BillFitzmaurice.info

OPERATIONAL - LETHAL

29 inch Wide, Dual Lab 12 loaded, Finnish Birch Tuba 60 completed.

Got an excellent duratex finish. Three light coats with a small foam roller, got a few small bubbles from overworking it. Still visible bondo shiny sections.
After a final coat with a standard sized, medium nap roller and about a quarter of a bucket of Duratex it looked fantastic. Great even texture and very few bubbles.

Thanks to 88H88's input regarding dual access covers, fitting the drivers was a breeze. I screwed the screws in all the way first to ensure the pilot holes were still good, removed them, then added the drivers.

Wired up easily using tinned speaker wire.

Using my mates small drop saw and safety glasses, we trimmed up the 20mm x 1.6mm aluminum strips into two perfect flanges with mitred edges. They look very trick. Drilled straight through the aluminum and access panel in one go with a drill bit just large enough for the screw to pass through uninhibited.

I used a 25mm wide, 4.8mm thick, medium density, closed cell foam weather stripping to seal it up. Morday brand, from Bunnings - $35 for 10 meter roll. Its worked well. Didn't compress as well as the gear you get from Leland @ SpeakerHardware, the access panel is around 1 to 2mm proud of the rest of the cab, however it seals tight and the aluminum flange / trim dresses it up any way.

We used 3mm packers around the edge of the access panel to align it evenly. Drilled pilot holes into the mounting flanges through the pre-drilled access panel in situ. Screwed it up tight, and checked for leaks. All appeared well.

Hooked up some music and @#$%#$#%@^@^@#$#% it goes hard After changing the crossover down to 30Hz and again to 25Hz I am suitably impressed. Thanks Bill Fitzmaurice

Pics or it didn't happen! I'm excited to see how this turned out!

He he he. Photobucket it is then. I'll try open up the old account. Haven't used it since the 2011 birth of my T39's!

Before Duratex sand the bondo with 60g paper. Then primer with a cheap black spray primer. Voilá, no glossy spots.

Thanks Leland, I should have gone one grade coarser I used 80 grit for the whole build.

Check out entire build process photos on photobucket

http://s626.photobucket.com/user/Tinders86/library/

Sorry Im not a fluent photobucket operator, T60 pictures from last picture on second row on second page

Missile crisis it did happen

Good work!

I had to keep looking at picture 09 - "Panel 2 gluing" I thought there was a poodle in the background wearing a hat and clothes.....

Then i realised it was an exercise bike covered in clothes.... My bad....

Great build. I cant wait to start !

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! even from the crappy mic it sounds monstrous. Finishing my second up today/tomorrow.

I do have a black English Cocker Spaniel with a penchant for plaid coats, is 7 degrees in a lot of those pictures.

Glad you all like the build, so - what do you all think about my extended curved braces in the mouth? I wanted to make use of 712mm ripped panels so cut the correct angle into it and slid her in. I reckon they're pretty neat.

Next time a bring them out I'll get a mate with a more advanced smart phone to do a video hopefully with better sound.

88H88 It most definitely is plenty monstrous. Totally building an additional pair of 20 inch wides next. Like Flux Pavillion's song says....

I CAN"T STOP

I brought the front brace further forward too, it sits back the same as the one in the plans but I think it just looks prettier...



Also yes, I think I'm going to have to build another pair. I may rip open the T39s and nick the Lab12s from those. I figure 4 should be enough to lay waste to most places without too much effort.

Good onya TH
Bloody good effort mate

Wish I had the funds to build one of these already, get a good idea of how it sounds playing the vid though my THT

I'm with you 88H88 regarding the deeper braces. You've got a neat looking cab almost done in that pic. How wide is it? The idea of only needing one set of braces is very appealing

I'll be doing some sums regarding what width T60 will yield the best of 2440 x 1220 ply sheets. The 29 inch wide cab I built would have only used one of 3050 x 1550, two of 2440 x 1220 however as I got really picky over the last panel being 2mm out I bought a third sheet.
In saying that, I had a handy off cut (Arauco) from my T39 build which I needed for the 2/8 braces and one of the 6/12 braces.
My point is, solid braces are material intensive, I do want a pair of slims - to access all areas, however it needs to still be wide enough to pound hard and fit into my van.

Grant, thanks for your kind words. I feel that I've grown my novice speaker building skills in droves over this last build. I really want to build more.
It could be time for me to seriously put my thinking cap into action though. I really delivered at the party on Saturday. Had my newly acquired Laser, Smoke Machine and two 4 ft Blacklights along with my old 4 colour strip and strobe. That in conjunction with my sound rig had everybody blown away with the experience. Strangers were coming up to me saying it was better than nightclubs and reminded them of the boiler room at the Big Day Out

Acquisition wise I've a 3m light stand in my sights along with a second laser for balance.
Wish list is a basic rack mounted DMX station, perhaps some type of derby effect light and a new strobe. Then I will be 100% road ready for any serious parties that come my way.

Chompy, the expense is absolutely worth it My next build will use Arauco ply to at least halve the materials cost. The $275 approx. cost of delivered driver is a few dollars in one go, but once you fire them up everything fades away violently in a shockwave of BASS

A pair of t60s at 20 inches will fit into a van, but for only two inches less you can get away with single braces. Tough choices eh.