New Build - T30s and then Otops to follow

[escapemcp]

You get two gaskets with certain drivers, the Lab12 has two and they're for mounting in different situations. The one actually attached is the one you'll be using, the papery one is for rear mounting so feel free to throw that. Between the driver and the spacer you should use some speaker gasket tape to make double/triple sure of a decent seal. I use this stuff: http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id= ... nufacturer

Thanks for the link to Harley's post. Can I use the tape stuff for the seal around the driver access panel also? Thx. A

[88h88]

Bathroom sealer is NOT latex, it's silicone. Generally speaking you only use that for sealing bathrooms (duh!), aquariums and other wet areas.

Yeah poor wording on my part. Apologies.


And yes, gasket tape is used for any access panels and for the aforementioned driver/spacer interface.

[escapemcp]

Day 1:

Bought plywood and 2x4 to make the cutting table (Magnet trade counter). Got to work building the cutting table, but after cutting the wrong bit of wood (doh!) had to settle with a 3 rung table (on the back 'ladder' in this pic).
In the pic you can also see the sled and the straight board (which is anything but straight... trying again tomorrow with the sled, rather than the rubbish fence on the circular saw!), as well as my assorted collection of clamps and I still have more in a box out of shot... all thanks to my DIY addict Dad!

After a quick chinese takeaway (S+S chicken balls, crispy shredded chilli beef and egg fried rice in case you were wondering (yeah, ok, you weren't!)), it was then on to testing out the sled on the first side. Worked a treat. So easy when you know how It was staring to get cold after that, so I took my newly cut side into the house and drew all the lines on it. I enclose a pic to see if anyone can see anything wrong with it. I saw a post on here where someone else posted a pic of theirs - a problem was spotted with it and it thus eliminated a lot of pain later on down the line! Here's mine anyway:


I am a little confused about an instruction though that I have do to do tomorrow, almost the first thing I do. In the instructions it says

Through the middle of each joint drill pilot holes, about 2" from both ends of the joint

First, how can you drill a hole in the middle of the joint, if it's 2" from both ends of the joint? Secondly, does it mean the joins in the lines when it refers to the joints (e.g. join of panel 2 & 4), or is this just Bill having a laugh trying to catch stoners out?

Also I am still a little unsure on the driver mounting bit. It says

Through it cut driver mounting hole(s), sided 1/8 inch smaller than the inside diameter of the driver mounting gasket

Is the "driver mounting hole" the hole into which the driver fires into (immediately in front of the cone), or to put it another way, the big bloody hole in the middle of panel 3?! If so, does this mean that this hole will be 1/4" smaller than the gasket (i.e. 1/8" reduction either edge of the hole)? It also doesn't mention bolts and T-nuts in this bit (or ANY bit of the instructions for that matter!) - it only mentions screws. If I am going to use T-nuts, is this (pg. 10) when I should install the T-nuts?

Many thanks in advance for your help. Day 1 has been great fun as I look forward to day 2 tomorrow.

[Grant Bunter]

You've drawn up lines equalling a panel width (also indicating panel length and position). Rememember that the lines you've drawn are the insides of the cab. So from the end of each panel now marked out draw another line 2" in. "In the middle" (or "half way across the width of the panel", or 1/4" ) of the panel lines, 2" from the end on the line you have added. Drill all the holes, flip the board over and join the 2 drilled holes for each panel with a pencil line. Now you have some idea where the panel is from the outside when you go to fix it with screws, nails etc, after you PL'ed and placed in the correct position on the inside.

Yep, driver mounting hole is the bloody big hole in the middle of panel three.
Mark it "inside" (inside the chamber) and "outside" so you can cut the hole at a 30-45 degree angle from the correct side, to give a bit more meat for your T nuts to grab...

Drill and install your T nuts before you install panel 3.

[88h88]

That plywood also looks like it has a veneer on it, seems a lot of places sell that in the UK and I've found it difficult to find a place that actually sells regular-ass plywood without it for less than 50 quid a sheet for Baltic birch. You can use it but make sure you use a fair few screws along the panels to help the PL hold as the veneer is really thin and you don't want it letting go and splitting your cab if you knock it about a bit.

[Chris_Allen]

That plywood also looks like it has a veneer on it, seems a lot of places sell that in the UK and I've found it difficult to find a place that actually sells regular-ass plywood without it for less than 50 quid a sheet for Baltic birch. You can use it but make sure you use a fair few screws along the panels to help the PL hold as the veneer is really thin and you don't want it letting go and splitting your cab if you knock it about a bit.

+1

The glue won't hold the panels together if they are veneered but it will make it air tight. Options are to use lots of screws or sand off the veneer by you joints.

All the lumber merchants round me carry non veneered ply. It's a very common material, you just need to find where sells it. I buy the equivalent of aruaco [sic?] for £13 a sheet, and that's to Joe public.

[ketoet]

The veneer peels of easely indeed. I'd use dado joints so the glue adheres to the actual plywood or get other ply.
At least that's my experience.

Greetz ketoet

[escapemcp]

I know what you mean about the veneer thing, but I checked with the bloke that we got it from (who is a mate of my dads) and he said that it didn't. It is sold as exterior ply, although it is about 6 or 7 layers of ply. Have a look:

[escapemcp]

I know what you mean about the veneer thing, but I checked with the bloke that we got it from (who is a mate of my dads) and he said that it didn't. It is sold as exterior ply, although it is about 6 or 7 layers of ply.

Hmm... just checked it. Maybe it is veneer. Still going to continue, as I am planning to build quite a few, so even if this ends up as a test speaker, then that's cool. Was planning to screw all joints anyway!

[88h88]

It is veneered, I've made that mistake several times now! (or rather asked if it was, told no and had veneered delivered). You'll know what to look for next time, you can use this but as mentioned it'll need some serious screw love to make sure it's solid as. Have fun!

[escapemcp]

Day 2:

Got up late (it IS Sunday after all!) and today have managed to cut the hole, make right angle plywood jigs (1st was 0.5° out (89.5°), and I wasn't sure if this was good enough or not, so made another... this time only +/- 0.1° out). Then managed to get pieces 1 & 2 cut and glued into place.


Today's lesson... screw the saw sled onto the bit of wood you are planning to use - not onto the scrap side, cause the blade has got some width that will make your dimensions wrong!!

[escapemcp]

And those 24 inches sure are looking wide! Maybe I shouldn't have built so big, but hey, it'll sound good AND fit through doors (although I did have to check the latter late last night!)

[escapemcp]

Day (well, evening) 3:
Managed to get panel 3 cut after discovering that my first attempt was a diamond shape and nothing like square! Also got the driver spacer cut, although not the corners, as I couldn't work out a good way to do them. Any suggestions? The circular saw will be tricky, so am thinking of just manually cutting them. I don't think they have to be too exact anyway.
Also cut out the driver hole (although did nick the edge when cutting out a rough hole with the circular saw ) Sanded the driver hole smooth(ish).
Going to bed now - tomorrow is the weekend and that means 2 days of uninterrupted build

[88h88]

Going to bed now - tomorrow is the weekend and that means 2 days of uninterrupted build

I have next Friday off and then no work for a week... Time to build shit now the temperature has crept above 2 during the day!

Looks to be going well there, keep up the good work!

[escapemcp]

I have next Friday off and then no work for a week... Time to build shit now the temperature has crept above 2 during the day!

Looks to be going well there, keep up the good work!

Yeah, loving the build. Never knew woodwork could be so much fun. I think if it wasn't a speaker, I wouldn't enjoy it half as much! A whole week off 88 ... nice - what you building?? I haven't had a day's holiday for 6 months, maybe I should grab a day or 2. Only issue is that as I work as an IT contractor... no work=no money=no neo speaker for my Otops!

As a side note, I know that you are not supposed to use veneer wood, but I have found a couple of advantages for the newbie builder:
1) All joints have to be reinforced by screws, which makes alignment of the panels so much easier if you have pre-drilled holes to hit once you have PL'd (admittedly you could do this with birch ply also).
2) The 7 ply stuff that I have doesn't warp! Looking at the plans, quite a bit of them is spent explaining how to unwarp panels, which is something I don't have to worry about (very handy on my 1st build)
3) The price is a few quid cheaper as well - AND I have got the wood from Magnet, where my old man has an account, so haven't even had to pay for it yet =more money on other bits!
For my first build this stuff works out well. TBH, as this is my first cab (of many), I have always had it in my head that I would rebuild this cab because it would be so shoddy. If I do have to do that in a year or so time, it won't really bother me.

I now have piece #4 glued up after I managed to get #3 put in place at about 1am last night (my god that #3 is an arse, what with cutting holes, the spacer and slap testing!). I also discovered yesterday that #2 was no where near square, but luckily, it was too big. I sanded it back, using 2 other bits of wood cut to the right angle and clamped either side of #2 and it's all square again

Now I am Just waiting for #4 to dry and then onto #5. Pics to follow this evening. Looking forward to #6 as it is the first piece to be seen from the outside and the first bit with braces