BillFitzmaurice.info

I'm just getting started on my Jack 110 project. Thanks in advance to all who've answered my questions here in the past couple months, and apologies as I proceed to mangle all advice and instructions...

I ordered the Deltalite II 2510 kit from Leland, along with a pre-cut baffle and driver mounting ring, two pieces I thought it would be especially difficult to cut myself. Since this was my starting point, I thought I'd do the driver break-in up front. Here's a shot of my setup, iMac (running Audacity) -> GK MB200 -> driver, with a digital multimeter in there to watch the volts. This picture will also explain why there will be no workshop photos in this build thread, because this table may indeed be the neatest part of the house.



Bought my wood from Barron's lumber in Gaithersburg, MD, since it was convenient to a lunch break from work. I thought I'd be clever and get them to take the 4x8 panel down a bit by making the first three or so cuts on the cut schedule on their panel saw. Well, that got me some pieces that didn't quite match the plans. Easy to cure, however, just sat down with graph paper and made up a new cutsheet one square to the inch. The ugly piece of ply on the top of the stack was scrap Barron's gave me to practice on.



I actually own no woodworking tools to speak of, so I visited the local Harbor Freight and bought a collection of clamps, including their spiffy clamp-and-cut straightedges, a circular saw, and a finer-toothed blade. On Sunday last I actually set to cutting some wood, and got the top, bottom, and sides cut out. The work area (no photos) is the garage, with a couple nice, stable folding tables, and room for my ShopVac. Of course since I'm a wood n00b there are some matching issues and everything's about 1/8" short... I'm thinking that for now I will see what I can make up for with the PL, and if need be I have the other half of the 4x8 sheet to get more pieces from.

Next Sunday's weather looks good, hoping to make it to the first glue-up stages.

Keep the pics coming. Where your are now, I soon shall be.

ian wrote:Of course since I'm a wood n00b there are some matching issues and everything's about 1/8" short... I'm thinking that for now I will see what I can make up for with the PL, and if need be I have the other half of the 4x8 sheet to get more pieces from.

Don't worry about it. PL will fill it.
P.S. -might the 1/8" be the saw kerf. In other words, move the saw over one eighth and then cut.

You should be able to get more precise cut with a guide board. If you don't have one, build one like this: http://www.benchnotes.com/Skillsaw%20Gu ... de_boa.htm

Then, make sure you place the guide board on the "good" side of the panel you are cutting. You can get really precise cut this way.

It's definitely me getting used to the kerf of the saw and also keeping it straight on a long cut. I like that guideboard... I'm currently using straightedge clamps from Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools ... 66126.html) but maybe I can cut a guide to attach to that.

Although the weather has been good for building, life has been getting in the way. Bought a trim router to cut the phase plug and to round off the corners and to do cuts too annoyingly small for the circular saw. Developing a small Harbor Freight addiction. Also built the aforementioned circular saw sled. (I used my cheapie 3-ply practice plywood. It's clamped so it doesn't try to warp when I'm not looking at it.)

It's clamped so it doesn't try to warp when I'm not looking at it.)

No joke, it actually has warped a bit. Depending on how the next couple panels come out I'll have birch scraps to make a new one.

Woodworking clues are coming a few at a time, as I follow my current progress rate of accomplishing about four cuts per week... I figured out the way to do bevel cuts (throat and mouth panels) given only a circular saw is to do cross-cuts, bevel, then straight. Works much better than cutting the pieces and then beveling.

Anyway, I have grand dreams of getting to the first glue-ups later this weekend, if so more pics will come.

ian wrote:Although the weather has been good for building, life has been getting in the way. Bought a trim router to cut the phase plug and to round off the corners and to do cuts too annoyingly small for the circular saw. Developing a small Harbor Freight addiction. Also built the aforementioned circular saw sled. (I used my cheapie 3-ply practice plywood. It's clamped so it doesn't try to warp when I'm not looking at it.)

I made my circular saw sled years and years ago and it's still perfectly straight. The sled is fiberboard and the guide is MDF. MDF comes with a straight factory edge and doesn't warp (if you don't get it wet).

Making jigs out of cheap lumber is kinda' backwards. You should make your jigs out of top-notch materials so they stay straight and true. Can't make straight cuts if your jig isn't straight.

You have a good point. However, I'm a beginner, and the circular sled jig doubled as practice. I didn't want to practice on my good plywood right then. It worked well enough.

Also, isn't "premium materials" something of a misnomer? It all depends on the application. The ply I have for this cabinet can warp, too. MDF, on the other hand, isn't good for building BFM cabinets... too heavy, not nice to cut, etc.

Anyway, as a beginner I am happy to take my schooling from everyone else. This Sunday a friend loaned me a compound miter saw. This is an amazing tool. You think you don't really need one, but then you have one and it's all over. You can actually _see_ what you're cutting... the tool isn't in the way like with the circular saw or the router. I am in love. Unfortunately, this one doesn't slide, so only has a workable cut length of about 5 inches, and only bevels in one direction... no biggie for straight cuts but makes bevels tricky.

We have glue-up!



My guides are some 1x1 stakes. After I got the parts PL'ed and clamped, I checked things with the speedsquare and everything is nice and straight. Now I have the 24-hour-clamp-time blues.

The tube of PL is placed so that the nail I put in the cap would stay in... it's a very enthusiastic tube of PL and wants to keep coming out even with the gun loose. At any rate, a light touch on the caulk gun and wearing latex gloves, PL is very easy to work with.

I would never suggest building cabinets out of MDF, but it makes a very good saw sled because it's straight and it won't warp.

And yes, miter saws are worthy of your garage-based man-love. After I got mine, I sold the radial arm saw. With a 12in. miter saw, you can get up to 9in. cuts....and the better ones do angles and bevels.......(I love mine too).

Bruce Weldy wrote:
And yes, miter saws are worthy of your garage-based man-love. After I got mine, I sold the radial arm saw. With a 12in. miter saw, you can get up to 9in. cuts....and the better ones do angles and bevels.......(I love mine too).

Compound slide, even better. My 10 incher does 16 inch cuts.

16" cuts would be a magic number, long enough to do nearly everything for Jack except for ripping down the sheets.

Continuing the gear lovefest, also picked up a Diablo T40 for my circular saw. Oh wow.

Diablo blades are quite nice. Still need to get mine sharpened.

Bill Fitzmaurice wrote:

Bruce Weldy wrote:
And yes, miter saws are worthy of your garage-based man-love. After I got mine, I sold the radial arm saw. With a 12in. miter saw, you can get up to 9in. cuts....and the better ones do angles and bevels.......(I love mine too).

Compound slide, even better. My 10 incher does 16 inch cuts.

I have a really nice Bosch sliding. But I am seriously jonesing for one of these. http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Tool ... id=GCM12SD