BillFitzmaurice.info

Charles,
Maybe you could make a template/jig out of scrap with the correct curve to hold the ply down and still use clamps?

ie curve matching curve on one side and a straight edge for the clamp to get a firm grip on...

That's a possible Grant. Each sheath and braces are slightly different in shape and position. The back end of the clamps would have to react on something. I think in this case that sheath needs trimmng down on width at the bottom two thirds. It has that popping sound associated with when it jams and comes free and I can feel a larger gap behind the bottom edge, where it interfaces with the horizontal shelf. Need to file a bit off and see what it looks like again.

I never had to use more than hand pressure and that of the staple gun head against the plywood to bend the sheaths into place. They key is to make sure that the sheath will fit before trying to attach it. If it's too big no amount of pressure is going to make it fit. If it's a bit sloppy that's why we use PL. Ideally the staple heads will go flush to the plywood, but it's a lot better to have the heads stand a bit proud and set them flush later with a nail set than to have them go too deep and pass right through.

After properly paying attention and trimming the width correctly, the sheath pressed down properly onto the profiles braces and met the front of the horizontal port shelf. I scribed a line on the side sheaths while holding by hand to see if when clamped it went back to the same place. It did.

For the life of me, I had remembered some sort of clamping method applied to the sheath, meaning no stapling required, but couldnt remember the details, but eventually remembered it was only the side sheaths. This method does however seem to work for the minor sheaths.

Nice recovery. You are braver than I am. I can see myself making a huge mess of the throat sheathes using clamps instead of staples to secure them. Well done!

Thank you Nathan.

Mesh (hardware cloth) going in now. I snipped out a small area where the speaker fasteners will go through, as a precaution, to aid fasteners going in cleanly. Contrary to plans i have stapled these plywood spacers in. Middle 5" dia disc not in yet. Am going to put 1x6mm thick disc in and then cut foam phase plug to remaining required thickness.

Rollered tuff cab, 2 coats plain foam roller, 1 coat textured. I can still slightly see the wood grain, through the textured top coat, with the naked eye.

Keep up the good work Charles

They are coming along nicely...

They are looking great! I can't imagine the mess (and waste of money) I'd make with bendy plywood. They really are coming along nicely. You will get them finished WAY before your birthday!! 1 June is your new suspense. Now get crackin'.

Thanks for the encouragement gents.

A heart on sleeve moment now:

I'm strongly considering buying the melded arrays off Leland. In the immortal words of Chris Rea, we've come so far but still got so far to go. I started this build at end of October. I don't have piezo cutting or sticking jigs, or really the time, at what i can make, to fanny about, as much as i would like to make them. I do however have a nice stash of piezos for future. I have to be fully finished and tweaked for this october and still plenty to do. Am looking for some empathy, or sympathy, either will do.

Sorry, mate. I'll give you none of that. Push forward. The piezos are not difficult, nor are they critical if they are not "perfect". Use a hand held hacksaw on them, if you must. Just do them. You've gotten this far, why give up now? Especially with the longer daylight of summer coming!

Same thoughts here. I actually found the cutting/gluing of the pizzers one of the easiest parts of my projects. You can do it Charles.

Charles Jenkinson wrote:Thanks for the encouragement gents.

A heart on sleeve moment now:

I'm strongly considering buying the melded arrays off Leland. In the immortal words of Chris Rea, we've come so far but still got so far to go. I started this build at end of October. I don't have piezo cutting or sticking jigs, or really the time, at what i can make, to fanny about, as much as i would like to make them. I do however have a nice stash of piezos for future. I have to be fully finished and tweaked for this october and still plenty to do. Am looking for some empathy, or sympathy, either will do.

Nope.
I made a simple jig. When it was done, the cutting only took a few minutes, and very simple.
Jig link

Ok, thank you. I've had a think about it, seems pretty straight forward without any cutting jigs to me (just using the rip fence AND keeping the blade low), using Anton's method of alternating the elements. On that score, I've just tried unscrewing an element from the plastic horn surround and the screws came out no probs, but the element seemed 'stuck' in the housing, and the wires from the cap didn't seem up to the job of pulling the element out. Is this typical and is there a way to 'pop them out'?

Anyway, made good progress this morning after being woken at 4:30, by a 2 year old's foot in my back, ...so I went in the garage at 5:15am. Hoorah!

I decided some time ago that I'd make a cross-section cut-out of the speaker I am using, to hold against the phase plug in situ, so I can have a good look at it and satisfy my curiosity about off-sets, gaps or what have you. The picture shows me pressing the phase plug and a 6mm thick ply disc up against the back of the wire cloth. There is about a 15mm gap where the tip of my finger is. I dressed out the radius of the speaker centre dome in the phase plug, using an angle grinder, and neatened it with sand paper. The speaker cross-section profile geometry was made as with 'mounting gasket uncompressed', so if there's say 3mm gasket compression, there'll be half an inch clearance from the speaker to phase plug when the speaker is stationary. Seems sufficient to me. Any thoughts, anyone...?

For the build-up of the phase plugs behind the baffle, I used a 6mm disc and some 35mm thick high density foam i had lying around, which adds up to 1 5/8", about 3 to 4mm over the 1.5" specified in the plans.

That's the best way to make the plug extension, but not the easiest, so that's why I didn't specify it in the plans. The improvement over a simple plug won't be a lot, but there will be some.