2x 19" T30's

[Charles Jenkinson]

Did you miss the word 'half' out of that last sentence anywhere 88?

[88h88]

'...they ain't shit...' ??

Nah, this is a structurally sound sentence if you grew up listening to rap music.

Think '...they are rubbish...'

[Charles Jenkinson]

After nearly fallling off the radar with this thread, I've finally got back in the garage. The diversion was to purchase an electric guitar in connection with the next project. The even worser bit is that i now know the project after that, ...some midi bass pedals, possibly made from a 99p butchered organ off ebay, which i havent bought yet. I'm not sure i could find it in my heart to break a functioning organ just for the pedals alone. Anyway, onto the build.

I have levelled off the ends of the upstanding pieces using a straight edge and small jack plane, ready for the final side to go on, on both cabs. The worst gap between a side panel and the end of the upstand is always in relation to how hard it is to bend the wood to where it needs to be. I've no more than a 1.5mm gap in the centre (acces panels and business) area of the total upstanding boards/construction - the 30" square side panel being fitted will fairly easily bend to meet the outside of upstand (top, bottom and back) sides of the sub. I'm slightly thinking of just using brads to hold the remaining side on (and PL obviously, to state the obvious), given the useful effort I've gone to in levelling things off, and it wasn't that hard - I'd put it at easier than the preparations for using screws to fix a last side.

The one thing I have noticed is that my cab is not square, but my final side panel is, and therefore the mating panel end faces of the cab top and bottom (mainly) panels 'overhang' the side piece being offered up - I'm sure many must have had this problem of a 'sharp-pointed 30" (+) long wedge shape' of a mismatch. I'm loathe to 'make' the final square side fit by stressing the cab too much. It's not miles out - nothing worse than 5mm (for the shortest side of the wedge shape mismatch. I will probably glue on strips where it's not quite right and dress back with the flush router bit. Or if it's less than 2mm shy, either fill or plane back the interfacing piece - just need to be careful, since 1mm of filler on an edge is likely to get easily dinged off, but such is life. After I've rounded over the corner, it probably has much less chance of getting knocked.

I've also marked off and cut the access panel cut-outs on both 'last-side pieces', by marking from the inside the cab. This is also necessary to work out if the previously small drilled holes adequatelydescribed the joint lines - they were good enough for brads - worst case being 4mm from the edge of a (12mm) perpendicular board they need to penetrate, but for screws, I'd modify the line of a few drill holes to bring the one end of the joint (that had wandered off) back on centre. That's another reason why I'm thinking brads - because the cross-section area of the fastener is so much smaller than a screw, and removes the need to modify centrelines for fixing.

Also done 1 coat of tough cab in the hard to get to part.

The last dilemma is that i have 3 sizes and types of screw that will fix the NL4MPR sockets, rubber feet and the access covers, but they are not optimum - buying screws off the internet is a most unfulfilling pastime.

[escapemcp]

Thanks for that Charles, I wondered what had happened with your build,,, it's good to see some pics again I have found that mine have been off on occasion. If it's a mm or less, I sand it down - once TuffCote is on top, the slight slope does not notice at all! I don't think I've really had it any more than that, so can't really help much more! I now always cut my panels on the outside of the cab a little oversized, to avoid this very problem - that's not much help now either Sorry

[Charles Jenkinson]

Thanks Aidan. No need to apologise.

I dont recall reading anyone elses accounts of slight out of squareness on the last side to be fitted, and therefore didnt think to make amends. If I wasn't extracting the widest cab possible out of a 4x8 sheet, there perhaps would have initially been a big enough piece of wood to lay it all out accordingly, but I didn't, so i have a 30"x30" square, final side piece.

[Grant Bunter]

Charles,
Are all the corners not square?
Or only the panel with the mouth braces?

[miked]

As Aiden said, just sand down the out of square edges. I had two T48s that were out of square exactly how yours are and I sanded them down. After primer/Duratex I can only find one of the two cabs b/c I know what I'm looking for. Nobody else will ever know by looking. The only thing that matters is that all the panels are air-tight. Trust me, after you Duratex them, nobody will ever know.

And I LOL'd at this: "Buying screws off the internet is a most unfulfilling experience." I bought no less than FOUR separate 200-packs of screws looking for the right ones for my corner protectors before finding the correct ones. Not all #8, 1/2" coarse thread, panhead screws are the same apparently. Some of the heads were too big, some too small, etc.

[88h88]

I use these for corners and Speakons... http://www.screwfix.com/p/screw-tite-pr ... -200/40244

I actually use their much bigger brothers for screwing cabs together due to the longer ones having no thread towards the top, they just bite into whatever you're driving them into and screw down super tight. Really nice quality too.

These ones: http://www.screwfix.com/p/screw-tite-pr ... -200/27013

[DJPhatman]

Meh, you guys have too many screws loose!

[Charles Jenkinson]

Thank you gents, most kind.

I bought some of those screw-tite, 88, as per a suggestion from Chris some time ago, for fixing the cab together but found I've been ok with the brad nailer, so haven't used them. It's just the colour issue if they're on display, fixing hardware.

I hope i have resolved my screws issue yesterday - awaiting arrival of 3 diffeent sizes of self tapping, black, domed head, countersunk from Spalding Fasteners, they have a good selection. I'd prefer a wood screw thread rather than self tapping, but finding the right fastener is like looking for a specific needle in a haystack of all different needles.

Here's a photo of the typical misalignment Grant. It is on the bottom piece adjacent the mouth braces. The other sides are pretty much flush - either that, or i am moving the problem all to the one joint by how the piece/side is positioned. I can't remember if this is the worst one, i was in a rush this morning. It shows it being about 2 thin plys out (the other cab might be 3 plies out at most) which a stuck on strip should sort out. No joint strength integrity or sealing issues.

In retrospect, i should have set this interfacing edge of the cab bottom piece to be 30" (or whatever for the cab being built) from the top piece, rather than setting it to be 'square' from the side piece everything is built off, ...and done that before the mouth braces were put in. I won't make this 'mistake' again, he says. It is of course 'square enough' off the base (building off of) side, but a gnat's you-know-what of cross corner tilt here or there and things go out of kilter.

[88h88]

I quite like the black/gold colour contrast but then I grew up thinking this was the coolest F-1 livery...

[Chris_Allen]

I've seen misalignment like that before and traced it to a twisting motion created by bracing. The natural habit of trying to push the brace snug at the bottom or over excitement with the clamps causing the top brace to slide slightly.

[Grant Bunter]

That should pull in with a sash or pipe clamp.

Then temporarily put a screw in each of the 4 corners and remove the clamp to check square all around. It mightn't be as "bad" as you think...

[miked]

I've seen misalignment like that before and traced it to a twisting motion created by bracing. The natural habit of trying to push the brace snug at the bottom or over excitement with the clamps causing the top brace to slide slightly.

"GUILTY" That is EXACTLY how the backs on all 4 of my T48s were, b/c I was over enthusiastic shoving the braces in. IIRC, we (Bruce and I) had to cut the 7/8 braces (back panel ones) on 2 of my cabs. Removing just a "kerf's width from the Sawzall blade" and re-PLing (that's my word...copyright Mike) the braces back together gave me enough free space to get the back panel flush on half the cabs. I also used many, many bar clamps to pull the back in while screwing it in place and probably a tube of PL just on the backs of the 4 cabs. I left the clamps on for a good 36 hours, maybe longer, before removing the screws/clamps.

The other 2 cabs I sanded the overhang flat where the edges meet. After the cab is painted black you really have to TRY with bright light to see the slight "hump" where the back bulges out a bit and then smoothly meets the side panel. IOW, you can't see it unless you know exactly where to look and from what angle. No way you'll see it in a darkened room.

All the ugly details are in my build thread. After looking at how my cabs were, and how they turned out, you should have ZERO worries about your cabs since yours are not half as bad as mine were. Everything is fixable in our cab world.

[miked]

Speaking of screws, I went with these from McFeely's http://www.mcfeelys.com/product/0805-FS ... uare-Drive

They are 5/8" long but are measured from top of the head to the tip, and the whole head sits above the wood, inside the corner, so the tips do not break thru the other side.