BillFitzmaurice.info

I was contracted to build a Jack12 for the forum's very own Dj Phatman. He wanted it to be ultra light, so he'd have a light bass rig he could haul around no problem. There's not going to be one part of this cab made from wood.

I'm using tooling cloth, tooling epoxy and r-3 pink foam. Driver will be held in my 10-24 SHCS that have an insert, aswell as the threads made from re-enforced epoxy. It'll also have a phase plug made to the speakers cone shape. All epoxy has a black pigment to it, and just about every part has been layed up with peel-ply. Very stealth like, and duratex should stick perfect.



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It's taking much longer then I anticipated to make up to this point, and far longer then I quoted. We're just finishing up three new machines at work - so I'm off of the 6 days a week and long, stressful hours. I'll be knocking out a lot in the next week. Big thanks for Phatman for being patient, I really don't want to rush this out and half-ass it.
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Pic to come. Really need to get myself a camera...

Monomer wrote:I was contracted to build a Jack12 for the forum's very own Dj Phatman. He wanted it to be ultra light, so he'd have a light bass rig he could haul around no problem. There's not going to be one part of this cab made from wood.

I'm using tooling cloth, tooling epoxy and r-3 pink foam. Driver will be held in my 10-24 SHCS that have an insert, aswell as the threads made from re-enforced epoxy. It'll also have a phase plug made to the speakers cone shape. All epoxy has a black pigment to it, and just about every part has been layed up with peel-ply. Very stealth like, and duratex should stick perfect.



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It's taking much longer then I anticipated to make up to this point, and far longer then I quoted. We're just finishing up three new machines at work - so I'm off of the 6 days a week and long, stressful hours. I'll be knocking out a lot in the next week. Big thanks for Phatman for being patient, I really don't want to rush this out and half-ass it.
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Pic to come. Really need to get myself a camera...

Webcam!

Monomer wrote:I was contracted to build a Jack12 for the forum's very own Dj Phatman. He wanted it to be ultra light, so he'd have a light bass rig he could haul around no problem. There's not going to be one part of this cab made from wood.

I'm using tooling cloth, tooling epoxy and r-3 pink foam. Driver will be held in my 10-24 SHCS that have an insert, aswell as the threads made from re-enforced epoxy. It'll also have a phase plug made to the speakers cone shape. All epoxy has a black pigment to it, and just about every part has been layed up with peel-ply. Very stealth like, and duratex should stick perfect.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's taking much longer then I anticipated to make up to this point, and far longer then I quoted. We're just finishing up three new machines at work - so I'm off of the 6 days a week and long, stressful hours. I'll be knocking out a lot in the next week. Big thanks for Phatman for being patient, I really don't want to rush this out and half-ass it.
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Pic to come. Really need to get myself a camera...

This post made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

oooo I'm not even getting the cab and I'm excited to see it built!

Where are you buying all your supplies at? I've been looking around recently for a good price on resin and cloth as I want to start experimenting with this stuff as I'm not comfortable tackling a BFM cab quite yet.

Is that tooling cloth basically just 18oz cloth? Use one or two layers? Perhaps I'm getting ahead of your posting, but I'm just eager to see this thing. I hope it matches Marko's carbon fiber Jack in steath-ness.

Dave Perry from the UK made a cab from foam sandwiched in glasfiber/epoxy. You may want to get in touch to exchange idea's, especially on mounting the drivers. Be careful with the foam at the mounting points, should not compress when tightening the driver down. Same for handles, jack plates and the like.

Looking forward to pics, and weight comparison.

Charles Warwick wrote:oooo I'm not even getting the cab and I'm excited to see it built!

Where are you buying all your supplies at? I've been looking around recently for a good price on resin and cloth as I want to start experimenting with this stuff as I'm not comfortable tackling a BFM cab quite yet.

Is that tooling cloth basically just 18oz cloth? Use one or two layers? Perhaps I'm getting ahead of your posting, but I'm just eager to see this thing. I hope it matches Marko's carbon fiber Jack in steath-ness.

Every thing's sourced locally from Russ Simpson here. When this epoxy is gone, I'm using an online supplier, as this epoxy is a little thick for my liking.

The cloth is 7k series, I forget weight. Believe it's the same as the other composite cabs that that were built. I think everyone else has used a plywood baffle to this point.

Two layers in most places. Most inside panels are one layer, and all outside is going to be two layer. All panels are layed up on the inside panel after being cut to size. Trimmed and then using fillets and glass tape, assembled and then the foam outer that has no covering is getting two layers of continuous wrap of cloth. Should be plenty strong!

First major problem:


Have 10-32 nutserts, and 10-24 shcs.


looks like another trip to the nut and bolt store...

So do you vaccuum form these things afterward? How do you get a smooth surface on the rest of the cab, just a bunch of filler and sanding?

bzb wrote:So do you vaccuum form these things afterward? How do you get a smooth surface on the rest of the cab, just a bunch of filler and sanding?

Normal wet layup:

-Apply epoxy onto foam
-Lay down cloth
-Rub cloth into epoxy (gently) being sure not to distort/pull the cloth
-add epoxy

at this point, the next layer would go on, or if it's just one layer: peel ply would get put on and rolled/rub'd in.

It's going to require little sanding. The inside panels don't get much sanding, the outsides gonna get the high spots sanded in, and filler used where needed. It's getting duratex on the outside.

Second mistake:


I've seem to cut the top/bottom the wrong size.

It's always the simple things. I'm almost glad, as they didn't come out as well as I would have liked.



Back to cutting foam.

Man, I wish you could video your work. I've always wanted to learn how to do fiberglass ever since I owned a Corvette, but never really investigated it. All I know about it is what I've seen on How It's Made

O yes, I wish this had more pics or youtube feed.
Plenty curiosity here. How are you going to deal with potential compression of the foam in the spots where you mount hardware to the box? Like driver, plates, handles.

bzb wrote:Man, I wish you could video your work. I've always wanted to learn how to do fiberglass ever since I owned a Corvette, but never really investigated it. All I know about it is what I've seen on How It's Made

Corvette used pressed sheets, much like stamping steel. The shop I get my supplies from was there when they were developing the process.

Not to worried about compression, the foam is rigid itself. Anyplace where mounts are (ie driver) get extra layers of cloth - and the epoxy gets a filler of cab-o-sil or cotton flock. Stong enough to support an ultralight driver, or carry the ultralight cab.

Figured out why the top bottom were indeed wrong....


Their the right size, for an omnitop15


That was the other project I had going, but never finished after Wi left his 2x12's here.

Drilled the driver mounts on the baffle wrong. FML.


Neighbor might be water cutting the baffle out, just need to see if his machine has a large enough table. Done messing around. Didn't like the way the glass was on the baffle anyway, I did it before I had peel-ply.


All other panels, sans back panel are cut and in the process of getting cloth. Driver break-in tomorrow. Sourced the 10-32 hardware also.



Crummy cell phone pics to come soon.