2 x DR250 (melded) + 2 x DR250 (CD horn) March 2012 plans. Completed

[Grant Bunter]

Here we go

Day 1: Bit slow to start (cut and routed and put handle in a V plate first)
Cut blanks for horn. Did all this in an hour and a half + clean up time...

Day 2:
Horn parts all cut, a bit over an hour + clean up time. I don't own a bench saw. Working out how to get some of the angled cuts has already required some inventiveness and thought.
My (newish) angle adjustable jigsaw came to the rescue for the 11 deg cuts. The 13 deg and straight cuts were done with my circular saw. The one tool I am very happy to have bought before any builds was an 8" angle ruler with digital readout (you can just see some of it on the right in the first pic). It makes setting any angle a breeze

PL'ed and left to dry.

Day 3:
All sanded and trimmed: 30 minutes + cleanup time





That's it so far...

edit: it's just the photographer lol, they both are square
I hope the rest goes just as well

[BassMe]

Looks great. I am going to have to road trip it down to Sydney one day and meet all you guys and your systems lol !

[Traijin]

I really like the time log you are posting, great concept. Great looking work so far.

[Grant Bunter]

Bassme: ta and if I head up your way I'd do the same!
I have a good mate near Burpengary...

Traijin,
Thanks
I thought it may help others to work out how long these take to do for average plodders like myself.
I have to say though, in this case I have been reading these plans or their predecessors from the day I got them, so that's been 7 months for the old ones. It's really sunk in, so that helps a lot. What has also helped is that it's not my very first build of Bills cabs. I don't know why, the plans and steps just seem to be flowing better. I spent a lot more time on the sketchup file as well this time...
As you can see, I'm building both at the same time as well. I don't think that you can halve the times to estimate building of one though, as my rip cuts etc are based on making two sets of everything, which cuts down on markup and sawing time.
There is no way I will be anywhere near the authorised builders times... I'm not even trying to get near their times. No doubt some little hiccup will come and blow the time away lol

[bitSmasher]

ATCC sticker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oME0g6Uou4o

[88h88]

Bassme: ta and if I head up your way I'd do the same!
What has also helped is that it's not my very first build of Bills cabs. I don't know why, the plans and steps just seem to be flowing better. I spent a lot more time on the sketchup file as well this time...

Yeah I've found this definitely helps matters. Not needed sketchup on the subs as yet but at some point when I try some DRs I can see it being a major player.

[Grant Bunter]

Day 4 today:
6 hours all up including cleanup time.

It's said necessity is the mother of invention.
I don't have a circle cutting jig for my router.
I mentioned in Harley's T Nuts thread the other day I have not long passed 30 years since starting my training for Nursing.
17 years of that was in the Operating Rooms.
If you ever had a compound comminuted fracture of a long bone, you'll probably be aware of external fixatures. While I was in OR we changed brands and all the old gear was up for grabs.
Little did I know how handy it would be one day.

So today work was:
Cutting out the blanks for the driver baffles, trimming them up, assembling to horn (using the scrap pieces as described ITP).
Cutting blanks, marking out, routing and attaching driver spacers.
Putting on foam pieces. Horn/driver mount component completed.
Cutting blanks for tops and bottoms, marking them up. Includes making the 2 required compasses, and working out the required cutting angles for the adjustable top hats.
Marking up and cutting out arc tracing jig.

Hey Presto, the Ex Fix circle cutting jig lol:

The horn and baffle x 2 all done:

2 sets of cab tops and bottoms all marked up:

I'll do more tomorrow...

[Grant Bunter]

Day 5.

Now they are starting to look like cabs!

Started out today by loading drivers onto driver frame and testing, just in case!
No worries.

Then continued on cutting out what I had drawn up yesterday.

For those of you who don't have an angle rule:
The front and back edges of the adjustable top hat are 15 degrees, with the widest width on the inside. Both sides are straight cuts.

After that I put on tops and bottoms.
Don't you love it when you keep parts from a previous build
I had had a 3 degree angle off-cut left over from the T39's.
It was perfect to line everything up.

Out with the big ruler as a straight edge...
Oh bugger, warping all over the shop.
I knew something would slow me down!

I found I didn't have enough de-warping boards. Rather than cut up more hardwood to do both at the same time, I went with 1 cab for the rest of the day.

After 6 hours including clean up time (don't forget what I finished as per the pic above, which is where I got to after an 2 and a bit hours)

An angle shot shows the cleats in place, so for the first cab, I'm at the end of page 13...

It doesn't sound like much, but I've got 2 cabs with top, bottom and hole for adjustable top hats.
Also, 1 cab with sheath brace, sheath connecting braces and cleats...

I don't get to play with it as much as I'd like (behave gentlemen)...
For smaller pieces of angle cutting and so on (eg sheath brace ends and sheath connecting brace angles and trimming):

Apart from a few brain explosions, a good day

[Titanium Hand]

Grant, Maaaaaaate - This is a bloody 5 star build thread! Your progress documentation and attention to detail is evident in the quality of your work.

Top effort. I'll be following this build to the end. Keep up the good work

[Grant Bunter]

Cheers TH...

Thanks for the compliment

[Grant Bunter]

I'm a fool sometimes lol

It never occurred to me until just now to use the drop saw (aka slide compound miter saw) to
cut the 11 degree cuts on the horn throat parts, or the throat horn ends
Would have had much tidier cuts...

[LelandCrooks]

I have the 12" version. I use the hell out of on DR's. And anything else that's got odd angles.

[Grant Bunter]

I have the 12" version. I use the hell out of on DR's. And anything else that's got odd angles.

Yep! I'll be using this a heap more. I've had it for over 10 years but it hasn't seen a whole lot of use.
I wish the "vertical" angle setting had positive locking like the positive locking for the horizontal angles.

A number of things I certainly have it lined up for in this build are:
Angle cutting and trimming the PVC tubes for behind the throat.
Trimming down the joiner and tubes for the ports
Doing the piezo's.

There'll be more ply to trim up yet though lol...

[kekani]

Damn, it's builds like this that make me want to create an excuse to build DR's. . . Very nice, very clean.

As for the sliding miter saw, I "named" it my MVT for my Wedgehorn 6 build. Not sure I'd miss it if I didn't have it, but it sees a heck of a lot more use now.

For you AND Leland to qualify its value in a DR build, must. . . resist. . .need . . . to . . . order . . . plans . . .

Aaron

[Grant Bunter]

Damn, it's builds like this that make me want to create an excuse to build DR's. . . Very nice, very clean.
Aaron

Aaron, thank you!
Having seen your builds that's a great compliment