BillFitzmaurice.info

Hello all,

The urge to build has been strong and I want a center speaker. So here's my latest build.

Started off by cutting everything out. I decided to do something a little bit different (again). I don't want to see any end grain and I want the grain to run 'north - south' instead of 'east - west'.

Also, I happened across a load of red oak in 10 foot lengths x 5 3/4 x 1/2 so I'm going to try to make this work and join the lengths to form the top, bottom and sides as per the plans.
This time I won't stain it but just use Tung oil. I might remake my SLA's if I prefer the look

I used the template / jig from my SLA build to remind me how to cut the holes.

Saves me from scratching my head! My laziness actually makes me more efficient. Weird.





Here are the panels ready for the router all screwed and clamped down to a sacrificial sheet.



The magic of television gives us this:



I decided to make a jig for the glue up. There are 2 reasons..

1. I couldn't find any PL Turbo (I don't think it even exists ) and

2. I am going to make a couple of these for friends / anyone else who wants one, so wanted to make it easy to repeat my work.



The knobs are there so I can repeat using different thickness baffles later on. They also come in handy when making everything line up right.







So far so good

Never attempted anything like this but it's in the plans... and it feels like I can pull it off. Time will tell.

The Baltic Birch is sitting there saying, dude... over here!!

Here are the pieces to join ready to go. The clamps are from Harbor freight. They actually work really well! My work bench is known to be straight and level. Spent some time on that a while back.



Had to use weights in 9 places to make the joints smooth. Hope this works!



A couple of hours later I removed the weights for use on the next plank joining session. I'll wait until tomorrow and then scrape / sand.



It looks good in real life. Hopefully I can use these. Time will tell.

You're in danger of getting a 'Harley 5 Star'...unless you've had one already

But it Hertz wrote:a jig for the glue up.

The knobs are there so I can repeat using different thickness baffles later on. They also come in handy when making everything line up right.

That is a well thought out jig indeed
Nice work!

So joining the oak sheets actually went very well, but it took me a whole day to dress the sheets and make them look presentable. It was ALOT of work.

It was going really well and then I decided to deviate from the plans.

Oh, when will I learn??? Grrrrr.

Remember my plan to eliminate end grain? Well I decided to make a 'rear entry box' with 45 degree angles on the corners just like I did with my SLA's.

But, as it turned out, my POS table saw actually cut slightly less than 45 degrees so there was a gap on the outside corner. I was furious at the time.

I have since realized that I can adjust the stops... they must have been set wrong at the factory, or have wondered over time.

So I hosed $80 worth of oak and pissed a whole day against the wall.

The table saw is history. I have totally our grown it. I just need to find a replacement. I'm starting to get build jobs now and can't afford to have a table saw I don't trust. I'm looking at Festool track saws. They look awesome, but eye wateringly expensive. I reckon $1000 to set myself up with what I need...

Anyhoooo.

I decided to go with baltic birch for the box ... at this point I didn't care, but I think it turned out really well.

The crossover was next.

I decided to try vero board as an experiment. It's good cheap stuff and allows you to place the components 'just so' and then wire them afterwards.







Testing that everything works OK.

It sounds great. I'm really happy

Looking good!

Ian, is that solder joining components on the bread board?
Sorry if it is link wire, it justs looks like 1mm solder

Working the night shift now Ian?? Life is tough being a business owner.

Looking mighty fine!

Grant Bunter wrote:Ian, is that solder joining components on the bread board?
Sorry if it is link wire, it justs looks like 1mm solder

What you see is the legs of the components! Where they weren't long enough I re-used off cuts to make up the distance. There's no actual solder apart from on the joints.... if that makes sense.

Bas Gooiker wrote:Working the night shift now Ian?? Life is tough being a business owner.

Looking mighty fine!

Ha ha thanks,

Not working right now. Just drinking in front of the computer, covered in sawdust ready to sleep

Ian Westwood wrote: What you see is the legs of the components! Where they weren't long enough I re-used off cuts to make up the distance. There's no actual solder apart from on the joints.... if that makes sense.

Cool, nice solution!

Great job it Looks fantastic!

Nice. Very Nice.

lancemhorsley wrote:Great job it Looks fantastic!

Hard to add to what's already been said... congrats!

You know, when I built my curved SLA and now everytime I see someone else building one, I wonder if you could do the baffle as one piece. Instead of cutting each individual baffle section, just cut a kerf about 3/4 of the way through the wood at the appropriate places, fill the kerfs with glue, then bend and clamp at the correct radius. Make sense? I may have to try it to see if it works. I'm sure it would work with plywood, but a solid wood baffle may not work.

Ian, with the volume of that cab, you could probably add a port for extended bass response if so desired. Granted, with a sub you don't need it, but IF you wanted more bass out of that center you could do it.