Ken's Family Build

[Ken Lustgarten]

I finally am getting started on a series of builds. 6 X DR200’s, 4 X T39’s (2-BP102 & 2-Lab12), and 2 X DR250. The DR200’s and T39’s are for me and the DR250’s are for the college that I work for. They have a group of 9 students that go on tour performing for the entire summer. As compensation they get a free semester of college. The equipment that they have is complete garbage but that is about to change with a pair of DR250’s. I also just got them 9 Audio Technica 3000 series wireless with Countryman mics and a new Yamaha powered board. I would rather not go with a powered board but the group usually does not have any members that are in the least bit technical so brain dead simple was a requirement. As is, I continually get calls to troubleshoot while they are setting up.
This will be my first BFM build. I thought I was going to have almost 3 weeks to myself as my wife and kids are visiting her family. She wants to come home earlier so that leaves me with only 1 ½ weeks. After that things will move at a slower pace so I need to get as much done as I can now.
I will be starting with the DR’s first and bulk cutting parts. For many operations the setup takes more time than the actual cutting so building several at a time will greatly help to speed up the process, unless I make a mistake X 6.

Day 1
Since I didn’t have wood yet I cut up some piezos. I made a cutting jig that allows me to gang rip 5 at a time. The jig has 2 sides with different spacing to allow both sides of the tweeter to be cut. I am still debating on how I want to cut the 45’s. I am going to try it on the band saw with a jig. The nice thing about the band saw is that there is no vibration so I should be able to hold the tweeters in place safely while I cut.

https://picasaweb.google.com/klustgarte ... v6N4LCzzAE#

Day 2
First up 6 DR200’s
I picked up 15 sheets of Arauco. Since the closest place to get good ply is over an hour away I made sure that I would have plenty for all of my projects (W.V. is a poor state and lumber yards only carry the cheapest materials available). I made the initial crosscuts outside on a cutting table. A guide rail with a square and repeater was used to make exact duplicate cuts. After the ply was broken down I took the parts into the shop for further processing. Cutting compound angles and exact duplicate parts is easy. Set the saw to the desired bevel and use stops (scrap wood) for the angle and length. The Hilti saws make this job very easy. They are designed as a track saw and have precise bevel adjustments and dual locks. Any circular saw will work but the Hilti’s are a pleasure to use.

Day 3
Next was to cut the rectangular holes. I set this up on my bench so that there is no measuring involved, just place the part on the table against the stops, clamp, and rout.
The rings were cut with a Jasper jig and a router. The Jasper jig is the best way I have found to make speaker cutouts. If you have never used one or make cutouts with a jigsaw you should give it a try.

Day 4
Driver filers made and installed, strips were beveled and ripped, then gang crosscut to size. Driver access holes were cut and the tops/bottoms were attached.

Here are the pics of the build as of last night.

https://picasaweb.google.com/klustgarte ... k97hxfycQw#

[SeisTres]

Your four days would take me three weeks

Hope to see how it turns out

[jswingchun]

I've been looking forward to this thread. Looks good, keep them coming!

[Radian]

6 DR200's.....Egg-cellent choice.

Your four days would take me three weeks

+1

[loudsubz]

is that a panel saw setup flat or something different?

[Ken Lustgarten]

is that a panel saw setup flat or something different?

I built the two cutting tables that you see in the pictures using Eurekazone components. If you are interested in them you can check out my build thread for these tables here http://tracksawforum.com/showthread.php?t=1159

[Tom Smit]

Obviosuly you've done some woodworking before! .Excellent progress!

About the piezos, glue up a bank... and then run the blade at a forty-five angle along the bank. Then glue up two banks to make a melded array.

[SeisTres]

is that a panel saw setup flat or something different?

I built the two cutting tables that you see in the pictures using Eurekazone components. If you are interested in them you can check out my build thread for these tables here http://tracksawforum.com/showthread.php?t=1159

Wow, i've seen some of their videos and slideshows but i never really got what everything was for. I recently just ordered their 54" track and got a new porter cable saw to go along. I have to say, it's going alot smoother than my previous builds I thought it would go faster too.

[Ken Lustgarten]

Day 5

2 acres of grass got in the way of progress today. I couldn’t let it go any longer or it would be tough to cut. Of course I had the mower deck off of the tractor because I used it to clear snow over the winter and to plow/disk ground for a garden.
Today I decided to start on the DR250’s and catch them up to the DR200’s. It would be nice to Duratex all the cabs at the same time.

The first couple of pics show how I cut bevels on my bench. I place a couple pieces of scrap (like guide boards) on the bench and use the second track in the saw base so that the saw is about an inch away from the rail. I built a sacrificial insert in my smaller bench but it is more of a cross cutter and does not have the capacity for these parts.

You can also see how I go about cutting the top/bottom. Set a flip stop at 21”, clean an edge, flip the panel end for end and use the flip stop to cut 2 panels, rotate the panels 90 degrees and cut the other side to length.

I was able to cut out all of the parts but could not finish the assembly. The throat horn needs to be trimmed and I am not going to do that until the PL fully cures. The rest of the assembly should go fast tomorrow.

https://picasaweb.google.com/klustgarte ... rKns9YnrFw#

[Lastcat]

Very nice build, very impressive. I am with Seis on this one, it would take me a bit longer too...

[jswingchun]

The first couple of pics show how I cut bevels on my bench. I place a couple pieces of scrap (like guide boards) on the bench and use the second track in the saw base so that the saw is about an inch away from the rail.

I'm not quite following what you are doing here. Could you explain a little further?

[Ken Lustgarten]

The first couple of pics show how I cut bevels on my bench. I place a couple pieces of scrap (like guide boards) on the bench and use the second track in the saw base so that the saw is about an inch away from the rail.

I'm not quite following what you are doing here. Could you explain a little further?

Here are some pictures illustrating the process of cutting bevels on a ez-one style bench. Another one of my benches has a replaceable sacrificial strip (3/4 ply) for cutting bevels, it is a crosscut bench and is a little short on capacity for the cuts in the pictures or I would have used it. Bevels can easily be cut with just free rails. There are comments on the pics explaining the details.

https://picasaweb.google.com/klustgarte ... t_jk29reFw#

[Ken Lustgarten]

Day 6

Here are a few pics of the progress that I made after work last night. It is very time consuming making 8 DR's at once. A lot of mindless repetition is involved. It is most definitely much faster to build a lot of cabs at one time then it is to build one at a time. The setting up of tools for a cut takes more time then the actual cut. Multiples are easily and quickly done without changing the setup. Time and care has to be given to accurately set up the tools. Once that is done my wife could even make the parts (provided she still had fingers left after the cut ). Spend time on your setups and you will turn out quality work. The actual cutting is the easy part.

https://picasaweb.google.com/klustgarte ... jOz608eEQg#

[Steve]

Is that a Shop Smith from out of the past in the background? Mine is in too many pieces to use any more.

Steve

[jswingchun]

Here are some pictures illustrating the process of cutting bevels on a ez-one style bench. Another one of my benches has a replaceable sacrificial strip (3/4 ply) for cutting bevels, it is a crosscut bench and is a little short on capacity for the cuts in the pictures or I would have used it. Bevels can easily be cut with just free rails. There are comments on the pics explaining the details.

I guess I was wondering more how you were aligning the cut line to the blade on the bevel cuts. Are you just eyeballing it?