will fill if the gaps aren't too big. The danger is though that too much glue/filler applied at once will permanently soften the plastic. I've cut more than one array apart to fix that problem.

LelandCrooks wrote:It will fill if the gaps aren't too big. The danger is though that too much glue/filler applied at once will permanently soften the plastic..

+1. Put masking tape on the front of the joints, then gradually fill the back, with thin layers. Allow an hour or two between applications.

Filling from the back with thin layers worked like a charm. Gaps aren't completely filled but structure is very solid and holding together well. Seems the diffuser further reinforces the rigidity of the array.

A couple of pics

Array from the back with wires in place (they're all soldered in now)



Array from the front. Sprayed a coat of clear plastic primer on it after this picture was taken and will be spraying the whole assembly flat black to cover up glue blemishes and unify the color. I really wanted to paint my arrays "alien green" but I mad a lot more errors on the other one and having them flat black will help some of the cosmetic errors disappear against the background of the black speaker cabinet.